Lil Yachty discussed his growth as an artist as well as his new psychedelic album, Let's Start Here, during a candid interview with Billboard published on Wednesday. He says that the new project reflects who he is in a more candid way than any of his previous work. For Let's Start Here, Yachty teamed up with Mac DeMarco, Nick Hakim, Alex G and members of MGMT, Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Chairlift to create his new sound.
“I did what I really wanted to do, which was create a body of work that reflected me,” Yachty told the outlet on the day before his listening event at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, N.J. “My idea was for this album to be a journey: Press play and fall into a void.” He also remarked: “Fuck any of the albums I dropped before this one.”
Lil Yachty At Rolling Loud
From there, Yachty reflected on the state of hip-hop when he came onto the scene. “I came into music in a time where rap was real hardcore, it was real street,” he says. “And a bunch of us kids came in with colorful hair and dressing different and basically said, ‘Move out the way, old fucks. We on some other sh-t.’ I was young and I didn’t really give a fuck, so I did do things that may have led people to the assumptions that I was a mumble rapper or a SoundCloud kid or I don’t appreciate the history of hip-hop."
He also discussed his love for Bon Iver, Pink Floyd, and other artists outside of his genre. "But to be honest, I’ve always been so much more than just hip-hop," he said. "There’s a lot of kids who haven’t heard any of my references. They don’t know anything about Bon Iver or Pink Floyd or Black Sabbath or James Brown. I wanted to show people a different side of me — and that I can do anything, most importantly.”
Yachty released Let's Start Here back in January to mostly positive reviews from critics. It also debuted at number nine on the US Billboard 200, earning 36,000 album-equivalent units in its first week. It's his first studio album since 2020's Lil Boat 3.
[Via]