The more time marches on, the more once-revered rappers and trap artists seem to start exiting that late 2010’s hip-hop overhaul hangover. A solid three or four years saw the Billboard charts littered with trap drums and high hats ringing so loud they seemed to all bleed into one another from song to song. Seasons change as well as trends, and along the way those snares have started to dull and those once crisp and clean skull shakers start to lose their luster. A definite change of pace for a lot of artists, and one that’s undoubtedly tripped a few up.
For Georgia rapper and artist Lil Yachty, the change of pace comes with a declarative stance in his newest album “Let’s Start Here.” The artist’s fifth studio album, this effort takes a sharp left turn away from his typical trap-heavy, rinky-dink bubblegum melodics of tapes past. Here, Yachty wades knee-deep into this engrossing and almost lucid listening experience. The 25-year-old prefaced the album’s release in an interview, saying that it would be all live instrumentation and releasing the album’s cover. An AI generated rendition of a warped version of a board of executives. An endearing attempt in a brave direction, if nothing else, “Let’s Start Here” is a statement of artistic independence.
For an artist in the streaming age, and especially one practically birthed from SoundCloud, reinvention almost has to become second nature as a means to survive. The sheer amount of artists imitating or, in some cases, out-performing you, leaves no room to get comfortable with the musical lane you’re in. While Yachty has been known to lean into the sounds and gimmicks foreign to his Atlanta-based sound, “Let’s Start Here” almost feels entirely organic in its process, production and creative direction. While not entirely averse to creative influence, it speaks volumes of Yachty’s artistry and comfortability in a risky space to veer so far from familiarity for the sake of development.
As for the actual record? It sounds pretty good. Groovy baselines and some very pronounced drums work wonders for the psychedelic yet almost audibly heavy sound Yachty is going for here. Opening with “the BLACK seminole,” his rebrand is made immediately apparent with the comparison of himself to the Black Seminole Afro-Indigenous group in what feels like a notion of new perspective. At the albums listening party on January 27, Yachty was quoted as saying that his want to be taken seriously as an artist was a big driving force in this album’s conception. Serious artist or otherwise, a move like this has all eyes focused on him, which is arguably a prettier spot to be in.
Experimenting doesn’t make your music bulletproof, however. On top of that, maturity never comes without growing pains. There are a lot of moments throughout “Let’s Start Here” that feel half-fleshed or like the concept wasn’t one that was fully submerging either Yachty or the listener. Regardless, the skeleton of ideas presented on “Let’s Start Here” are a ubiquitous step in the right direction. While lyricism and delivery might still prove to be juvenile, it’s never to the point where the highlights of this experiment are dulled. Features from Daniel Caesar, Teezo Touchdown and Fousheé help pepper the borders of the dish with the necessary amounts of soul to help pick up that emotional slack dropped in certain places.
Ultimately, the nitty gritty of this record falls to the wayside in favor of not only the position it puts Yachty in, but the precedent it sets for a second wind. With a lot of the fruits now soured from the SoundCloud cornucopia of years past, artists are vying for difference and independence from trendiness. While you could play it safe and stick to your guns, “Let’s Start Here” likes to think that subverting expectations is doubly as rewarding as a pandered trip down memory lane. Let’s just hope Yachty’s contemporaries feel the same.
