Lil Yachty became a trending Twitter (X) topic on Sunday (December 4) for recent comments he made during an event in Brooklyn hosted by Rolling Stone.
At one point in the conversation—dubbed “Musicians On Musicians”—Lil Yachty lamented the state of rap, saying, “This s### sucks. The place that Hip-Hop is in right now is a terrible place. It’s a lot of imitation. It’s a lot of quick, low-quality music being put out. It’s trendy. It’s a lot less risk-taking. It’s a lot less originality.”
.@lilyachty on the state of rap at our Musicians on Musicians event:
“This s### sucks. The place that hip-hop is in right now is a terrible place…It’s trendy. It’s a lot less risk-taking. It’s a lot less originality.”
Watch the full conversation: https://t.co/Wh6nXRGZYV pic.twitter.com/xKMTGpUMBE
— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) December 1, 2023
While fellow panelist Tierra Whack praised the “freedom” in rap right now, Lil Yachty countered, “I’m just saying people are too safe now. I’d rather take the risk and take the L.”
Upon hearing Yachty’s comments, some people were quick to blame him for adding to the problem. As one person tweeted, “Is someone gonna tell Lil Yachty that he contributed to a lot of the wack s### in hip-hop?” while another wrote, “Letting Yachty opine about hip hop is like letting cancer talk about why other diseases cause health problems.” Yet another added, “They be letting Tyler and Yachty speak on rap like they don’t spew pure a## from every orifice of their being.”
Despite the negative opinions, some were also quick to point out Lil Yachty’s latest album, Let’s Start Here, was actually a creative flex on his part. Instead of the typical trap sounds he employed on albums like Lil Boat 3, he embraced his newfound love of psychedelic rock, another topic he addressed during the “Musicians On Musicians” event.
“For me, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon … I heard that album, and it altered my perspective on music, in its entirety,” he said. “After hearing that album, it sunk into my brain that we have been so limited with our content, compared to the things that we are able to do. Man, there’s endless ways to form a sonic wave. That album came out when there was no Auto-Tune, no ProTools, no FruityLoops. This is all hardware, you know what I’m saying?
“Like, these n#### is old. I realized that through the years, while we got all this great, amazing advanced technology, my personal opinion is that it handicapped us as creatives. Back then all you had was your brain and your skills, you what know I’m saying? I got really obsessed with watching old artists’ live performance videos. I just think about, “Man, them n##### had no in-ears.”
I think society would improve a bit if we stop askin lil yachty for his opinion
— niles (@ashyjit) December 2, 2023
There are plenty of people clamoring for something different. One was in favor of Lil Yachty’s experimental album, saying, “Theres a lot of people who say this and do nothing to change it. Say what you will but Yachty has taken CREATIVE risks since day 1 and is still evolving every year. Music needs more real weirdos.”
Still, most people weighing in on Lil Yachty’s comments weren’t supportive. As one person said, “I hate pretentious a## n##### bruh he acts like he’s not lil yachty.”