Lil Yachty may have just brought the “art imitates reality” fallacy to life based on one of the wildest episodes of Donald Glover’s Atlanta series and his recent decision to bring viral rapper Ian to the stage.
A number of memorable moments came out of Lyrical Lemonade’s Summer Smash in Chicago over the weekend. One of the biggest takeaways from the festival, outside of Chief Keef’s return to The Windy City, was Lil Yachty’s apparent co-sign of newcomer Ian.
Brought to the stage to perform his trending single “Figure It Out,” Ian paid homage to the Concrete Boys leading man by recreating the walkout Lil Yachty went viral for at the 2021 iteration of the festival. Apparently, Lil Yachty was feeling it, too, because he even stopped Ian mid-verse and made him run the record back once more. Not to mention, the clip went viral on social media, garnering more than three million views on one of the clips shared on Twitter (X) alone.
And while it all seemed like a definitive passing of the torch moment, a fan theory floating around on the platform has likened the occurrence to the infamous “Young White Avatar (YWA)” episode from Glover’s thrilling dramedy, Atlanta.
“Yachty really got himself a Young White Avatar Donald Glover called this on ‘Atlanta’ a couple years ago lmao,” the Twitter (X) user wrote in the post.
As explained in the season four episode of the series, the “YWA” is essentially a young white artist that successful Black artists are expected to pivot and leverage toward the latter half of their careers.
The main idea driving the literary device of tragic irony at the core of the plot of this episode is that even though the Black artist is authentically a student of the game, the cycle of pop culture will dictate that they will need to embrace a YWA—or young white avatar—to reach broader mainstream audiences as the grow older.
It’s either that or become obsolete, as the sobering yet humorous scene from Atlanta attempts to explain as Paper Boy sits in on a YWA info session led by an older Black male music industry executive.
“Everybody in this room can rap their ass off, but if rapping meant you made money, Cassidy would be a millionaire,” the instructor barks at Paper Boy and the other rappers in the scene.
Yachty really got himself a Young White Avatar 😭
— Shereef Sakr (@ShereefKeef) June 17, 2024
Donald Glover called this on “Atlanta” a couple years ago lmao https://t.co/vPvhcUn22z pic.twitter.com/aZ3mJGMRX6
While it could be too deep, the theory does shed an interesting light on Lil Yachty’s iconic walk-out video and his influence, overall. The original clip of Lil Yachty has collectively amassed millions of views since it began circulating on the internet over three years ago. One primary upload alone has garnered over four million views on YouTube. And the video has also gone viral on TikTok and Instagram, and as of late, has bled into the stratosphere of professional sports with multiple edits and memes adding to its popularity.
The latest trend, being AI-generated remakes of the clip, has featured the likeness of several major public figures such as Deion Sanders and more. However, it is without a doubt that Ian’s remake, no matter how uncoordinated and or unseasoned it may have been, has undoubtedly breathed new life into the lore of the clip.
Check out the clip above.
