{"id":195137,"date":"2023-01-27T13:53:05","date_gmt":"2023-01-27T13:53:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/whynow.co.uk\/?post_type=read&p=195137"},"modified":"2023-12-14T16:18:56","modified_gmt":"2023-12-14T16:18:56","slug":"lil-yachty-lets-start-here-review","status":"publish","type":"read","link":"https:\/\/whynow.co.uk\/read\/lil-yachty-lets-start-here-review","title":{"rendered":"Lil Yachty – Let’s Start Here review | Lil Pink Floydy flies high"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Wow. In one of the most surprising and impressive recent releases, <\/b>Let\u2019s Start Here<\/i><\/b> sees Lil Yachty completely change direction. Moving into pop, psychedelic, alternative and most notably classic rock, the Atlanta native not only succeeds in the most difficult of transitions, but preserves his idiosyncratic, carefree style when doing so.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

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Rappers love dipping their toes into rock music. To varying degrees of success, XXXTentacion, Lil Uzi Vert, Vic Mensa, Machine Gun Kelly and Slowthai are just some to have recently straddled the line between genres. Rap-rock is nothing new and it\u2019s typically always culminated in a punk-inspired sound, feeling a little like an impersonation of a rock star, the music often worse than good rap or good rock.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lil Yachty bucks that trend, in more ways than one. Assessed purely on its merits as an album, <\/span>Let’s Start Here<\/span><\/i> is excellent. It\u2019s engaging, confident, experimental and consistent. Almost as admirable, for as much of a divergence as this marks, is that the music is always recognisably his, his autotuned croon distinguishable even in this new arena.<\/span><\/p>\n

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In a sentence I never thought I\u2019d write: the influence of Pink Floyd on Lil Yachty is clear. More remarkable still, is that Yachty is not only able to draw inspiration from this sound, but effectively add his own twist to it. It\u2019s not just classic rock, either, there are elements of synth-pop and more experimental music as well – if songs like \u2018The Black Seminole\u2019 and \u2018We Saw The Sun!\u2019 serve as Lil Yacht-ified iterations of Pink Floyd, \u2018Running Out Of Time\u2019 sounds like if Lil Yachty made <\/span>Channel Orange.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

On one hand, Yachty had little to lose in releasing such an ambitious record; he\u2019s never been known for his projects and has had a string of underwhelming LPs. On the other hand, this is an album packed with monumental risk, each track pushing boundaries, each track seemingly destined to fail, and yet none do. Even the interlude, \u2018Failure\u2019 – I would have never believed you if you\u2019d told me Lil Yachty would make an engrossing, vulnerable three minute monologue that sounds like an ayahuasca retreat with Native Americans.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are still rap verses from Lil Yachty on <\/span>Let’s Start Here.<\/span><\/i> Even these sound better than ever before. On both \u2018The Ride\u2019 and \u2018The Zone\u2019, he quickly finds his feet, a slower, more monotonous flow helping avoid the peaks and troughs that defined his music catalogue for so long.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My favourite track on this album might be \u2018Drive Me Crazy\u2019, featuring Diana Gordon. The first two minutes are a fantastic, 70s and 80s inspired dance track, reminiscent of \u2018Boogie Wonderland\u2019. Gordon deserves the credit for opening it up, but even Lil Yachty himself sounds good in this unimaginable setting. The track ends with what might be the longest verse on the album, Yachty again benefitting from slowing things down.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n