Lil Yachty is an awkward character. He’s got conflicting feelings on masculinity, identity and his career. His debut album, ‘Teenage Emotions’, should have been an interesting brew of coming of age feels and epiphanies. Instead, it explores nothing but ego and bad taste.
Somewhat introverted and uncomfortable when he takes to the mic, his fame and burgeoning recognition do not appear to sit well with the songwriter. And ‘Teenage Emotions’ often makes the listener feel as on edge as the artist himself.
Yachty has made an album that tries to perform outside of the current rap climate. He capitalises on autotune and mixes up trap-centric tempos and heavy repetition but it’s all lost in translation. It’s a perfect rap album to inspire middle class conversations about the interpretation of modern rap as a concept as opposed to an artform.
With that said, Yachty introduces himself as an attention-seeking, one dimensional kid on this LP. Each track is a rough sketch of an underdeveloped idea. His lyrics are empty and combine eye-rolling sex references with jarring misogyny.
For an artist who speaks eloquently about his character and beliefs, ‘Teenage Emotions’ undermines the young man behind the music. Called out for being a one hit wonder when he released his debut mixtape, Yachty has defiantly created a 21 track compendium of almost interesting songs. He puts so many eggs in the basket that it buckles under the weight of quantity as opposed to quality.
Migos feature on the album’s strongest track - Peek A Boo - but it then goes downhill at a rapid pace. Yachty’s vocals need to be strengthened and the production totally rethought. Perhaps he needs to go and live a little before he tries to coin another reflective, autobiographical body of work. Yachty has ideas and a taste for originality but he has stumbled and flopped before launching from the platform established by his early work.
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