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The Guys Behind Chillin’ Island tell Lil Yachty to Eat His Vegetables

By chillin' island, december 27, 2021.

HBO’s Chillin’ Island , is hard to describe. Produced by the Safdie Brothers, the series is part reality TV, part magic realism—a beautifully shot foray into America’s great outdoors punctuated by meaningless conversations and endearing appearances from stars like Young Thug and Lil Yachty. Born from a radio show of the same, the series is hosted by a trio of underground New York-based rappers and comedians known for coaxing celebrities into revealing unseen sides of themselves through mundane conversations. Now that they’re in front of the camera,  Alec “Despot” Reinstein, Ashok “Dap” Kondabolu, and Aleksey “Lakutis” Weintraub  have become stunt-men, adapting their dead-pan humor for the screen by flipping dune buggies and munching on exotic creatures. To celebrate, the boys caught up with Lil’ Yachty over Zoom to talk about the importance of eating vegetables, and how to be fearless in the face of death.—TAYLORE SCARABELLI

LIL YACHTY: Hello? 

ALEKSEY “LAKUTIS” WEINTRAUB: Hi. What’s up?

YACHTY:  Just chilling on my way to pick up this chain.

ALEC “DESPOT” REINSTEIN: What kind of chain is it?

YACHTY: It’s like a construction man. A big construction man.

WEINTRAUB: Is it Bob the Builder?

REINSTEIN: I feel like we should talk about the show a little.  I think that’s what they want us to talk about, but we’ll talk about other stuff, too. I’m gonna start with the one thing that I wanted to delve deeper into when we were in the swamp, which is your diet. 

WEINTRAUB: Glad you brought that up.

REINSTEIN: You like chicken nuggets, but you don’t really fuck with, like, a whole chicken, only some of the parts.

YACHTY: What parts am I supposed to be eating that I don’t eat? 

REINSTEIN: You say you don’t eat vegetables, right?

WEINTRAUB: You gotta eat them because of the vitamins. You’re a young man, but eventually it’s gonna catch up to you.

REINSTEIN: I’m not trying to yell at you. I wanna know what you eat. Do you like chicken sandwiches? 

YACHTY: Chicken wings.

WEINTRAUB: See, that’s a whole part of the chicken.

YACHTY: Yeah. I didn’t eat wings when I went on the show. I just had wings this year.

REINSTEIN: What’d you think?

YACHTY: Crazy.

WEINTRAUB: Would you eat vegetables if we were there with you and we coached you through it?

YACHTY: Absolutely not. 

REINSTEIN: Not even a fun vegetable? Broccoli is fun.

WEINTRAUB: That’s the one that people are the most scared of. 

YACHTY: Broccoli stinks.

WEINTRAUB: If you were going to eat one vegetable, what would it be? Gun to your head.

YACHTY: Maybe like a small leaf. 

WEINTRAUB: Which one of us do you think will be the first to die? 

YACHTY: Probably Despot. Unfortunately.

REINSTEIN: Why me?

YACHTY: I feel like you live the most exciting life. Those two don’t do anything.

REINSTEIN: That might be true. I’m more of a risk taker. 

YACHTY: I mean you out here thuggin’.

REINSTEIN: I’m also not very scared of dying. 

YACHTY: I don’t think you should be. I’m not. I don’t think about it at all. I live in the moment.

REINSTEIN: Did you think we were gonna die when we were filming? 

YACHTY: Absolutely not. I wish. Imagine how much money my family would’ve made if I died in HBO’s hands.

REINSTEIN: Do you think you ever experienced anything like death? 

YACHTY: No. I also don’t wanna have a near-death experience. I either want to die or not die. I don’t wanna almost die. 

REINSTEIN: What about DMT? Certain drugs are supposed to take you there. You can experience death and then just come back.

YACHTY: Yeah. But see DMT is DMT. It don’t fuckin’ hurt. 

WEINTRAUB: If you had to kill one of us who would it be? 

REINSTEIN: Who would be the easiest to kill? 

WEINTRAUB: It’s up to him to factor all those things in which would be the easiest, which would be the most fun. Who would taste the best.

YACHTY: I would have to eat y’all? 

WEINTRAUB: Yeah. One of us. 

YACHTY: If I had to like to eat one of y’all Dap would probably taste the best. 

ASHOK “DAP” KONDABOLU : Because I’m a seasoned Indian man.

REINSTEIN: He’s spicy. Another thing you said in the episode is that you don’t believe in modern medicine, and that you think that everyone’s living too long and overcrowding the world. 

KONDABOLU : Has COVID changed your mind about modern medicine?

YACHTY: Medicine can’t treat COVID. It has to run its course through your blood cells. You’re gonna lose or you gonna win. Strong ones survive.

KONDABOLU : What does winning look like?

YACHTY:  Winning looks like me. 

REINSTEIN: Do you have any experience with Eastern medicine? Like with herbs and stuff like that?

YACHTY: Nah, that’s too close to vegetables. Yo guys, I’m calling it. I’m gonna have the biggest episode on the show. 

REINSTEIN: I think you might be right, but you haven’t seen the other ones. 

YACHTY: I haven’t, but I know I’m the funniest one out of everyone who was on there. 

KONDABOLU : Do you pride yourself on your sense of humor? 

YACHTY: Yeah. I’m hilarious.

WEINTRAUB: What if you don’t get the biggest show? You eat a leaf of my choosing?

YACHTY: Nah.

KONDABOLU : How long have you known that you were an entertaining boy?

YACHTY: I found out I was really entertaining when I started doing music, and when I started doing interviews. I’m the same person I’ve always been. But then I started seeing how un-entertaining other artists are… 

REINSTEIN: A lot of famous people don’t have a personality. It has become our job to extract personality from famous people. And sometimes it’s very challenging, but with you it’s easy.

WEINTRAUB: Yeah, you’re not a challenge in that regard.

REINSTEIN: It’s just hard to get you to eat vegetables.

YACHTY: Yeah. Or fruit. 

REINSTEIN: Do you have a lot of prior experience in the great outdoors? Or was that all new for you? 

YACHTY: I went camping one time with my dad when I was like 8 years old. I said I would never go back again.

REINSTEIN: Did you feel comfortable being in the wilderness with us? 

YACHTY: Absolutely not, but we didn’t have to stay overnight.

WEINTRAUB: Are you still upset about us clowning you for liking Pink Floyd?

YACHTY: Pink Floyd is the best band of all time. I know y’all know. 

KONDABOLU : They’re an acceptable band. There are worse bands than Pink Floyd. 

WEINTRAUB: I  don’t like them at all. 

REINSTEIN: Do you think you think people from New York are as good at being in the great outdoors as people from Atlanta? Or better?

YACHTY: I wouldn’t say Atlanta but people in Georgia are better. People in New York don’t fuck with people in Georgia when it comes to survival skills. 

WEINTRAUB: You guys are more hick-y. You guys are hick-y-dickies. You know what it is to survive. 

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How Lil Yachty Got His Second Act

By Jeff Ihaza

Until the pandemic, Lil Yachty never stopped to think about how quickly he became famous. “It was a full year from walking across the stage in high school to then I’m in this penthouse in midtown Atlanta , I got this G-wagon, put my mother in a house,” Yachty explains. “It’s a fast life. You not ever getting the chance to think about a lot of shit.”

Yachty’s 2016 hit “Minnesota,” which had the treacly energy of a nursery rhyme, earned the then-17-year-old the title “King of the Teens.” But since then, he’s become an elder statesman of a certain brand of young superstar — and something like the Gen Z answer to Diddy. He collaborated with brands like Nautica and Target; he appeared in the movie How High 2 ; he signed an endorsement deal with Sprite. Signees to his new label imprint, Concrete Boys, even get an iced-out chain.

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Born Miles Parks McCollum, Yachty embodies many of the ways the music industry has changed in the past decade. He rose to fame on the internet and commands attention with or without new music. Over Zoom in March, he’s calm and reserved, pausing intently before he responds to questions. The youthful exuberance is still there, though. At one point, his mom, who lives nearby, calls to ask what he wants from the grocery store. “I need Pop-Tarts,” he says sweetly. “I really want them cinnamon-bun Pop-Tarts.”

He can afford lots of Pop-Tarts. Yachty reportedly made $13 million on endorsements in 2016 and 2017. (“Work hard, play hard,” he responds when asked about the number.) He spends more than $50,000 a month on various expenses, according to one recent headline. (“If anything I pay a little more. I have many assets and insurance, plus an elaborate payroll.”) He’s working on a Reese’s Puffs cereal collaboration, a film based on the card game Uno, and he was one of the first rappers to hop on the crypto craze, selling something called a “YachtyCoin” last December in an auction on the platform Nifty Gateway. According to a report from Coinbase, the token sold for $16,050. Yachty explains that when he was first discovered by Quality Control records founder Kevin “Coach K” Lee, “one of the biggest things he talked about was being a brand. Being bigger than just an artist — being a mogul.” 

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In fact, collaboration has come to be a useful tool for Yachty as he sheds the King of the Teens title for something more akin to a rap mogul. “I only work with people I have friendships with, who I really admire,” Yachty says. “And I love working with newer artists, up-and-coming artists.”  Within the world of hip-hop, Yachty has found for himself somewhere between a megastar and internet hero, and it would appear that he’s just settling in. “I just fuck with new talent. Not even like, ‘let me sign you, get under my wing,’ ” he explains. “Just ‘hey, I’ve been in this spot before. I know what that’s like, bada bing, bada boom.’ ”

Yachty started Concrete Boys last year. One of the first signees was his childhood friend Draft Day, who offers one of the more exciting features on Lil Boat 3, on the cut “Demon Time.” “I feel old sometimes,” Yachty admits. “I feel old as fuck when someone’s popping and I don’t know who they are. Which is rare, because I be on my shit.”

Yachty is also at the forefront of a new realm of social platforms, namely Twitch and Discord, that engender more direct communication within communities. Yachty frequently talks directly to fans on both platforms, and in April he collaborated with Discord on “sound packs,” which allowed users to replace the app’s normal notifications with sounds he created. 

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I ask Yachty where he sees himself in five years. “Hopefully, a really successful actor,” he responds. “And with a bangin’ eight pack. I’ll probably cut my hair up, maybe a little beard. Real sex-symbol shit, you know what I’m saying?” For Yachty, who opened the door to a new brand of celebrity rapper, it doesn’t register as wishful thinking. His enduring celebrity is proof of what’s possible with a solid flow and internet savvy. “I just want to do everything. Because I’ve realized I can,” Yachty explains. “I’ve learned the power I have. The only thing stopping me is me, for real.”

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Lil Yachty Announces a Collaborative REESE'S PUFFS Cereal Box

The artist spoke to hypebeast about why this limited-edition box is one of his favorite projects yet..

Just over a month after debuting his REESE’S PUFFS rap at a virtual concert , Lil Yachty has announced the next phase in his collaboration with the brand. A limited-edition cereal box, designed by the artist, will soon be available at grocery stores across the U.S. and Canada for $3.99 USD.

Lil Yachty spoke to HYPEBEAST ahead of the drop about his childhood memories of the cereal, the process of writing his REESE’S PUFFS rap and why this collaborative box is one of his favorite projects yet.

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This Is Exactly What Lil Yachty Eats in One Day

The rapper walks us through his daily eating habits.

There is the food pyramid, and then there is the snack pyramid. Lil Yachty seems to solely sustain himself through the latter.

"You're making me think about all my snacks I like," the 22-year-old rapper says in our latest episode of Food Diaries. "It's so good."

From hoarding (literally) 40 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies to his newfound chip obsession, Lil Yachty divulges all his daily snacking habits. And if you find yourself wondering if he eats fruits or vegetables in between his empty calories, his answer may or may not surprise you: "I never ate them, no."

Of his Thin Mints obsession, the musician says, "When I realize that Girl Scout [Cookie] season is approaching, I start ordering them, and then I be forgetting, and I order them from somewhere else. So I order, like, 15 from this girl, then my mom orders me, like, six boxes. Then my grandma got me some. Then this chick had got me some—she got me, like, fucking 20." He shrugs. "I don't know if that just added up to 40, but I have, like, 40 boxes. I'm getting tired of them."

When he isn't munching on the do-gooder treats, Lil Yachty adds variety to his diet with different kinds of chips. "I just got into chips. I didn't eat chips for a while," he says. "But chips are kind of cool. The right kind of chips."

His flavor hit list includes maple syrup, honey-hot cheese puffs, and honey barbecue.

Watch the full episode above to see what else is pleasing his palate.

As an associate editor at HarpersBAZAAR.com, Chelsey keeps a finger on the pulse on all things celeb news. She also writes on social movements, connecting with activists leading the fight on workers' rights, climate justice, and more. Offline, she’s probably spending too much time on TikTok, rewatching Emma (the 2020 version, of course), or buying yet another corset. 

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Music Features

Lil yachty's delightfully absurd path to 'let's start here'.

Matthew Ramirez

LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 29: Lil Yachty performs on the Stage during day 2 of Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival 2017 at Exposition Park on October 29, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Rich Fury/Getty Images hide caption

LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 29: Lil Yachty performs on the Stage during day 2 of Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival 2017 at Exposition Park on October 29, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.

Lil Yachty often worked better as an idea than a rapper. The late-decade morass of grifters like Lil Pump, amidst the self-serious reign of Future and Drake (eventual Yachty collaborators, for what it's worth), created a demand for something lighter, someone charismatic, a throwback to a time in the culture when characters like Biz Markie could score a hit or Kool Keith could sustain a career in one hyper-specific lane of rap fandom. Yachty fulfilled the role: His introduction to many was through a comedy skit soundtracked by his viral breakout "1 Night," which tapped into the song's deadpan delivery and was the perfect complement for its sleepy charm. The casual fan knows him best for a pair of collaborations in 2016: as one-half of the zeitgeist-defining single "Broccoli" with oddity D.R.A.M., or "iSpy," a top-five pop hit with backpack rapper Kyle. Yachty embodied the rapper as larger-than-life character — from his candy-colored braids to his winning smile — and while the songs themselves were interesting, you could be forgiven for wondering if there was anything substantial behind the fun, the grounds for the start of a long career.

As if to supplement his résumé, Yachty seemed to emerge as a multimedia star. Perhaps you remember him in a Target commercial; heard him during the credits for the Saved by the Bell reboot; spotted him on a cereal box; saw him co-starring in the ill-fated 2019 sequel to How High . TikTok microcelebrity followed. Then the sentences got more and more absurd: Chef Boyardee jingle with Donny Osmond; nine-minute video cosplaying as Oprah; lead actor in an UNO card game movie. Somewhere in a cross-section of pop-culture detritus and genuine hit-making talent is where Yachty resides. That he didn't fade away immediately is a testament to his charm as a cultural figure; Yachty satisfied a need, and in his refreshingly low-stakes appeal, you could imagine him as an MTV star in an alternate universe. Move the yardstick of cultural cachet from album sales to likes and he emerges as a generation-defining persona, if not musician.

Early success and exposure can threaten anyone's career, none so much as those connected to the precarious phenomenon of SoundCloud rap. Yachty's initial peak perhaps seeded his desire years later to sincerely pursue artistry with Let's Start Here , an album fit for his peculiar trajectory, because throughout the checks from Sprite and scolding Ebro interviews he never stopped releasing music, seemingly to satisfy no one other than himself and the generation of misfits that he seemed to be speaking for.

But to oversell him as a personality belittles his substantial catalog. Early mixtapes like Lil Boat and Summer Songs 2 , which prophetically brought rap tropes and pop sounds into harmony, were sustained by the teenage artist's commitment to selling the vibe of a track as he warbled its memorable hook. It was perhaps his insistence to demonstrate that he could rap, too, that most consistently pockmarked his output during this period. These misses were the necessary growing pains of a kid still finding his footing, and through time and persistence, a perceived weakness became a strength. Where his peers Lil Uzi Vert and Playboi Carti found new ways to express themselves in music, Yachty dug in his heels and became Quality Control's oddball representative, acquitting himself on guest appearances and graduating from punchline rapper to respectable vet culminating in the dense and rewarding Lil Boat 3 from 2020, Yachty's last official album.

Which is why the buzzy, viral "Poland" from the end of 2022 hit different — Yachty tapped back into the same lively tenor of his early breakthroughs. The vibrato was on ten, the beat menaced and hummed like a broken heater, he rapped about taking cough syrup in Poland, it was over in under two minutes and endlessly replayable. Yachty has already lived a full career arc in seven years — from the 2016 king of the teens, to budding superstar, to pitchman, to regional ambassador. But following "Poland" with self-aware attempts at similar virality would be a mistake, and you can't pivot your way to radio stardom after a hit like that, unless you're a marketing genius like Lil Nas X. How does he follow up his improbable second chance to grab the zeitgeist?

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Lil yachty, 'poland'.

Let's Start Here is Lil Yachty's reinvention, a born-again Artist's Statement with no rapping. It's billed as psychedelic rock but has a decidedly accessible sound — the sun-kissed warmth of an agreeable Tame Impala song, with bounce-house rhythms and woozy guitars in the mode of Magdalena Bay and Mac DeMarco (both of whom guest on the album) — something that's not quite challenging but satisfying nonetheless. Contrast with 2021's Michigan Boy Boat , where Yachty performed as tour guide through Michigan rap: His presence was auxiliary by function on that tape, as he ceded the floor to Babyface Ray, Sada Baby and Rio Da Yung OG; it was tantalizing curation, if not a work of his own personal artistry. It's tempting to cast Let's Start Here as another act of roleplay, but what holds this album together is Yachty's magnetic pull. Whether or not you're someone who voluntarily listens to the Urban Outfitters-approved slate of artists he's drawing upon, his star presence is what keeps you engaged here.

Yachty has been in the studio recording this album since 2021, and the effort is tangible. He didn't chase "Poland" with more goofy novelties, but he also didn't spit this record out in a month. Opener (and highlight) "The Black Seminole" alternates between Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix-lite references. It's definitely a gauntlet thrown even if halfway through you start to wonder where Yachty is. The album's production team mostly consists of Patrick Wemberly (formerly of Chairlift), Jacob Portrait (of Unknown Mortal Orchestra), Jeremiah Raisen (who's produced for Charli XCX, Sky Ferreira and Drake) and Yachty himself, who's established himself as a talented producer since his early days. (MGMT's Ben Goldwasser also contributed.) The group does a formidable job composing music that is dense and layered enough to register as formally unconventional, if not exactly boundary-pushing. Yachty frequently reaches for his "Poland"-inspired uber-vibrato, which adds a bewitching texture to the songs, placing him in the center of the track. Other moments that work: the spoken-word interlude "Failure," thanks to contemplative strumming from Alex G, and "The Ride," a warm slow-burn that coasts on a Jam City beat, giving the album a lustrous Night Slugs moment. "I've Officially Lost Vision" thrashes like Yves Tumor.

Yet the best songs on Let's Start Here push Yachty's knack for hooks and snaking melodies to the fore and rely less on studio fireworks — the laid-back groove of "Running Out of Time," the mournful post-punk of "Should I B?" and the slow burn of "Pretty," which features a bombastic turn from vocalist Foushee. That Yachty's vaunted indie collaborators were able to work in simpatico with him proves his left-of-center bonafides. It's a reminder that he's often lined his projects with successful non-rap songs, curios like "Love Me Forever" from Lil Boat 2 and "Worth It" from Nuthin' 2 Prove . That renders Let's Start Here a less startling turn than it may appear at first glance, and also underlines his recurring talent for making off-kilter pop music, a gift no matter the perceived genre.

At a listening event for the record, Yachty stated: "I created [this] because I really wanted to be taken seriously as an artist. Not just some SoundCloud rapper, not some mumble rapper. Not some guy that just made one hit," seemingly aware of the culture war within his own genre and his place along the spectrum of low- to highbrow. To be sure, whether conscious of it or not, this kind of mentality is dismissive of rap music as an artform, and also undermines the good music Yachty has made in the past. Holing up in the studio to make digestibly "weird" indie-rock with a cast of talented white people isn't intrinsically more artistic or valid than viral hits or a one-off like "Poland." But this statement scans less as self-loathing and more as a renewed confidence, a tribute to the album's collective vision. And people like Joe Budden have been saying "I don't think Yachty is hip-hop " since he started. So what if he wants to break rank now?

Lil Yachty entered the cultural stage at 18, and has grown up in public. It adds up that, now 25, he would internalize all the scrutiny he's received and wish to cement his artistry after a few thankless years rewriting the rules for young, emerging rappers. Let's Start Here may not be the transcendent psychedelic rock album that he seeks, but it is reflective of an era of genreless "vibes" music. Many young listeners likely embraced Yachty and Tame Impala simultaneously; it tracks he would want to bring these sounds together in a genuine attempt to reach a wider audience. Nothing about this album is cynical, but it is opportunistic, a creation in line with both a shameless mixed-media existence and his everchanging pop alchemy. The "genre" tag in streaming metadata means less than it ever has. Credit to Yachty for putting that knowledge to use.

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• Fader Radio

“I hate being alone. That’s why I like being with my friends: we’ve got energy, we’re social as hell. I’m not 30 or anything — I’m 19.”

It was early June when Lil Yachty said this to my face, the two of us finally finding solitude in his Midtown Manhattan hotel room, moments after he took a FaceTime about an $80,000 watch and just two months since I turned 30. I alerted him to my age, and we both laughed at this mildly awkward moment.

When he said he hated being alone, he wasn’t lying. I had trailed him for the past four days in Los Angeles — in cars, hotels, radio stations, restaurants, recording studios, television studios, and retail stores — always in the company of others. Though I was never able to get him alone during this West Coast stretch, I did leave L.A. understanding his likes and dislikes. If I were ever charged with outfitting his green room, I’d know not to get weed and liquor but Domino’s, soda, and Fruit by the Foot.

I’d seen him be exceedingly polite to his elders, laugh at offensive jokes, talk about girls with the moxy of a kid that just made Varsity, handle business in a manner well beyond his years, and yell at his father over the phone, repeating the phrases “I’m not a child” and “You’re treating me like I’m 12,” the argument lasting for so long that the Beats 1 staff was in a literal standstill, wondering if he’d ever hang up the phone and talk to Zane Lowe.

That uninhibited earnestness, blissful ignorance, and ever-connectedness to the grid makes sense for someone who named his debut album Teenage Emotion , then just a few days from being released. It’s an exhausting, almost campaign-like undertaking — to be the teen. But he’s also almost done. In August, his tour of duty concludes. Lil Yachty turns 20.

Buy the Lil Yachty issue of The FADER , and order a poster of the cover here .

Achieving fame for your movement as much as for your music is, to many, suspicious. Red flags are often raised when the public can’t figure out what they’re being sold, if this new, different thing is real or a joke, if an artist cares about their craft or is trolling for stardom simply because they can. Years ago, when Donald Glover — then just a successful comedian — introduced the world to Childish Gambino , a die-hard fanbase emerged, as did an equally large contingent of haters and skeptics. Some people just didn’t like the music, from his voice to his subject matter, but most of the distrust was due to the assumption that this was nothing more than a vanity project. And when that happens in hip-hop, a notoriously proud universe, it’s often frowned upon.

In the past year, Lil Yachty has been an easy target for those who simply can’t figure him out. While speaking to Zane Lowe, he went on about the music he likes and his inspirations, a list that, seen through a cynical lens, may be random for the sake of being random and, through another, completely understandable. In a matter of minutes, he brought up Nelly and Tim McGraw’s “Over and Over Again,” Baby Bash, “Can You Stand the Rain” by New Edition, Slipknot, Gambino, and Fall Out Boy. When he got to Kid Cudi, he slowed down. Phrases he used to describe his love for Cudi included “relatable for emotional people,” “pioneer,” “dream journeys,” “dope sense of style,” “guardian angel,” and “tour guide.” These are the influences of a rapper who infamously said he couldn’t name five songs by Biggie or Tupac, then doubled down by calling Biggie “overrated.”

Both Funkmaster Flex and Joe Budden — hip hop’s current Statler and Waldorf — have taken issue with Yachty’s way of approaching life, Flex referring to him as a “mumble rapper” and Budden calling shenanigans on Yachty’s incessant positivity. For Budden, a man currently having a career resurgence purely off the strength of being a curmudgeon, Yachty was the perfect target. Unfortunately, it’s hard to win a shouting match against someone who won’t shout back. When Budden brought Yachty on his Everyday Struggle web show and said, “You can’t tell me you wake up every day happy 24/7, because to say that you are lying,” Yachty responded with a soft seriousness: “When you come from living in a dorm room with no clothes, no girls, no cars, and then you go to having three cars, girls, and money, you can’t help but be genuinely happy that things are moving in a positive direction.” As for his response to Funk Flex, a man almost 30 years his senior, Yachty said on Instagram: “I’m just enjoying life countin’ up my change. None of this is that serious to me. Take a chill pill my guy.”

It’s a masterful, near-political dismantling of the old heads, just another thing that makes Yachty a heroic figure to many of his teenage peers and a thorn in the side of many of his rap elders. He is his own spin room, polling phenomenally in his district, even while outside detractors continue to get louder.

Still, inquiries into whether or not it’s all a schtick aren’t without warrant. And the more you keep digging, with the young rapper constantly providing reasons for you to question the seriousness of his professional existence, the more you’re forced to realize that the teens have changed the rules, and the easiest way to get left behind is to get hung up on reality.

Atlanta, Georgia, hosted the Summer Olympics in 1996. A year later, Lil Yachty was born Miles McCollum in Mableton, a northside suburb. He grew up mainly with his mother, but he remembers his father, a prominent hip-hop photographer, playing J Dilla in the house, and fondly calls back the first tape he ever owned: Kris Kross. Yachty’s upbringing was polar, some moments highly relatable, others not even close. While at Pebblebrook High School, his mother made him cut his hair — then long black braids — so he could get a job at McDonald’s. After his tenure of mopping floors began, however, everyone around him started to colorfully style their hair. The result: the Yachty that visually stands out from the pack, his signature mop of red braids now famously adorned with beads that chandelier on his face. At the start of the summer of 2015, he moved himself to New York City, doing what so many others do — trying to get noticed. By August, he was back down South, arrested for credit card fraud.

The arrest proved to be a hurdle, but in no way a roadblock. His ability to make connections proved to be his truest early skill. By February of 2016, his public existence of a few songs, a look, and an Instagram account made it to Kanye West, who put him in his Yeezy Season 3 fashion show. In March, he put out his debut mixtape, Lil Boat, which included the breakthrough hit “Minnesota.” In April, he contributed the catchy opening verse to the D.R.A.M. song “Broccoli,” a radio mainstay. In May, he released the video for “1 NIGHT,” which is like rolling Tumblr, MGMT, Lisa Frank, and Montauk into four minutes of film. That same month, he appeared on Chance The Rapper’s critically adored Coloring Book . Like that, Yachty had arrived — a snowball effect of success.

In June, he did his first interview on New York City’s famed Hot 97, in which many of his ongoing conversation tropes appear: explaining the youth, discussing fans online, debating old vs. new rap, and talking about how much money he’s made in a relatively short amount of time. “Yachty’s always gotten it,” Hot 97 personality Peter Rosenberg told me. “We had to have the old heads conversation, but we liked him personally. He’s wise beyond his years for sure.”

As 2016 trucked along, he made the XXL Freshman list and signed with Quality Control Records, the home of then-rapidly rising trio Migos . By October, Yachty was in a Sprite commercial with LeBron James. Once caught scamming, he was now in a very real position to not only pay for things, but to provide. Yachty, truly a mama’s boy, routinely acknowledges how he “over-spoils” his mother. But it’s clear how much he loves her, and the feeling is mutual. When I was sitting with one of Yachty’s publicists during a photoshoot in New York, she showed me a text from “Mama Boat.” It was a lengthy Flipagram slideshow she made of photos of her son as a child: class pictures, mother-and-son shots, the requisite naked baby photos. It went on for so long I thought I’d blinked and it was actually on a loop. But no. It was still going. Because moms.

Talking about the cuteness of little Lil Yachty was a far cry from how we began. I’d met him for the first time a week earlier, on a Tuesday morning at Los Angeles’s Power 106 radio station, before he was slated to be a guest on The Cruz Show . Within seconds, I was already confused. I extended my hand for a shake and Yachty, his assistant, Nick, and his security, Twan, all opted for the pound. As I followed them into the green room, the three passed around hand sanitizer. None of them had even looked me in the eyes. The first thing I wrote down: “brats.”

The exception was Yachty’s manager, Kevin “Coach K” Lee. Seeing Coach, I lost interest in Yachty. Atlanta is a big city, but damn near microscopic when you have two black people of a certain age both intertwined with the city’s music landscape. Within minutes, our name game had gotten lengthy, and in the green room both Coach and I FaceTimed a mutual friend, DJ Speakerfoxxx. As Coach ended the call, I looked up — Yachty had a different expression for me. Knowing Coach had garnered me a brief smile.

Wiping it quickly away, he found a marker and began writing on a nearby dry-erase board. As a guy from the station came to alert him that it was time to begin, Yachty left a message, seemingly to no one in the room.

“Shout out 2 the vegans.”

I hung back for a second and stared at the board. Yes, this was weird. It felt like I was being baited by a manufactured faux-savant. But it also felt oddly familiar.

Finally entering the studio, Yachty sat in a chair, surrounded by a bounty of candy. Questioned about his food choices, he responded, “I don’t eat fruit.” Who was this kid?

The interview was a buildup for the show’s now-viral, entertaining gimmick: having rappers read the children’s book Llama Llama Red Pajama over a popular beat while throwing in their own ad-libs. Before this happened, however, the hosts told Yachty that there was someone on the phone that wanted to congratulate him on his album. It was Lil B .

“He’s my inspiration,” Yachty said, stunned. “If it wasn’t for him I probably wouldn’t be here.” I thought back to the note he left on the dry erase board.

In 2011, the height of the cult of Lil B, I saw his first show in New York at Hammerstein Ballroom. At one point, after the room full of teens were done throwing their shirts, chef hats, jewelry, shoes, and even a cell phone onstage as offerings to Lil B, he knighted a kid, said “I knighted him,” and declared, “Shout out to all my dudes that got hair on they chest. Shout out to all my dudes that got hair on they butts.”

At the time, the rap world was wildly divided on Lil B: was he a shame or a shaman? Six years ago, I was firmly convinced of the latter, often laughed out of conversations with rap purists for expressing a genuine appreciation for the liberating music and movement of Lil B. And now here I was, an older skeptic of a rapper who came up on Lil B, has a framed picture of Lil B in his Atlanta home, and, while more commercially popular, is essentially Charmeleon to Lil B’s Charmander.

Yachty acknowledged the connection on the show, saying that he admired the way Lil B connected to his fans, made his fans feel as if they knew him and that he cared. But even musically, there’s some connective tissue — lyrical moments of brilliance surrounded by stretches of “What is he talking about?” and “Is he a good rapper?”

Yachty’s process of making music, however, has been lauded by those who have worked with him. Atlanta producer Su$h! Ceej spent time toward the end of 2016 with him, and described studio sessions as “no pressure, all fun, all natural”: “He knows what beats he wants and is very specific with the sound he’s trying to create, freestyling everything at first and fine-tuning as he goes, making a lot of songs in a short amount of time depending on how many pizza breaks or what video games are in the other room.” As for Cleveland’s TrapMoneyBenny , who produced Teenage Emotions ’s final track, “Momma (Outro)” : “He’s one of my favorite people to work with.”

The combination of lyrical question marks, cosigns, and an intense connection to fans are the hereditary traits between The Based God and Lil Boat, resulting in rappers who are both atypical and vulnerable. And for anyone who has a rigid idea of how a rapper should act, it’s uncomfortable.

This connection to his fans trumping all was on full display back at the Beats 1 offices. Yachty sat in a chair, smiling from ear to ear, surrounded by producers and cameras, preparing to FaceTime fans for a segment. He’d just launched into yet another Fruit Roll Up as they waited for a guy named Lars from Norway to answer the phone. Lars never answered. “I get it, my family would murder me if I was talking on the phone at that hour,” Yachty said. “But no lie, if I was Lars, I would have taken that beating.”

The second person picked up. “It is I,” Yachty said. A guy wanted advice about how to find a girl he met in a moshpit at his concert. Instead of giving him a short answer, Yachty earnestly went through the most logical ways to track her down. “Go through the hashtags,” he said. “Or maybe she’ll hear this? You never know.” It was clear this was his happy place: talking to fans. The next caller was a woman. As soon as Yachty popped up, she began to cry. “Ohhhh, don’t cry,” he said, his face playfully scrunching up.

A third caller mentioned that she wished her boyfriend were there, because he’s a huge fan. Yachty suggested that they get his number. The girl was shocked, as was everyone in the room. They got the boyfriend’s number and called him. He freaked out. “Weird, I’ve never called another girl’s boyfriend,” Yachty said in a deadpan.

The entire room, once doing a great job holding back laughter, could no longer contain silence. It was like watching a 19-year-old black, male Delilah, from the calming voice, mild demeanor, extreme comfort as he talked to strangers, and genuine care about people that like him. “That definitely wasn’t the first time I’ve FaceTimed with fans,” Yachty said afterward. “It was just the first time it was recorded. I used to do that shit just for the fun of it.”

He’s not always so positive, though. Just 30 minutes earlier, he was forced to experience the full onslaught of the content machine. Two men talked to him about Musical.ly, a video social network app, while he wore a crown and giant star shades. He wore an unchecked pout on his face. In this moment, I was watching the self-proclaimed champion of youth age out of something.

“Some of that shit is so lame,” he later told me. “I push this ‘king of the teens’ shit, but they be thinking teens like 13. On some super corny, under-underage shit. It happens all the time.”

With each passing day, I became more interested in sitting down privately with him, finding out what he was like once all the distractions disappeared. Yet as we spent more time together, that sit-down also started to feel less essential. Not only was I getting the real him, all the time, but the distractions were never going to disappear.

At first, it was slightly off-putting to watch him seem uninterested in the beginning of interviews and side conversations. Yachty doesn’t necessarily love being on all the time, and his days in a press cycle often involve a great deal of stasis followed by the immediate ask to be Lil Yachty The Rap Star. But the more I saw, his changing moods yet constant effort became increasingly relatable and human — he’d set himself up to be a machine, within the machine.

Maybe Yachty will become a marionette like so many other celebrities, a rapper that promotes more brands than has songs. So far, he’s done a Target ad with the pop singer Carly Rae Jepsen and has a partnership with Nautica , in addition to Sprite. Or perhaps he’ll gravitate in another direction and just be subversive for the sake of drama, another thing he has experience in, from tweeting “fuck J. Cole” to a past beef with Soulja Boy over a fashion model.

Listening to his album Teenage Emotions , it’s an identity crisis. It’s what you expect from someone being pulled in 10 directions at once, caught between youth and adulthood. On “X Men,” arguably the album’s gulliest moment, he still finds a way to do it with a slight wink, ending a verse with, “All of you niggas is marks/ You stinky and dirty like farts.” It’s as if he’s trying to find the right way to rebel, this album showing the various lanes that he might pick: hard and tough, sweet and romantic, young and goofy.

Right now, though, he’s opting out of a singular path, primarily choosing calm and collected. I pushed him on talking about Lil Uzi Vert , for example, with whom a rivalry had been suggested in an earlier radio interview, his answer prompting a clickbait-drenched blog post suggesting there was beef. That bothered Yachty. “Me and Uzi aren’t friends,” Yachty calmly offered. “We used to be cool. It’s not beef, it’s just competition. That’s all it is. We’re not friends.” He says what’s on his mind, and he’s quite personable, eventually. Just sometimes it takes a bit for him to recharge the battery.

The morning after Yachty’s full day of radio, he turned his attention to doing television. And on set in the CBS Studio Center lot, the room just let out a collective gasp. Did Martha Stewart realize what she just said to Lil Yachty, out loud, in front of an entire studio audience? Yachty had just come on stage as a guest on the weed-and-euphemism-filled circus that is Martha and Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party , a VH1 show that often makes SNL’s “What’s Up With That?” sketch look like Catholic mass.

It was clear the only prep Martha received about him was that he didn’t drink or smoke, so she talked to him like an innocent child. When it was time to discuss the Teenage Emotions album cover — an artistic exercise in inclusion — the image was not available. The network hadn’t gotten the image cleared. Taping stopped and the Doggfather stood up, chastising the powers that be for never getting stuff cleared. In a very loud, swear-filled finger wag, Snoop appropriately referred to Yachty’s album cover as “this nigga’s shit.” So Martha, sitting at a table with her co-host, Yachty, comedian Gary Owen, and actress Laverne Cox, leaned over — while wearing a sari for their Indian food-themed episode — and, both maternally and ignorantly, said, “Yachty, does it upset you when Snoop says ‘nigga shit?’”

The room filled with every imaginable reaction: anger, horror, embarrassment, laughter, joy, pain. Throughout the exchange, Martha Stewart did not seem to understand what the big deal was. Yachty’s reaction: a huge smile. It had been a long morning of sitting and waiting, following a day of interviews that involved a great deal of sitting and waiting. Once he finally made it on stage, he was charismatic, but seemed to be running on fumes. When Martha had her record scratch moment, though, Yachty came alive. By the end of the show’s taping, he was playfully running around the stage with Snoop, avoiding a crew of belly dancers that had just brought out a giant yellow snake, in this, a wildly appropriative episode of television.

The taping of the show lasted so long, Yachty missed his next engagement, a meeting at the Grammy offices to become a member. That meant the following stop was Urban Outfitters, to sign posters of his album cover. Pulling up to the Hollywood locale, however, we were early, a fact that puzzled Yachty almost to the point of embarrassment: “Wait, so y’all got me, the rapper, here first?”

It was true — it looked as if no one had come to see him. Twan, his security, countered with, “No, there’s a long line.” Everyone in the car thought this was just him being a supportive friend. But when the van circled the block, a long line snaked through a side alley, causing Yachty’s crew to erupt in laughter. Seconds later, a car drove by playing “Broccoli.”

“Ooh, that’s me,” he said, finishing a pack of M&Ms. Yachty was alive, yet again.

In our time together, the black Sprinter van we travelled in became something of a second home, powerless against the lull of Los Angeles traffic. The swings in his personality were on full display during these rides. Sometimes he was dead quiet, other times chatting on his phone, once or twice making fun of his boys for literally anything. It also was a time for him and Coach to catch up on news, like the moment Coach found out they were being sued over the song “Peek A Boo” by a rapper who made a song titled “Pikachu.”

Coach played “Pikachu” for the van and we all laughed. Yachty seemed a bit nervous, not knowing if this was real or not, but Coach reassured him that it was nothing. The brief back-and-forth was representative of their relationship, less of the typical manager-artist vibe and more super smart kid and wise camp counselor.

“It makes things pretty one-sided sometimes,” Yachty said of Coach. “Like, technically the manager works for the artist. What the artist says goes. But I know Coach always has the best intentions, so sometimes he just tells me what to do. And I don’t really have any say. I mean, I have a say so, but for the most part I don’t really care to say anything.”

The following day was Yachty’s final media jaunt before the release of Teenage Emotions . The excitement began at Mel’s Drive-In, a retro diner in Hollywood. The old-school feel of the restaurant echoed the attire Yachty would be wearing during his performance: a baby blue prom blazer, white tuxedo pants, and a white ruffled shirt a la Randy Watson from Coming To America . The restaurant overflowed with people having meals with their families, plus a scattering of teenagers who knew Yachty was en route. When he walked in, his red beads and camouflage jacket both matching and contrasting, the place became a zoo. Yachty stood on a table in a side patio amid screams of “Fuck Joe Budden” and kids offering him things they brought, from cash to their own shoes.

Yachty’s Lil B moment had come full circle. Attempting to give a speech, his words were drowned out by the throng of screaming fans. Finally, they got quiet and Yachty simply said, “Follow me.”

There were enough fans to fill Hollywood Boulevard, but we walked up the sidewalk. From a distance, it looked as if a young Venus Williams was leading an army with the tactical knowledge of Douglas MacArthur, and the masses were ever-growing. At one point, two teenage girls saw the Million Teen March, ditched their Uber ride, and ran across a busy intersection to join in.

Yachty brought his faithful to the entrance of the Hollywood Masonic Temple, home of the Jimmy Kimmel Show , then disappeared into the building. The mob scene was over, for now. The next few hours involved a soundcheck with the band at the outdoor stage and prep in the green room before the show. Yachty was back to more sitting and waiting, which didn’t bode well for his biggest television performance to date.

But just as his energy began to dip, the one missing piece of the puzzle exploded into his room, as if to make everything right: the Sailing Team .

Yachty’s crew from home had flown in from Atlanta, flooding the green room with bodies, dreads, and hugs just as Yachty prepared to hit the Kimmel outdoor stage. It suddenly felt like a party, and the smile on Yachty’s face was a smile I’d never seen, a smile I’d been waiting on. A pizza the size of an ottoman appeared. It wasn’t Domino’s or Papa John’s, but it was large enough to feed all his boys, so it was perfect. Yachty had all he needed: pizza, candy, and his best friends.

Hours later, after his Kimmel performance, the venue was a hotel ballroom full of pink and lavender balloons, a DJ, a photobooth, a stage, and people dressed up. His day had gotten even better. Yachty threw himself, and his friends and fans, a prom.

Of all the elements I’d watched him hop between in three days, this was Yachty at his best. He and the Sailing Team performed Yachty songs old and new. But, in a move you rarely see, they also rapped along and danced to other people’s songs. Jumping around and throwing water into the crowd, they were simultaneously attending their prom and that of the hired prom band.

And although it took him a little while, right before the buzzer went off on his teenage years, Yachty finally got what he wanted, what he deserved, what he earned. For one night, he was Prom King.

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“I Just Care a Lot”: Lil Yachty Opens up About His Tour and Friendship With Drake

Lil Yachty checked in with Complex in an exclusive pre-tour interview.

Lil Yachty is in an energized state of stillness. If that sounds paradoxical, that’s because it is. It’s the Wednesday night before the first show of his 2023 tour and he’s had an hour of sleep. But between yawns, it’s clear that Yachty is fresh off of the high of what’s bound to be a fun run.

Aside from a 39-stop global tour, Yachty has been working closely with Drake on For All the Dogs, and there’s fresh ink on a few new partnerships, including an exciting one with C4 Energy—which, it becomes very clear, he’ll be leaning on.

Nine months after the release of what is debatably his best project to date, Lil Yachty checked in with Complex in an exclusive pre-tour interview from his hotel in Washington D.C., the night before his tour starts, to share what he’s been overthinking as of late, run us through his emotions on what our team is deeming a tour that exhibits a “versatile,” evolving Yachty, and opine on Drake’s upcoming album, which he’s heavily involved in. How are you feeling? What type of energy are you on today? I was packing all night, I didn't go to sleep…. I’m an overthinker when it comes to getting dressed, so I packed until, like, seven, and then I got up and got ready at 7:50, so, like, I didn't really sleep last night…but I had so much energy this morning for some reason.

It’s going to be a long run of tour and it sounds like you're probably gonna need a lot of energy so I can think of a few reasons why you hopped into this one, but what makes the partnership, especially a multiyear partnership, with C4 a good pairing for you? I think just finding a home again, you know, I hate to advertise being that guy that never sleeps. But I think I found a home for something to fuel my days and nights because I am the guy who never sleeps. I mean literally never. So it made the most sense. To find a family—almost like a joint family for the boosting of my energy. And with the collaboration, the look and the style of the brand was very much on brand for me, you know, with the swag…it just didn't feel simple or some, like, muscle man drink, you know? It was very much cool and I only like to do things that feel like me. I'm so sketchy when I feel like something is not me. Kids are really into energy drinks these days. I'm not one of them. I'm a tea and coffee girl but I feel like when I say kids, I'm including the 20-somethings like us… That’s because this world is run on streamers, gamers, and content creators [who are] putting in those heavy-duty hours creating that content.

Yeah. I have friends outside of those spaces though who are, like, hooked on Celsius, Red Bull, C4, and all these other energy drinks. What’s up with that? I would never speak for anyone, but I do think that the younger generation now more than ever are putting in hours and working long hours more than ever before, whether working early morning or working late nights. And on top of that, you're young. So it's not like you're only working, you're also probably maintaining a life or trying to, you know…balancing so many things which then comes the point of, “Man. It's only so much time in a day. Gotta keep that clock going.”

Yeah. Well, now that you’re on tour, what have you been listening to these days to keep you going? I've been listening to For All the Dogs man. That's, that's all I've been bumping. My head been in there. For real though, that's all I really been listening to.

Friendship aside, what is it about it that you love that has you keep coming back to it? It's just fresh and fun if you ask me. But I mean, that's not the only thing I listen to. I also listen to a lot of John Carroll Kirby, I gotta say that because I do listen to a lot of John Caroll Kirby right now because he is just such a fucking sick jazz musician and his spin on jazz is so cool. But besides [that], … For All The Dogs is just cool. And last time I checked (and, I check every fucking day) what is out right now? Like, musically, what is even…what's happening right now? Nothing. You know what I'm saying? So, being a part of something that's being created that is so fresh, it's so here, it's so ready, you know what I'm saying? Like it's, it's ready and I think that's the part.

Drake's been on this tour run and you've been around for some of it, you know, what have you learned from him from touring? Not much. Me and him are kind of different when it comes to lifestyle. Like we're really similar as people, but as far as life, we're very different. Like, I don't go out, he loves to go out, he loves to host people, he loves to party and I don’t like people that much. And I record every day all day,where he kind of is very selective on his recording days as he has more of a life than I do. And, he is much more into actually living life as to where I am literally trying to record music every day. And I don't know if I get that from him of like, “Oh, I should go live a life too,” because I enjoy not living life, I enjoy making music. This is my fun. I hate going out. So, if anything, I just realized that you can be so similar to somebody yet so different at the same time.

{ "id": 135631513 } "Drake is much more into actually living life as to where I am literally trying to record music every day. And I don't know if I get that from him of like, 'Oh, I should go live a life too,' because I enjoy not living life, I enjoy making music."

And he's obviously learned a lot from you too. You've helped with his choices, like with the cover artwork of Her Loss . You've given insight and produced on the upcoming project. Do you feel like a creative director of sorts for Drake at times? What's that like? I mean, I think I care, you know? As a friend, I just care a lot as a friend, I care about all my friends, you know? It just so happens that one of my friends is one of the biggest artists in the world. But I'm a very supportive, open friend. I'm not a guy to show love in private. I publicly show love, and I think it sometimes makes a lot of people…people have things to say, but, it never bothered me. I'm a public love shower, and that's beautiful.

You said the word so I have to ask now, because I ask it of most artists I speak to. How do you define love? I think it is an idea of happiness and a version of super strength; strong energy that’s connected spiritually. It’s when you feel embedded in someone and you want them to be great. It changes depending on the form of love. I mean, we [can] just sit down and have a love class/conversation if you want. But I think it just depends on the relationship and the intent.

WELL, I do want to have a love class or larger conversation, so we'll have to do that another time. But, getting back to the music—I'm excited to hear that you're working on new stuff. I love Let’s Start Here . You’ve been called many things. What are some labels that you want to do away with and others you want to maybe impose on yourself now? What would you call this next era? I'm just an artist, you know? I'm not a mumble rapper. I'm not a one-hit wonder. I'm not a…I don't know, I'm just an artist. I love to rap. I love to sing. I love to write. I love to produce. I'm just an artist, and you should never expect anything because I will always do something unexpected. Just don't expect it. I'm gonna just start doing ASMR of me making peanut butter jelly sandwiches. Don't expect anything because imma always do the opposite. You know, I hate to disappoint, but I'm here to disappoint if you start expecting shit.

You did say you're making music every day. So, how do you describe what you're making now? How do you feel about it? It's rap shit. Making Let’s Start Here took time. Every day. But I think about it every day and I'm so excited to start the next album. But I'm just having fun making raps though, and tons of shit that I'm into putting out. I'm so excited as to what I have next and I got some things, I got some things in the pipeline, and it's coming real soon. I'm excited.

View this video on YouTube

It's funny, you recently said you want to be mentioned in certain conversations, including “stupid shit,” like the Complex list of best albums of the year, which [ laughs ], I'll say I don't think is stupid shit, but, can you elaborate on that? I say stupid shit because I think that you should never grade your work based on someone else's opinion. That's why I call it stupid. You know? But, I still do it. I shouldn't say my albums aren’t good because I didn't get a Grammy or because Complex didn't nominate, or I didn't make the Top 10 Apple chart; I shouldn't do that because there are gonna be millions of people in the world who still think it's great. It's something that could possibly diminish all of my hard work and my brain if I allow it to. First-week numbers and that kind of stuff. 

Well, we liked it. So, continue to keep an eye on that list. I appreciate it. I'm so grateful when people…and I hate saying this because I always feel like “I don't give a fuck if you don't like it or not [ laughs ].” But I always am so grateful and appreciative when people are into anything that I make. I think now a little less than it used to, but for the longest [time], it would just shock me that people even liked my music. I was like, “For real?” I still don't even really believe people listen to me.

{ "id": 135631515 } "I always am so grateful and appreciative when people are into anything that I make.

I feel like it just shines through when it's something that you like and it's something that you had fun making, that shines through and that makes people appreciate it all the more. So, yeah—I know you’re not coming to LA but I'll have to catch you somewhere else. It's such a great show. I'm so excited. I've never done a show like this ever. It feels cool.

Tell me a little bit about it. I have no clue how people are gonna react. I'm so nervous because it is a different show, and I haven't toured in five years, and I toured three times before in 2017, and when I would tour those three tours, I'd see super fans. I’d see the same people a lot of times. They loved me.

And if I know anything, I imagine these people are gonna come again. It's a different show, and I've grown so much and so much has changed in my life. And to be honest, like I said, I haven't done a Lil Yachty show in five years, I've done shows, I've done festivals. I've done college shows and these are my shows, but there are also other people on the bill, so people come and see me but they come and see this person or maybe they were just at school and it was an event for the night or whatever. I went on, like, a yearly run of just college shows and festivals. So these are my first shows where people are paying hard tickets to go see Lil Yachty. And I just am feeling all the emotions.

What are you nervous about? I just haven't really played this album many times. I get to really see my fans react to it, and it's a different show than I'm used to, it's not the average, moshpit, jump around show. So, we just have to see how people react.

What are you most excited about? I'm such an analytical person. I just like to watch and see how people react. 

Is there anything else you wanna say about it? Come with an open mind.

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Lil Yachty Clarifies His "Beef" with Lil Uzi Vert: It's All About Competition

I n a candid interview with The Fader, Lil Yachty, the 19-year-old sensation who's been making waves in the hip-hop scene, opened up about the alleged "beef" between him and fellow rapper Lil Uzi Vert . The internet has been buzzing with rumors, but Yachty sets the record straight:

It's not beef, it's just competition.

The Backstory

Lil Yachty burst onto the music scene with his debut album, Teenage Emotion, and has since become a household name. His infectious energy, colorful style, and unapologetic authenticity have endeared him to fans worldwide. But it's his recent comments about Lil Uzi Vert that have everyone talking.

The Rivalry?

In an interview, Yachty was asked about his relationship with Lil Uzi Vert. The media speculated that there might be tension between the two rising stars. Yachty, however, was quick to clarify:

Me and Uzi aren't friends. We used to be cool. It's not beef, it's just competition. That's all it is. We're not friends.

A Tale of Two Titans

The comparison between Lil Yachty and Lil Uzi Vert is inevitable. Both artists represent a new generation of hip-hop, blending genre boundaries and challenging conventions. While Lil Uzi Vert has his own unique style, Yachty's playful approach and carefree attitude have drawn comparisons to another hip-hop icon: Lil B.

The Lil B Connection

Author Rembert Browne draws parallels between Yachty and Lil B, the enigmatic rapper who once declared, "Shout out to all my dudes that got hair on they chest. Shout out to all my dudes that got hair on they butts." Lil B's influence on Yachty is evident, and the comparison is more than skin-deep.

It's All Love

Despite any perceived tension, Yachty remains respectful. Yachty's honesty and maturity shine through, proving that hip-hop can thrive without unnecessary drama.

We're not enemies, I respect Uzi's hustle, and he respects mine. It's a healthy competition.

As Lil Yachty continues to rise, he's focused on pushing boundaries and creating music that resonates with his generation. Whether it's a friendly rivalry or a clash of titans, one thing is clear: Lil Yachty is here to stay.

This article was originally published on rhymejunkie.com as Lil Yachty Clarifies His "Beef" with Lil Uzi Vert: It's All About Competition .

Offset turns the tables on podcaster Bobbi Althoff in her latest awkward interview: 'I couldn't even Google you'

• Offset hilariously turned the tables on podcaster Bobbi Althoff in her latest awkward interview.
• The former Migos rapper said he had to go on TikTok to find out who she was.
• "I couldn't even Google you," he said. "You're not there yet."

Offset hilariously turned the tables on podcaster Bobbi Althoff in a clip from her latest awkward interview by suggesting he had no idea who she was.

The former Migos member is the latest rapper to appear on Althoff's "The Really Good Podcast" after Drake, Lil Yachty, and Tyga. 

Sharing a snippet of the interview to Instagram on Monday, Althoff said the whole episode is expected to drop "Thursday, probably."

In the clip, Offset asked Althoff what she does, to which she replied: "I interview people."

After Offset asked Althoff why she wanted to interview him, the podcaster said: "I didn't."

"Your team reached out to mine," she added.

"Don't cap, let's not cap about that," replied Offset. "Flag on the play. Cap."

Althoff then said: "I honestly don't know how this came about, my team could have reached out to yours. I'm not gonna, I don't wanna make you look back."

Offset replied: "They had to show me who Bobbi was. I thought they was talking about Bobby Boucher."

Bobby Boucher is the main protagonist of the 1998 comedy film "The Waterboy," played by Adam Sandler.

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Althoff responded by saying that she had "never heard of Offset" and that she had "Googled" him on the way to the interview.

"I had to go on TikTok, I couldn't even Google you," Offset replied. "You're not there yet. But you'll be there. But you're on TikTok."

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Bobbi Althoff (@bobbialthoff)

Fans were quick to praise Offset for his witty responses and managing to keep up with Althoff's dry sense of humor.

"Pulled out the Uno reverse card on her," commented one fan on Althoff's video.

Another wrote: "He demolished her."

"You've met your match," commented another.

Althoff, 26, first rose to prominence as a mom influencer on TikTok before shifting to comedic content.

Since launching her podcast in 2021, she's managed to score interviews with a number of famous musicians in a shockingly short space of time, most notably Drake.

The "One Dance" rapper made a surprise appearance on Althoff's podcast in July, during which they sat together in bed tucked underneath a layer of blankets.

For unknown reasons, clips of Althoff's interview with Drake have since been removed from her  YouTube channel and Instagram.

The pair have also unfollowed each other on Instagram.

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Smokepurpp Feels Lil Yachty Is One of the Best Rappers Out

Smokepurpp knows the stakes are high. After blowing up with last summer's "Audi" —just one piece of a widespread hip-hop awakening that's been taking place in South Florida over the past couple of years—the 20-year-old Miami rapper is determined to make a lasting mark on the culture. He's following September's Deadstar  mixtape with an upcoming collaborative project with producer Murda Beatz called Bless Yo Trap —but he stops short of positioning it as his official debut LP. Purpp is trusting the process.

"I lowkey wanted to make the Murda tape my first album," Smokepurpp says , swiveling in an office chair at XXL 's Manhattan headquarters. "I feel like when you make an album it really has to hold its ground. It has to make a stamp. So I want to take my time. It's way different for tapes—I'll record for three months and then just pick the songs I like and make a fire tape. For an album, it's more like you gotta build it. You gotta make one song that might take a few sessions and then make another song. It's way harder."

Lil Purpp has been building his career brick by brick since his early days of running around his city with Lil Pump, waving heavy artillery for music video director Cole Bennett's camera. In just a short year, he's signed deals with Interscope and Alamo Records, aligned himself with Travis Scott's Cactus Jack Records, and worked with the likes of Juicy J, Chief Keef and Yo Gotti on Deadstar . Smokepurpp is riding that success with the anticipated  Bless Yo Trap , lead by the project's title track and "123." And while the anticipation is high, he's still amazed by the whirlwind of the last 365.

"Last year I had no idea I was gonna meet Gucci, meet Drake, meet Yachty," he says. "I thought it was gonna take me five years to get there. Next thing you know, I'm with all of these niggas at the same party drinking out the same bottle. This shit crazy. So I just feel like everything I do I take a higher step."

Smokepurpp sat down with XXL to speak on his early days as a producer, his upcoming collaborative project with Murda Beatz and the possibility of a Drake collaboration.

XXL : You started 2018 by denouncing the recreational use of Xanax . Congrats on kicking the habit.

Smokepurpp: 100 percent factuals. No Xanax forever—fuck 2018. 2019, no Xanax. Just slowing down on drugs, period. Even last time I was here, I feel like I was just [ poses in slumped position ]. Now I feel like I'm on my P's & Q's. I only smoke. Before I used to be off the lean, Xans, Percs—every day type shit. That shit was hard to stop. But I feel way better.

You could've just done that and not said anything. But you made a point to say it.

It's funny because when I first stopped, I didn't even like talking about it. But now that I finally got past that shit, I like talking about it. Cause I be looking back now, like, “Yo, how did I let myself do all of that shit.” Now I be looking back and just be happy, like, “Yo, that's crazy.”

We’re happy for you, too. Travis Scott was as well. He responded by tweeting, “This tweet made me so happy.”

Because he knows. I used to be—even if you don't know, you could see it. I used to everywhere just nodding off, like, fucked up. And to be real, I don't even really know why. Because usually I feel like people take drugs just to hide from problems. I feel like I was just doing that shit. It was pointless. So I guess he probably saw it and he was happy that I stopped.

What was it like shooting the “Fingers Blue” video with Travis? That was a crazy concept.

This is gonna sound funny as fuck but they told me right before the video shoot—they never asked me, like, “Yo, these are the treatments, pick a treatment.” Five days before the shoot they were just like, “We're choosing Nabil [Elderkin]. Travis fucks with him. This is the treatment, let's do it.” So I'm like, lemme check the treatment. And I’m like, This shit is crazy!" Shooting the video was wild, because all of those zombie-looking girls looked so real. It was like some crazy-ass makeup so while we were shooting that shit, I was actually scared, bro. We had to be in a room full of these zombie-looking ass girls with hooks hanging off the roof and fucked-up teeth. That shit looks so real it was actually scary. We put a behind-the-scenes video out and you could see us trying to get away from them. So that shit was crazy lit, I fucked with it. And that was the first video I shot with Travis, too.

You recently got in the studio with Lil Yachty for "Do Not Disturb" from your upcoming collaborative Bless Yo Trap project with Murda Beatz, as well.

Yeah, Yachty's on the Murda tape—he was literally the first feature. We were in the same studio in L.A. and I didn't know. He texted me like, “You gon' act like you don't got my number?” [ Laughs ] I was like, “You here?” I went to the room next door and brought a song with me. He just freestyled that shit. Like 10 minutes, he was done with that shit. I was like, “Yo, you went off bro. You snapped.” I'm not gon' lie, his recording process, that shit is fire because he literally goes in a freestyles and it's like nothing to him. People don't give Yachty the credit that he deserves. He actually snaps. He actually says shit, he be coming with the metaphors and niggas don't give him credit for that. In my opinion, he's a good rapper—one of the best rappers out right now. From the new generation, there's a lot of niggas that don't really say shit but he a good rapper. He has different styles, he's versatile.

In December, you posted a photo of you and Drake together. How did you two meet?

Yo, it was so crazy because he's a humble-ass person. He's genuine. That's how I like people because that's how I am. The very first time I met him was in a club. To get to him, it's so much security. I was with one of my managers; he was like, “Whatever, I'ma introduce you to Drake.” But he seen me and his homeboy P Reign seen me, and he was like, “Yo, let him through.” They let me all the way through and I met him in the club. This is in Miami. The second time I really met him and we could talk without loud-ass music, I met him at a party. We was just talking and shit. He's a cool-ass person. He's humble. I fuck with him.

Do you and Drake have music in the works?

I don't know. You just gotta see what the future holds, see what happens. I would like to work with Drake, it would be cool.

You started out as a producer before getting into rap yourself. Are you still involved heavily on the production of your music?

Yeah, I started off producing first. I really didn't make beats for myself. People were not fucking with them at first. I had to use them myself and then people started grabbing them. I started producing for Pump—I produced his first songs. Lil Pump, Elementary, Johnny Dang, all that I produced. I moved over to rapping and that shit really took off—producing never really took off for me. Rapping took off and that's when I was able to go back to producing. Most of my songs—even “Audi” —I made that beat with Ronny [J]. Most of the beats I get on I made with the producer.

You co-produce them?

Yeah. Or just producing and letting the producer do their own shit. I just feel like I always gotta be a part of the beat. Since I produce, I know exactly how I want it to sound. So I feel like I always gotta be a part of it.

Your friend Lil Pump has recently been toying with production, too. Last month, he tweeted a snippet of a song that he says he produced . Have you helped Pump with that side of his artistry at all?

Nah. I tried to make him produce before. That beat, I never heard until the preview came out. So I don't know about that. But I helped him before. He probably just made that on his own.

What are your plans for the rest of 2018?

My plan for 2018 is to go even harder. I literally blew up Summer 2017, so I'm still getting used to everything. My plans for 2018 are to keep building, keep working, keep doing what I've been doing, just at another level.

See New Music Releases for March 2018

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