REVIEW: Lil Yachty - Let's Start Here

Lil Yachty traded in his 808’s for psychedelic rock guitars and expansive synth-pop and jazzy-funk soundscapes and the result was: Let’s Start Here.

For someone who spent the first few years of their career as the poster child for all that was “bad” about the mainstream mumble rap and Soundcloud generation, Yachty’s latest offering feels like a reset, the end of an era and the beginning of something new. This album has fans from all corners of music talking; from pop, rock, funk, hip-hop and even jazz. It is the unexpected concoction that Yachty has been crafting for the past year.

With this album, Yachty wastes no time as he dives head-first with an over-the-top psychedelic number with guitar solos very reminiscent of “Maggot Brain” by Funkadelic. This opening track, titled “the BLACK seminole.” has a runtime of nearly 7 minutes and probably packs the most thrill because everything else that follows almost feels like some (lesser) variation of this big opener. Some artists would have placed this track further down in hopes to gently ease the listener into it but Yachty is making big, bold moves throughout the album and wastes no time in making this his first grand statement. The texture and feeling of this is very reminiscent of Pink Floyd, as if Richard Wright was the one playing the keyboards himself on here. A mumble rapper channeling psychedelic rock, call it Purple Floyd!

With production assistance from Chairlift’s Patrick Wimberly, the instrumentation is so expansive but somehow Yachty treads these deep waters calmly and with a confidence worthy of all admiration. He doesn’t sound out of place. Instead, he sounds very sure of himself, like he’s been preparing for this moment. This comes as no surprise when you remember his Rollingstone interview from a couple of years ago ahead of his Michigan Boy Boat album release, where he said that he had been exploring some psychedelic-rock and wanted to incorporate some of those elements into his next album. “I met Andrew from MGMT, and I’ve been talking to a bunch of people. I met Kevin Parker, I’ve been talking to him. It’s just inspiring,” he said. “But what I’m trying to do on my next album, I’m trying to really take it there sonically.”

Almost every musical output from him since 2021 has felt like a slight departure from the sound he spent so many years playing in. Even thinking back to his viral moment on TikTok when he did an in-app duet to Sadie Jean’s hit “WYD Now?,” — a vocal performance which, if I have to be honest, felt like something Juice WRLD would’ve been perfect for.

Considering how much ground the album covers creatively, things could have easily gone so wrong but, credit to Yachty’s self awareness, he assembled a team of creatives that was able to make sure he executed his vision successfully. The impressive list of collaborators includes, Patrick Wimberly of Chairlift, Jacob Portrait from Unknown Mortal Orchestra and the likes of Mac DeMarco, Alex G as well as well-known pop songwriters Jeremiah Raisen and Justin. These creators helped Yachty produce one of the most impressive albums of the year so far and the cohesiveness of it all has to be noted.

Features include the vocally impressive Diana Gordon (fka Wynter Gordon) on songs like “drive ME crazy!” and “I’VE OFFICIALLY LOST ViSiON!!!!” (she completely bodied her parts on here btw) as well as the likes of Fousheé on “pRETTy,” and R&B crooner Daniel Caeser in the mix there somewhere as well and even Justine Sky makes an appearance. When listening to the softer alternative rock cuts on the album with lush production, I can’t help but feel like Kid Cudi and Phoebe Bridgers would have been great additions to this body of work.

In addition to Funkadelic’s influence, other very clear influences on this album range from, Daft Punk’s robotic vocals, Silk Sonic’s funk, Tame Impala’s psych-rock on a song like “the ride-,” and "running out of time," and atmospheric, melancholy hooks on "paint THE sky" reminiscent of The Weeknd. You can also hear a little bit of Metronomy's “Heartbreaker” influence with the bass-line throughout “Running Out of Time”.

Even though he is still inconsistent with his songwriting abilities, what he lacks in that department he makes up for in emotion delivered through some of his best vocal performances to date. Thematically, Yachty is still battling with feelings of loneliness, heartbreak, failure.

While there will be people saying Yachty is not offering something that hasn’t been done before in the grand scheme of things however, I do feel like this is a side to him we have never seen before as an artist. When you’ve been boxed into a specific style for so long, it can be daunting to try branch out and experiment with something new, especially if what you’ve been doing up until now has largely been a success.

In terms of “mumble rappers doing the unexpected”, this moment is reminiscent of Playboi Carti and Lil Uzi Vert releasing Whole Lotta Red and Eternal Atake respectively, which, at the time, felt like these two artists were successfully pushing the envelope as far as what “mumble rappers” could do artistically and conceptually. It was less imitation and more innovation. Not saying Yachty is playing the imitation game but, some parts do feel like he is pulling from a canvas that’s already been proven to be a successful formula and so the risk is not that high in the grand scheme of things but for him personally, it definitively is a big swing.

This does not necessarily make it a bad album. If anything, his efforts feel like they came from a genuine place of inspiration and admiration for the great artists who have walked this path before. Not everything needs to be a “masterpiece” to be considered a success — sometimes good is enough for a first step in a new direction. Also, Yachty should be praised for attempting something different and actually doing it well, not be praised for just simply being a rapper who experimented with something different. Too often, rappers are not looked at as full-fledged artists until they try something really out there — almost as if rappers aren’t real artists themselves. Hip-hop artists should not have to make an 808’s & Heartbreak or To Pimp A Butterfly or an IGOR or even a Speeding Bullet To Heaven in order to be respected as artists.

At the very least, Let’s Start Here matches Yachty’s most acclaimed work and the fact that he is doing it in a genre(s) he’s never really attempted before is commendable. He took a huge risk and I truly believe it will pay off. As far as his own catalogue goes, Yachty has officially entered uncharted waters.