The aggressive use of Auto-Tune and unintelligible flows on some of his breakthrough material made
Lil Yachty
the poster child for mumble rap, and while his output stayed experimental and unpredictable to some extent, nothing in his catalog could have foretold the total shift that comes with
Let's Start Here.
Though not completely void of rapping,
is way more of a psychedelic soul album than a rap album, with live instrumentation heavy on slick jazzy guitars, big drums, and fantastical synths. The album begins with one of its more over-the-top dives into psychedelia, the nearly seven minute long "the BLACK seminole." It's a creeping synth-funk epic that keeps adding layers to its slippery groove, eventually erupting into a wailing, "Maggot Brain"-esque fuzz guitar solos, wordless vocal acrobatics, and proggy sidebars. It's a dizzying and theatrical start to an album that goes in a lot of different directions from there.
Yachty
leans into the
Tame Impala
/
Mac DeMarco
brand of smooth, funky psychedelia on tracks like "the ride-" and "running out of time," while moments like "paint THE sky" are more atmospheric, evoking the distorted drums and melancholy hooks of
The Weeknd
as much as they do the yearning ambient pop of
M83
.
is cohesive against all odds, with harder edged songs like "sHouLd i B?" melting pleasantly in and out of downtempo R&B moments like "sAy sOMETHINg" and the blissed out grunge-funk of album highlight "THE zone~." The cluttered labyrinth of weird experiments is held together by
himself, still exhibiting the bold personality and curious spirit he showed on trap beats when singing emotively over psychedelic rock instrumentals. While obviously an enormous, intentional departure from past styles, it's this open personality that connects
's indie psych songs to the best of his mumble rap past. The sounds get harsh and larger-than-life, but the feelings explored throughout
are largely tender and often vulnerable.
's honest self-inspection matched with a willingness to fearlessly try new styles makes these songs enjoyable, and more over makes the album make sense in the bigger picture of the rapper's creative evolution.
may be more loud guitars than 808s, but
still commands the songs powerfully, making vessels of expression out of whatever sounds he chooses. ~ Fred Thomas