When Lil Yachty was talking about his album Let’s Start Here in January, he explained why he made a psychedelic rock album instead of a HipHop project.
His explanation rubbed some the wrong way, so he responded to the backlash.
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“I think I created it because I wanted to be taken seriously as an artist,” said Yachty at a listening party. “Not just some SoundCloud rapper, not some mumble rapper, not some guy that just made one hit … I wanted to be taken seriously because music is everything to me, and I respect all walks of music. Not just rap and Hip Hop, but everything.”
After the backlash, Yachty sat down with Rap Radar and said he chose the wrong words at the listening event.
“I wanna talk about that for a second because there was this conversation on the internet after I said that,” said the 25-year-old. “And people took it as me trying to say like, ‘Oh, I hate when rappers say I wanna be taken seriously as an artist.’ As if I was saying that you’re not serious if you’re a rapper. That’s not what I meant.”
“I mean, specifically, I do more than rap. For a long time in my career, I wanted to be taken seriously as a rapper. And I said that. And I would go and try and do radio interviews, freestyles, or whatever. Just because I wanted that. I did Michigan Boy Boat, I did things. That’s when I was trying to prove I’m a rapper. But I’m past that. Now, I’m proving I’m an artist.”
Any thoughts or reaction to Yachty’s explanation?