Yachty originally gained attention in 2015 for his meme-worthy early singles, with "One Night" getting used in a viral video on YouTube and "Minnesota" becoming a meme following its appearance on Drake's OVO Sound Radio show.
The two singles were followed by his mixtape Lil Boat, which codified his early style as being defined by Autotuned crooning over dreamy trap beats. Subsequently, he found success as a featured artist on a pair of US Top 5 hits in 2016 — "Broccoli" by DRAM and "iSpy" by Kyle — before releasing another mixtape, Summer Songs 2, which was followed by his major-label debut album, 2017's Teenage Emotions.
From there, Yachty's music began to shift into more traditional hip-hop styles, as reflected in his next three albums, Lil Boat 2, Nuthin' 2 Prove and Lil Boat 3. In 2020, he began collaborating more heavily with an underground scene of rappers in Michigan, mostly centered around the cities of Detroit and Flint, and released an entire project with them in that style, 2021's Michigan Boy Boat. Then, in 2023, he released Let's Start Here., which unexpectedly eschews hip-hop entirely in favour of Psychedelic Rock of all sounds.
As an entertainment personality, Yachty has appeared in commercials for Sprite, Nautica and Urban Outfitters, as well as a Target commercial for which he covered "It Takes Two"note with Carly Rae Jepsen. He also performed the theme tune for the 2019 revival of Saved by the Bell and voiced Hal Jordan, the Green Lantern in Teen Titans Go! To the Movies.
Discography:
- Summer Songs (EP; 2015)
- Honey, Let's Spend Wintertime On A Boat (with Wintertime) (EP; 2015)
- Lil Boat (mixtape; 2016)
- Summer Songs 2 (mixtape; 2016)
- Teenage Emotions (Album, 2017)
- Lil Boat 2 (album; 2017)
- Nuthin' 2 Prove (album; 2018)
- A-Team (with Zaytoven, Lil Keed and Lil GotIt) (mixtape; 2020)
- Lil Boat 3 (album; 2020)
- Lil Boat 3.5 (EP; 2020)
- Michigan Boy Boat (mixtape; 2021)
- Let’s Start Here. (album; 2023)
Lil Yachty and his work provide examples of the following tropes:
- Alter-Ego Acting: Lil Yachty (the emotional singer) vs Lil Boat (the boastful rapper) vs Darnell Boat (the fictional uncle of both Boat and Yachty, who appears in various skits in his early work).
- Autotune: Most of his singing, and a defining part of his Signature Style.
- Boastful Rap: The majority of his lyrical content when rapping.
- The Cameo: Yachty makes one in the music video for "Life is Good" by Future and Drake.
- Epic Rocking: "The Black Seminole" runs at 6:51, being his longest song to date.
- Longest Song Goes First: The aforementioned "The Black Seminole" (6:51) opens his 2023 album Let's Start Here.
- New Sound Album:
- Michigan Boy Boat, which takes its cues from underground Michigan hip-hop rather than the mix of Pop Rap and Trap Music in most of his other work.
- Let’s Start Here. eschews hip-hop entirely in favor of a spacier neo-psychedelia sound.
- Out-of-Genre Experience: "Bring It Back", which is an '80s-esque synthpop song in the vein of Carly Rae Jepsen.
- Record Producer: His was originally Burberry Perry (who later changed his stage name to TheGoodPerry), before they split following Summer Songs 2.
- Sampling:
- "T.D." samples (and is named after) "Tokyo Drift" by the Teriyaki Boyz, from the soundtrack to The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.
- "All Times" samples the main theme from Rugrats.
- "Bentley Coupe" is built around a vocal sample of Minnie Riperton's "Lovin' You".
- "Forever World" samples "Soon As I Get Home" by Faith Evans.
- "Fight Night Round 3", appropriately enough, samples "Going the Distance" by Bill Conti, from the soundtrack to Rocky.
- "WE SAW THE SUN!" ends with a spoken-word sample of Bob Ross from The Joy of Painting.
- Lil Nas X sampled Yachty's "NBAYOUNGBOAT" for his own "Sonic Shit".
- Self-Titled Album: In a variant, arguably all threenote of his Lil Boat projects, which are named after his alter ego.
- Shout-Out: "Oprah's Bank Account" to both Oprah Winfrey and her namesake show, with Yachty appearing in drag as her hosting a parody of it in the music video.
- Word Salad Lyrics: His amateurish approach to songwriting often results in his lyrics sounding disjointed.
