Review: Lil’ Yachty – Lil Boat 2

Ah, I’m finally cross paths into the world of Surreal Resolution….well, outside of being the 3rd man in Decibel Boost Podcast and I’m going to provide y’all with some of my thoughts on some recent albums and we are going to start it off with….

Oh…..Lil’ Yachty. Well, that’s a way of starting out here.

Yep, Lil Boat aka Miles Parks McCollum is at it again with his 2nd studio album, following his debut album, 2017’s Teenage Emotions, and it’s the sequel to his first tape that put him on the map back in 2016 when he was on the rise, following his inclusion in the 2016 XXL Freshman List along with rappers like Kodak Black, 21 Savage, Lil’ Uzi Vert, Lil’ Dicky, Desiigner (remember him?) among others, and yet I just listed the ones that are my least favorite rappers on that list.

Now, even if it’s been 2 years, Yachty’s spotlight is starting to fade. With the last album being a dud in sales and the only two songs that have been hits are songs that aren’t exactly his (DRAM’s “Broccoli” and Kyle’s “iSpy”), he’s been trying to keep himself relevant. I mean, he got the backing of label Quality Control (the label that also signed ATL rap group Migos) behind him and……OK, well, at least Yachty made the album a hour less than Migos’ latest record so it has that going for him.

Actually, it’s the only thing it has going for him because I am not into this album at all.

Let’s be honest here. I didn’t have much hope for this being good at all because I wasn’t a fan of his past music, and while I did get parts of why some people gravitate towards him in his earlier work like his melodic flow, the bright and vibrant production that has some innocence to it, and even the happy vibe he often gives, most of that is barely in the album at all. Most of it is the basic ATL trap rap you heard from people like Gucci Mane, Jeezy, and T.I. among others, but the problem here is that Yachty lacks the enthusiasm and personality to perform tracks like this. He boasts and flexes like he’s got a lot of street cred even though people known him for being from the suburbs.

One example of much flexing is “BOOM!” and yes, you will hear the word “Boom” and ad-libs like “uh” so many times, you swear you were listening to Playboi Carti, and speaking of more XXL Freshmen, this features Ugly God, and I expected it to get that stupid when he showed up. Also, Ugly God: “I do this shit for my mama, my mama told me don’t forget ’bout my roots?” Didn’t your roots involved water, booty and beating your meat? I know about The Booty Tape.

Now I could talk about the content and themes of this album but it’s blatant what it is. It’s about getting money, flexing your clout, getting girls (especially yours), having guns and a bunch of other shit he brags about. Look, I got nothing against all that if the rapper’s got enough charisma, energy, and can be entertaining with it, but Yachty’s nasal sound and droning tone doesn’t convey enough interest to give into the song. Hell, on “Get Money Bros.”, I was far more into Tee Grizzley’s verse of the song as he’s got that gritty bravado for a song like this, and as for features, he was the strongest one in there and yet it’s not saying much when your features are Migos (or just Quavo and Offset twice doing their basic but forgettable verses). 2 Chainz has a verse on “Oops,” and I’ve gotten to like more of his features and material recently, but this verse isn’t one of them, although he’s got a nice flow on it but that’s it.

“She Ready” with PnB Rock is definitely the material that Yachty is known for as the production is actually bright and has a feel-good vibe: you know, what he was originally known for. Like I said, I’m not a fan of his but I do say some can like his music, and yet it’s the only track with that vibe. Oh, and this time, they rap about his girl getting ready for the famous life he’s in and I can appreciate the track for what it is….and then with tracks like “FWM,” “Mickey,” and “Flex,” all that hope went down the toilet, and “Flex” was the worst of those three with the repetition of “Flex for the fuckboys, hate cause you suck boy,” and let’s just throw in a Kurt Cobain and Bring the Pain reference because why the hell not?! Also I think I heard either “Get her done” or “Git-R-Done” and this was random as fuck!

Oh, and lastly, I want to mention the production of this, and there isn’t much variety here. Yeah, we get some good trap beats in the first half from producers like 30 Roc (yes, spelled like that and he’s a part of Ear Drummers), Earl the Pearl, DJ Durel, and Pi’erre Bourne among others, but after a few listens of this, the beats were sounding either too similar or too vague to even recall. Most of them just go in and out on further listens and yeah, I listened to this more than one time. MEEP.

To sum up this whole mess, I knew not to go in with high expectations of this album, and yet I still wanted to turn it off.  Lil’ Yachty is now going more for that everyday ATL trap sound and less of his own style, and he’s still not that good of a rapper. You know it’s bad when Lil’ Pump on your track has more energy in his rapping than you and everything about the whole album is repetitive and mundane. The beats, the content, Yachty’s sluggish and unimpressive rapping. It’s not too hard to say……just skip this one and let the boat sink.

FINAL VERDICT: Skip it. It’s not worth your time or patience or money or streaming purposes.

Lil Boat 2 is available from Quality Control Music/Motown Records/Capitol Records on digital download and streaming services.