Today: Mar 28, 2024

Music Review: Lil Boat 3.5 melds Lil Yachty’s older happier sound and newer darker sounds for a bittersweet medium

Donovan Wilson Reporter

Lil Yachty burst onto the scene with his first album, Lil Boat, a collection of sunshine tinged tunes about how good the life of a teenager is. Lil Boat 3 which arrived earlier this year collided into a much darker version of Yachty that is more downbeat and raps about the horrors of fame. Here, on the 8 songs of Lil Boat, those sounds to create a soundtrack to an adult trying to be a kid again. 

The album somewhat hums to life as a very 90’s style beat mixed with some trap chimes plays and Yachty’s autotuned voice floods into the speakers on “Lil Diamond Boy”. Yachty sings as if he’s warning younger rappers getting into the scene that you will kill the hopeful child within you when you dive headfirst into the glamour of the game. It’s almost as if this is yachty on Lil Boat .5 speaking to yachty on Lil Boat. 

As the last song fades out, Future comes in a capella telling Yachty that the time for being sad is not now and that this is the time to party on “Flex Up’. Playboi Carti also makes an appearance on this distorted trap banger that is essentially a simple hyped chorus while three MC’s talk about the possessions of theirs that they like to flex. This song is very simple on concept but very lively and makes for an easy radio hit. 

The Lead single “Coffin” comes in as the third track is just a dark trap beat running slightly less than two minutes long where essentially Yachty is just trading bar for bar about his glamorous lifestyle. It serves basically as a flex but is downplayed so much by the tone that it comes off almost as a whimsical story. This song is the perfect way to mellow things back out to Yachty’s consciousness right after Future makes Yachty get rowdier than a McDonalds Christmas party after Burger King has a fiscally bad year. 

On Yet another under two minute banger, “Certified” shows Yachty singing about his flexing this time but now on a much more lifted and energetic beat. This track is the polar opposite of “Coffin” so it is very fitting that it serves as it’s follow up. The rising progression from these last couple songs beginning with the letter C all seems to prepare you for what yachty whips out next. 

Cochise joins Yachty on “Charmin’” for yet another flex fest but this time on a trippy, bloated beat that feels like you’re listening to an alien transmission. Yachty and Cochise are on top of the world here and want to make sure that everybody knows that they look and feel great while doing it. The song feels very short during its brief stay but lifts the listener to a woozier new height while slamming through this album’s several emotions. 

Yachty rockets back to earth and slams right ino Lil Baby’s hood  which fills this song full of a bass boosted bells and whistle spangled beat with low tempo boasts of being a lone wolf from both MC’s. Lil Yachty kind of sluggishly pumps through the beat before handing the baton to an energetic and motivated Lil Baby. It’s an anthem of being on your own in the trap sang by two MC’s that made it out of the trap and have now formed a team of sorts. 

The bouncy upbeat nature returns on the Vince Staples assisted flexers anthem “In My Stussy’s”. The beat is essentially a looped 4 second beat for about 3 minutes and remains pretty stagnant, especially in flow. Yachty is very laid back over this beat while Vince seems much more in the moment and excited about what he has in his Stussy’s. 

“A**hole” features alternative hip hop artist Oliver Tree as a somber send off to a woman, the album and maybe serves as yachty identifying why his emotions have been so mixed. Not only is this yachty at his most raw but Oliver’s performance is extremely powerful vocally. Everyone on this track brings a full emotional impact to wrap things up.  

This album is a fun eight song romp about flexing what you have while you have it because happiness fluctuates.  

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