The Press Box - 'Teenage Emotions,' Lil Yachty's Brand, and the Next Generation of Hip-Hop (Ep. 311)

Episode Date: May 26, 2017

The Ringer's Donnie Kwak, Micah Peters, and Justin Charity discuss Lil Yachty's new album, 'Teenage Emotions.' They examine Yachty's brand vs. his music (7:40) and the album cover art (11:33), and try to determine an overarching theme to the project (31:09). Finally, they answer this question: Is 'Teenage Emotions' any good (39:02)? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The monoculture may be over, but a perfect pop song can still unite us. Join the Ringer on our quest to find the song of the summer. We're digging through streaming service charts and playlists, think pieces, and social media memes to calculate what we think will be the song that stands the test of time. Visit the ringer.com now to view the official mathematical guide to the 2017 song of summer. To a very special edition of the Channel 33 music pod, on today's episode, we will discuss a rapper you might know from this top 10 Billboard hit. Or maybe his Sprite commercial with LeBron James.

Still wouldn't tell you to drink Sprite. I'd ask you. The King of Teens has just released his debut album, Teenage Emotions. We're going to attempt to answer the burning question. Is Little Yadie any good? I'm Donnie Kwog, East Coast Bureau Chief at the Ringer. I'm joined from L.A. by Ringer staff writer Micah Peters. Michael, what's up?

And here in studio in New York, none other than Joe Budden. Just kidding, just kidding. It's Ringerstaff writer Justin Charity. What's up, Justin? You cannot tell me. Friends, fellow adults. It's great to be here, man.

Now, Micah and Justin had a very spirited debate about the merits of Yadi on a piece that was published on the ringer.com. In case you haven't read that yet, I'm going to allow each of them to present their thesis statement on Little Yadi. and Micah, since you're a big fan of his, you can go first. Okay, first of all, I am uncomfortable.

I feel like the narrative is getting away from me as far as this big fan thing goes. Already. No, I'm not backing off of the fact that I feel that Justin is very harsh in his criticism of Liliati. I just think, okay, so basically it's this. Yadi has been making this weirdo outsider pop since one night, which is his first and biggest song. so far like millions of streams that sort of thing since then he's basically been fighting to be taken seriously or right we're saying we're talking about his

from 2015 to now basically the last two years yeah basically so over the course of two years he's had at least two maybe three hits which is enough to say that Yadi has hits considering the span of his career but this This is kind of like the culminating moment. And I will say that as far as teenage emotions goes, and I said this in the piece, it will probably not win you over if you are not already on board. But I mean, like, it's fun. It's a fun album.

It's a fun listen. It's a little too long at 19 tracks, I think. I think Justin would agree. Well, Justin, you weren't on board. You're not on board. Yeah, so my counterpoint to Micah in general and in the piece that we wrote today, Friday, is basically that I don't think Yadi is weird and I don't think he is all of these things that I think Micah is giving him too much credit for. I think he makes music that is a weird, or I would say a very normy facsimile of what a very boring person thinks weird is, which is to say that he talks like Tommy Pickles and he like he's doing. like a weird shtick of what like an AI robot's conception of what a teen is as opposed to having

interesting youthful ideas. I feel like he's doing an impersonation of a teenager more than I feel like he's being an actually interesting teenager. Well let's rewind for two seconds and just I'll do a quick bio in case anybody hasn't heard of little yadi I really highly doubt you haven't but little yadi is 19 years old he's from Atlanta a couple years ago he moved to New York he kind of came up in the Tumblr generation, so grew up with the internet. He claims that he was big on LimeWire. I guess that's not really claims to be. He was big on downloading music, making a Tumblr pages and stuff.

So basically a child of the internet. And as Micah said, he broke with a couple songs, Minnesota, and one night were two of them. Broccoli. Broccoli with Drum, which was his biggest hit, but it's not his song. It's a drum song. And basically he's become a very divisive figure in hip hop because for better or worse, he's become the face of this new generation with his red beads. He's the Lena Dunham of rap music. Wow.

That's just cut you to the music. He's the lean adum of contemporary music. That's a compliment. I mean, that's the thing. It's arguably a compliment. Like, in a sense it definitely is. But in a different sense, you know, that's a very polarizing sort of thing to beat. Right.

So he's polarizing and he's divisive. An entertaining weirdo or an idiot savant, whichever you choose. Or just an idiot. Or just an idiot. I want to leave that. But here's the thing. So he has become divisive as we're discussing, but it's interesting how he's become a flashpoint. It's sort of this generational schism because famously old heads like Ebro and Justin Charity don't understand.

I have not an old head. Don't understand Yadhi. And meanwhile, Yaddi is proclaiming himself the king of the teens and representing. And he is, to be fair, he's 19 years old. So he has been the poster child for this young versus old debate. And I think those battle lines are kind of drawn in your debate. Am I right? Yeah.

You're wrong. You're actually wrong. I'm going to start with, no, because I think you should start with why he's wrong. All right, go ahead. Well, just because, and I think this is an important thing to draw out up front, right? So, like, the terms that Donnie just set up, right, is the idea that there's young and there's old. And whether you like Little Yadi basically depends on where you fall. I mean, broad strokes.

He's a Rorschach test. I don't necessarily, like, I think, and I think that we were talking about this last night while we were finishing, you know, finishing off the piece is that I think that me and charity can agree that he's kind of unfairly made to answer for his entire generation, but it's a role that he willfully accepts, I guess.

But to speak to you talking about the air in which he grew up, I think I was listening to the last track on the album, Made of Glass, which is like this autotune, free association, stream of teen, stream of consciousness thing that he does in autotune. It's very pretty, very aesthetically pleasing. It's very pretty. Very, like, and I mean, also simple and blunt and very obvious, but in the same way that I was thinking about, and this is going to be an unfair comparison,

but, I mean, like, if I'm listening to Pinocchio story, like on Kanyeo VH1 storytellers, But that is a very clumsy song. Like, if you're thinking about there's no Gucci I can buy, there's no Louis Vuitton to put on, there's no YSO they can sell to get my heart out of this hell, is very stupid if you think about it in a vacuum. But, I mean, as is made of glass, but it's endearing because you think that that's the words that they have to express the things that they're feeling. And I think that I can suspend disbelief long enough to entertain that thought.

And I think that the disconnect is that Charity can't do that. Well, I think Charity, you make an interesting point in the piece comparing him to Soldier Boy, and we had some discussions last night about how he's sort of the evolutionary result of Soldier Boy to Lilby and now Yadi, in the sense of the way he connects with his fans and also the way he brands himself and how his brand is almost bigger or has transcended his music. I mean, is that fair to say? Yeah, I think that's fair to say. And it's sort of why I think that it's not necessarily great that we sort of reduce Yaddy to this thing of like being a generational bludgeon, right? Because I'm young enough that I also grew up using LimeWire and also grew up with a few Tumblr accounts, right?

And I guess I look at Yadi in a sense of somebody who does get Soldier Boy and like Soldier Boy and does get Little B and likes Little B. but doesn't really think that Yadi is doing a lot of, I don't think he's doing very much interesting, and I don't think he has songs in the way that either of those artists have songs. But also reading your take today, you seem to imply, or maybe even directly state, that there's like a cynicism in little Yadhi's branding or that he's very, you know, he's manipulating.

Well, he thinks that there's a cynicism in Yadi fandom. And I think, no, I don't. I think it's both, right? I think, you know, obviously, so Donnie's my editor, right? And one thing that happens a lot in pieces is you get the classic note, the show don't tell note. And to me, it's like you listen to Loosey Burt. And like, you listen to Uzi's music. You listen to Kodak Black's music.

You listen to Young Thugs music. And a lot of their music is youthful. And it's stuff that, like, if you played it for somebody who was born in 1990 or earlier, they might, they're not 19, maybe like 1980 or maybe like 1980 or. earlier, they might be like, what is this? This isn't real hip hop, et cetera, et cetera. And so they sort of wear this mantle, right, of being the new wave. But it's not a thing that they spend all day telegraphing in a way that like little Yadi

became this sort of so-called like teen icon by virtue of the fact that like it's not so much that his music feels that new or that innovative compared to Little B and Soldier Boy before him. It's just that. he's like a walking press release just saying teen all the time isn't that the mantel it's not a musical achievement

it's the mantle that was bestowed upon him and he's embraced it instead of running away from it I think it's a combination of both I think he's branded himself that way since the little boat tape but to be fair but to be fair again though

among all the artists you named he's the only one that's an actual teenager yeah yeah and I mean no Kodak is Kodak is a teenager in Kodak's like 42 years old

Really? Anyway, Micah. I mean, I don't know. I mean, I think that he's fashioned himself into this sort of vessel for Internet irony. And I think that that being the case, if you really wanted to, you can sift through or keep pulling layers back until you find something to like or hate. I mean, to be, I mean, like, yes, you're correct that his branding, like, is more important than the music actually is. But, and that's out of order. And, you know, to the way that we normally understand the way that music is supposed to function.

But I don't necessarily think it's a problem if you enjoy the red hair, the beads and the jewelry and the, in the rainbow color grills hanging off in the music. more so than you enjoy the actual music. I think that that's just kind of, I think it's okay to do that sometimes. What do you guys make of the album cover? Because the album cover obviously came before the album, and again, it was very polarizing. Well, maybe not very polarizing,

but people reacted to it. What were the reactions to it? Well, you know, okay, so the album cover is Yadi in a movie theater in the center of the frame, and he's surrounded by, I think, two guys kissing, One girl with Vilego. Yeah.

Basically a 2017 Benetton ad. And, you know, some might say that, I mean, the way I look at that is that that's great. That's amazing, you know, that he's representing, he's all inclusive. Now, Justin, I would imagine you would think that be a bit more of a marketing ploy? No, I don't look at it as a marketing ploy, but it's just when I look at that cover, I don't think of it as inclusive. I don't think of it as a like, this is trying to include everyone. I'm like, this is

trying to very starkly declare that this is a very middle brow cultural product. That's what I got from looking at it. I mean, okay, but if you're talking about it like this is a very middle brow cultural product, I mean, is that with the understanding

of a 29 year old or a 19 year old? I honestly think that this is like, I think it doesn't matter to you. I'm just saying that you're if you're placing intention on something, I think that you have to, like you have to meet it on its terms. Like, yes, in a vacuum, like, if you're talking about it,

if you're looking at it from the top down, like you are, as a, as, as Justin Charity, the person, I think that you, because you have a greater understanding of those things, can think that it's, you know, clumsy or whatever. And I think on the other side of that, you can indulge it, I think. But I think, like, again, I don't get where this is coming from.

Like, I'm not calling it clumsy. If anything, I think it's the opposite of clumsy. I think it's very careful. But I think it's, again, if we were talking before about the lineage, right? Soldier Boy, Little B, I would throw Young Lean in there. And then Yadi. And I think the main thing, the reason I say that about the album cover is just because I think the only reason that Little Yadi has achieved this sort of weird placement in,

And when I say like... Like Target ads. Yeah, he's achieved this weird placement because he said that like, as much as I am musically and stylistically derived from these other people, the thing that I'm going to do that's going to make me viable in those lanes is be like, I am middlebrow. I am not soldier boy. I'm not doing like countless Vlad TV interviews where I'm like flashing my tats and shooting at cameras.

I think that's literally the only difference. And the tread off is that on the one hand, Yadi is middlebrow, whether those other guys aren't, so there's a bit more of a sort of commercial, the commercial horizon, I think, is brighter for him. The unfortunate sort of counterbalance to that is that he makes worse music than either of the other people that I mentioned. But I don't think that, I would not call the album cover clumsy. I think it's smart. Right. Well, moving on to the music then, maybe, Micah, you can answer this. How does it compare, in your opinion, to his previous work, like his mixtapes? Is it like progress, or is it just more of the same? I think that he's got.

It's like slightly better at Songcraft, but elsewhere, like on, say, summer songs, too. There was, it mined, like, early 2000s nostalgia, like people that were watching Nicktoons or Tune. There were, like, songs that sounded like Nintendo games and other ones that sounded like the credit screens on anime shows. Like, there was stuff like that. How does Justin not like this guy? I know that's the thing. If there's the one song from Somers'Ong's language.

He's sampled Greenberg. Yeah, he sampled the song from Cowboy VBot. And Justin was like, nah. No, but like, anyway. Narcissism of small differences. This, I mean, like, okay, so for instance, there was a song called Run Running on Summer Songs 2. That uses, like, a very, like, blatant Nintendo sample.

Uh, like, you know, eventually in the course of the song, it kind of bursts out of its confines and runs over the floor like, you know, so much soap suds or whatever. There's not really a song like that outside of all around me on teenage emotions. It mostly feels like- That's the one with YG. Yeah, it's the one with YG and Kamaya. Yep. Um, I think that, uh, this album is weirdly more like 80s pop fan service. I don't think that, like, you know, we have Bruno Mars for that.

But, I mean, like, it's, it's, and half, some of the songs are good, but, like, a lot of them, like, like, I was saying in the piece, like, you know, it hits as often as it misses. It's almost exactly 50-50, and 19 tracks is too many. Again. 21 tracks, actually, right? Is it? I was, I'm pretty sure. It's 21. Yeah, it's 21.

70 minutes long. And it's already been. discuss, but I mean, it's clearly, this is a kind of ploy to get streaming. Yeah. Yeah. Like, it's, like, it's, goose the numbers a little bit. Yeah, it's, it definitely is kind of, it's a streaming hustle. But I mean, like, honestly, again, like, it's a, the music itself is a vehicle for Yaddy, the character, which I am a, like, I like, I've, I'm a fan, I'm a fan of Yaddy, the character, not so much Yaddy, the musician.

I do want to say, I do, you were saying this a few minutes. ago, Micah, I do think that's an interesting way and a new thing, frankly. Not totally new, but the idea of, like, being a fan of somebody who is ostensibly a musician, but who really, the part they play is that they're a character in a landscape. I actually thought last night when we were writing this piece together, I thought about Taiga, who is somebody who I think we would talk about less fondly. But to me, it's, I think what frustrates me, right, is like, so if you look at someone like Taiga, Taiga is somebody who exists.

as a lesser character in the Kardashian universe, right? Right. And Taiga also made Rack City. He is a rapper. He's a rapper that not many of us enjoy listening to. But he's a rapper. But the point is, like, when we talk about Taiga online, if we were all talking on Rap Twitter about Tiger today,

nine times out of 10, it would be about something that has nothing to do with an actual Tiger record. Like a repossessed car or something like that. Right. Totally. Yeah. And to me, it's like, it's totally fine if that's the framework that we want to always think of Taiga as, even though he's ostensibly a rapper. But the thing that brings me to sanity at the end of the day is that the three of us can agree that that's what we're talking about when we talk about Tiger.

I think what gets frustrating with Yadi is that he operates by that same principle. But then we sort of laps back and forth between talking about him as a character. but then also I'm expected to take him seriously as a musician even though he makes bad music. And I just am like, no, I want to do the Tiger thing where I compartmentalize him as a character and you don't ask, like, I don't think his music is just that viable. I don't know that.

I mean, no, like I don't, the thing is that I don't know that. I think the music is seamless with Yadi's brand, though, in a way that's not with Tiger. It services the brand. I agree with that. And that is also true. It's dumb music for. dumb times. I mean, like, it works for, it works in that context. I'm just, I mean, but I think that it's,

like, I think that we can separate those two things out and we can both agree. I think that we're almost close to agreeing that Yadhi is like a good character. Um, but the music side is that you want to say it's just like should not exist. And I'm just like, it's actually fine. And some of it's even good despite him not being good at rapping. I find it really difficult to actively hate on Yadi. I mean, maybe I should talk a little bit about my journey from Little Yadi Hater to Little Yadi advocate. Let's talk about it.

So yeah, my journey from Lil Yadi Hater, or actually maybe not Hater, but not understanding Little Yadi to now low-key being an advocate for Lil Yadi because it was kind of jarring when he first emerged on the scene. and I think I couldn't really understand. On the surface, I think on first listen, he's not a good rapper. I mean, that's immediate. Yeah.

And it was difficult for me to kind of vibe with the music. But I find in typical old-head fashion that having 21 songs to listen to like a proper album from start to finish and really immersing myself because I didn't really listen to his tapes, I heard the singles. I'm not going to lie, the singles are catchy. And I like some of them,

but really sitting with the full album, and listening it to an eye headphones like I used to listen to albums years ago. I really caught the vibe, you know, I can understand. It was guileless in a way, you know, kind of earnest. And I hesitate to use the word innocent because of all the dick-sucking that's going on. But it's kind of like I really kind of got it, you know? And I felt like this is time capsule music. This captures this generation.

I mean, this is from someone that's not in this generation, I guess. but in the same way that KRS return of the boom bap is like 92, 93 incarnate. I mean, I feel like in 20 years, you'll listen to teenage emotions and be like, this is 2017, you know, more so than listening to Kodak or Uzi Verd or whomever. I feel like Yadi actually did capture this moment and perfectly crystallize his brand and his sound over 21 songs. Yeah, it's too long, but I think he achieved that. So maybe we should go a little deeper into the album itself and play Running with the Ghost as an example. Yeah.

You don't for me. You used to keel of all company. I used to put no one over you. You kept every nigga under me. I used to rock a metallic a t-shirt. You would call it the Thunder Team. I stunk you hot like a bumblebee. Now I'm left there with no sympathy.

I'm fucked up, yeah, yeah. Miss my fingers running through your hair, your bedtime stairs. Yeah, in a vacuum, it's tough. It just sounds like an American Idol audition that did not turn out well for the contestant. It sounds like to me, I just don't. I mean, okay. And it's weird because that's a song that I like from it. It's a sum of its parts, though.

It's a sum of its parts because, like, isolating, like, eight bars from Yadi is never going to really. Yeah. The song as a whole is, and I think Charity, well, no, Charity did bring this up. He was just saying that, like, you know, it doesn't. it sound like a Yadi song, which I mean, like, I guess I can agree with, but it's a good song nonetheless. I think that it's, I think that's kind of like a microcosm of, you know, how you feel about Yadi. It's just like, do you really care how the music is made or do you want to have a good time listening to it? I mean, that song in particular sounds a lot like this other record

from last year by this R&B songs just named Leaf, actually. It was this song called NADA on which Yadhi raps about, you know, like having a bad bitch that loves to cook his taters, which is really funny. I think, but I mean, like, yeah, I think it's, my experience of Yadi has been kind of like a longer version of Dondi's microcosm of listening to teenage emotions. It's just like you keep going back, you laugh at it initially, you keep going back to check for it. And at some point, you have to come to acceptance that there's zero difference between liking something ironically and just liking it.

But have to. That's an interesting phrase that I want to talk about it with regards to Donnie's experience. Because I do think that that's an interesting, I think other people, including Ebro, including Joe Button, have had louder versions of a consideration that I do want to maybe get into in a bit more nuanced way, which is like, what is the obligation? to what is the obligation if you're in a certain generation of a fandom of music? So if you're a certain Gen X perspective on hip hop, what is the obligation to be like, I'm going to listen to Little Yadi until I like it? Because to me it's sort of like, there's definitely some music that if I hadn't spent in life, right?

And I would say Little Wayne is a good example of this for me. Because I was in college when Little Wayne had his mixtape run, and it took me a long time to really vibe with a little. little Wayne, but I'm thankful that I tried. That's an indictment of you. That's an indictment of me. It is. But to me, I'm always curious about what the line is between, you know, keeping an open

mind, no matter what age you get to in a fandom of a genre of music that you really invest yourself in versus when you do sort of accept that like, eh, maybe this is in my bag. Or maybe I am going to take a stand and be like, you know, maybe this makes me sound old, but Yadhi is trash. I'll tell you this. If I just listen to the album beginning to end, without knowing anything about it, maybe this speaks to your point.

Without knowing anything about Yadhi, the brand, I probably wouldn't get it. So I've had over the course of two years now a 360 view of who Yaddy is, and I feel like this album is sort of the culmination of that. So it's listening to the album, but knowing what he looks like, knowing how irreverent he is, seeing his commercial. seeing him talk to Zane Lowe, seeing him perform on Kimmel, that sort of thing. Seeing him spar with Joe Budden or not know who Biggie is. I mean, that was the big moment in recent hip-hop Twitter history when, what did he say exactly?

Yaddy said he doesn't respect Biggie. He said Biggie is overrated. He said Biggie's overrated and everyone clutched their pearls and I clutched my pearls too actually. I was like, that's, but you know, even now I kind of, you know, you know, I'm, you know, know, I mean, even that now, I'm kind of like sympathetic toward, you know? I mean, he's 19 years old, and, you know, this is the, the, Biggie is the music that old people listen to, to him. Yeah.

I mean, I mean, if we accept that he's a deeply incurious musician, then yeah. I guess that makes sense as an explanation of why a rapper in 2017 had not, has not heard of Biggie Smalls. If we assume literally the worst about Little Yadi, then, yeah. So, Justin, you're kind of talking about, like, critical relativism. Right? Like where it's like, yeah. Yeah, I mean, like, there's, I think that there is, like, and again, this is another, this is all stuff that's in the piece, actually.

I, to expound upon what I meant why, I'm not really too bothered about that, is that, yes, he was, he's 19 and like, you know, I, I get that he isn't listening to what are, what's considered rap canon. And also, I think it's bad to be a prominent figure in it if you don't have, you know an understanding of it but also i really don't think there's too much wrong with being a historical because i mean like whenever i hear that argument i'm like okay yeah it's bad but also learning everything about biggie doesn't necessarily mean that it would make you rap better that would be like a i mean like you know the that's that would be incidental to you being able to

put hooks and bars together. I think this is a spoiled parent argument in defense of, yeah. I mean, I think that, if you remember last year, Kodak Black had a similar thing, right? Where he said he was better than Tupac. Yeah, it's like he had a similar incident where he basically trivialized

the legacy. I think of Tupac and maybe he said something about Biggie at one point. But to me, the difference I read between the lines between Kodak being that sort of like a historical and Yadi is that like Kodak is like look I'm a rapper

like I'm not an idiot I know who biggie is I'm just trying to tell you that you know my touch points are closer to LoBousie and Low Wayne and Gucci Main like he is he is irreverent and he is trying he's signaling this sort of generational break

but he's also like I'm not an idiot who doesn't know who Biggie Smalls is in a way that Yadi's just like oh shucks I don't know who Biggie is I don't, like, I'm young, not a teen. Like, I think that's crazy. I don't think that, like, he's, I don't think, yes, it is, like, it is crazy. And I think it's disingenuous.

I don't think it's just crazy. I think it's false and disingenuous. I mean, like, I definitely think that he knows who, I mean, who the hell doesn't know who big he is. Everybody knows that. I think the point is, and yes, he could have benefited from choosing his words way more carefully. And, I mean, like, and he admitted that in that everyday struggle thing, with Joe Button. He was just like, yeah, that was like, you know, that was, that was not a good look. I think that the point that he was trying to make is the one where it's just kind of like

when Vince Staples was talking about how 90s rap is overrated. It's just like, you know, okay, I mean, like I was, you know, like I was watching SpongeBob Squarepants. I wasn't reading Source Magazine at the time, you know? Like, it's, I get that. And I think that's fair for the kind of music he makes. And I think that the, to bring it back to teenage emotions, when he tries to prove, you know, rap critics wrong, like yourself, Charity on the album is kind of where he stumbles. Like, on peekaboo saying, like, you know,

like she blow that dig like a cello is, like, very stupid. It's funny, but, like, him trying to rap is... How do you blow a dick like a cello? I honestly don't know. I've been thinking about that one. I mean, like... We should play a little bit of peekaboo. It's the song featuring Amigos

The rapido Red die, red die, red dot, red dot on his Knows like root-all Puller to the scene all white with the rick I'll take that little bit to the root I'm fucking her sister I'm roo-ish That bitch was ugly but pussy on smoothie Play with that kiddie like hello

Take a step back and I bust out The rapping is better His rapping got better He's like he's kind of in the pocket there No? Yeah I mean I think so It's just that anybody that

Anybody It looks bad next to offset. I'm just saying. But yeah, I mean, like, it's that. Those are like the cracks in, uh, in, you know, the whole Yadi persona. I think it would have been better served as just going, throwing himself fully into the pop thing or doing, you know, mixtape QC stuff.

And like, you know, like I, you know, I, you know, work in the same studio as a young thug, Migo's. pee-wee-long-way versus, you know, like I am trying to do Cindy Lopper. Yeah, I mean, I think one of the, I mean, let's be real, the whole album is about as deep as a hot tub, right? I mean, he's not really talking about, I was, one of the main through lines that I identified was him talking about how he doesn't care what people think. And, you know, it's like the more you talk about how you don't care about something, the more you care about it. So I do think, to your point, Micah, He is kind of flexing and kind of trying to show people that he can rap,

and he's also insisting that he doesn't care if people clown him and this and that. And I think that's kind of growing pains too. Yeah, I mean, like, as being a teenager is, like, part of it is, it's teenage emotions. Yeah, I mean, like, part of it is constantly searching for acceptance and validation while trying to convince the world that you don't need or want it. It's like, that's what being a teenager is. That's also what being most rappers is.

Like that, I think that's sort of my other objection to Yadi, though, is that, like, great, but that's a dime a dozen perspective in the SoundCloud era of rap music. Yeah. Right? Like, the idea that, like, what you're describing sounds great. It also sounds like what Little Uzi Verte, Kodak Black, young things. It sounds like what countless other rappers that have emerged after Yadi, right? No, either simultaneous to Adi or people before.

I mean, like, we don't even have to stay to this generation of rap. I just mean that I don't... No, I'm not saying that that sentiment is original. Sure, sure, sure. I'm just saying that rap is so saturated with people who are writing songs from that point of view that I don't think it's enough to care. I don't think it's enough to put Yaddi on a pedestal just the fact that he telegraphs it in press releases and super explicit languages and does a lot of telling instead of showing that.

Yeah. Well, speaking to what you were talking about earlier, Micah, about the 80s pop. Or just like the sort of blatant pop attempts at pop hits, maybe we can hear a little bit about a little bit of better, which seems to be kind of riding the trends of island music. Maybe you can sing that hook, Micah, you can sing that hook. Maybe harmonize it a little bit. Listen, man, if you're good at something, never do it for free.

Oh. Yeah. I say it's good. I say it's great, but it could be better. It always could always be. better. You say it's good, but it could be better. It always could always be better.

Is that not ninth grade in a nutshell right there? It's grueling in my composition notebook about the girl that's sitting three chairs in front of me. Charity, you thought that this was kind of a bridge too far? I mean, the fact that he's making, I think, as you said, Carnival Cruise, Carnival side music? Oh, yeah, he's like 28 months to Carnival Cruise. music as a musical wave.

I don't think of it as a bridge too far. To me, I just listen to that record. And I do think it's sort of a standout record from this tape. But I also listen to it. And I'm like, yeah, this is a guy who, specifically that sound, it's like, of course you make this record when you don't actually have any interesting musical ideas.

And your whole album is you sort of like mad grabbing for some sort of trend to latch onto to carry you in a top 40. That's what that record sounds like to me. And it doesn't sound like, it just sounds like Mr. It sounds like a Mr. Me Too song. This whole album is 21 tracks of Mr. Me Too. Yeah, but I mean, I guess from the snippets that we've played, the different songs, you do get a sense that there is, you know, it's like every side of yada, you get the auto-tune crooning, you have some actual rapping. And, you know, like, I think he's really delivering what his fans want, right?

Yeah, I mean, well, I guess, uh, I guess, uh, I think he's really delivering what his fans want, right? like it's very like it's like the entire thing is obvious on several different levels but I mean I don't know I can't remember exactly what interview it was and I mean like you probably said this in the Joe Budden interview too I feel like he's repeated it a couple times but it's just like you know what is like confronted with questions about whether he makes derivative music or whether he's a buffoon or you know like why he's seen he so happy all the time. It's just kind of like he will say things like, you know, well, I mean, I can't really be mad or, you know, like, whatever. I mean, like my sister has 500 pairs of shoes.

My mom has a new house and a new car. Like, I mean, like on, say my name, which is probably one of the better tracks. That's a good song. Yeah, on the album. He says, my brother used to sleep in a Hyundai. Now he spends about 100 jays on a fun day. which is like very you know that's very birthdays worth the worst days right yeah i mean like it's

that's big for 2017 just this is also the problem is that like that's uncomplicatedly inspiring to me okay but see this is the thing right is that like this is the power of the yadi brand is that you're citing this this interview quote but it's like that interview quote of like you know i'm happy all the time et cetera et cetera i don't think that obscures the fact that half of this album is him sounding miserable and being like Like, people used to pick on me and I'm mad about it. Like, I listen to the music and I hear that. And no amount of branding is going to, like, I think really papers over the fact that you pay attention to little Yaddi's music.

It's teenage emotions. Sure. I'm conceding that. I'm just saying that I think it is, I just think it's interesting. I just think it's funny how. Yadi's extracurricular activities always basically serve to obscure elements of a music, like how bad it is and how pessimistic. mystic and cynical, he can be in it because he's happy and talks in a weird voice in interviews. Okay, so here's the irony of it all, I think, is that he's the king of teens. This album is called

Teenage Emotions, and this is his debut studio album. And now someone old like me is actually giving him credit and actually appreciating the music. Does that mean that Little Yadi is now actually Pass A? Is he washed now? I would have Ebro and Joe Budden started liking them because it's like I'm already seeing the early returns for the reviews for teenage emotions and as Justin was pointing out the hairline

of one of the reviewers it seems like the old that was savage by the way how do you do follow kids I kind of feel like the old people the olds now are kind of like oh I get it that's kind of the consensus right that this is like a dumbest shit but it captures a vibe and it should be respected.

I mean, I think that's the company line, at least just a handful of early reviews I've seen. Michael, what's your impression, actually. I'm curious what you've seen so far. To air is human. To a is arguably more human. I don't know. Like I am, like I was saying before,

like some of it is really, really bad, and some of it is, and a smaller amount of it is great, and most of it's fine. I mean, I think that it is a decent vehicle for the Yadi brand, which I think is, like, which I think is the point. And I think, the point of rap music is to be a vehicle for brands? No, not the point of rap music, man. I mean, like, this isn't even, like, the thing is that we are, we are not saying, like,

this isn't even rap. It's like, this is pop music. I mean. Let me ask two questions then as we kind of wrap this up. First question is, do you think the release of this album will swing the tide of popular opinion in favor of Liliati? That's one question. And the second question is, do you think it will be a hit record? I think this album will last the weekend.

I think, I don't think, I don't think, like, I mean, I was, I've said it already. Like, it's just like, if you're not on board, this isn't going to win you over. I don't think. Except me. Except me. I'm on board. Okay. This is, this is, this is, this is, except for Donnie, he's on board.

board now. I think that this is I mean like yeah it's an appeal to a more mainstream audience. What was the second question? I forgot. Is it going to, because Justin keeps saying that he thinks he's not going to be around next year and this album is going to flop

which I vehemently disagree with. But what do you think, Michael? Is this album going to be a hit record? I mean, I don't know. I'd like a hit record. I don't think so. I think that there are a couple of hits on it. but I mean like as far as Yadhi being around next year I didn't know that Yaddy was going to stick around this long

I mean it was this year has basically been a bunch of really unforeseen things like a bunch of like successes that I like you couldn't call like but so I mean like to say that I know whether he's going to be here next year or not is I mean it would be folly Michael you you know of how earlier this year everyone tripled down on Hendrix by future because they know they're supposed to like future and no one wants to be caught not liking future. Hendrix is a great album. But the tape wasn't good. It disappeared and no one listened to it ever again and no one wants to talk about it.

I think this is Jadis that. I think this is everyone knows they're supposed to like Yadi at this point. I want everybody to know that like although like Charity just performatively earlier on this record, I mean like earlier on this podcast said that he finally got into Wayne earlier this year, in private? I didn't say earlier this year? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, no, no, no.

No, no. Stop, let me finish. What I'm saying is that, like, I'm not saying that you said it, you got into Wayne earlier this year. I mean, like, you said to me in person, Wayne is bad earlier this year. No, I didn't. Yes, he did. You said, you'd be flying off the cup a lot, dog.

If we collected every statement that was like, blank is bad that Justin has said, he said pizza is bad. Pizza is bad. I'm a gift. All right. So, we're going on. way left now. So is there any last words here? My last word is just that like early career,

teen Wayne was the best way. Okay, that's my last word. I'm sorry. No, about Lil Yadi and teenage emotions. Because I feel like this album is going to be big. Am I totally off base? I mean, I feel like that's why, you know, maybe he's washed now.

I think Playboy Cardi mixtape in stores now. I think, uh, I just try to let your trap lord in stores now. You know what I'm saying. Gucci-May booming in stores now. All right, all right. All right. Well, thank you, Micah. And thank you, Justin, for this very illuminating discussion about Lil Yadi.

Thanks, Donnie. Thank you, Doddy, for bearing with us. With our 24 hours of Yadi obsession. 24 hours. All right, so, Michael, what is your last word on Yadi and teenage emotions? My priorities are fucked. They really are making men. wraps and write a paper

Hey fuck my college school They some haters Hey, whole squall of husses Like the movie takers Got a bougie yellow Bitch look like vanilla wafer $80,000 spent on juror today I don't point no fingers

I can't do no juror do they Niggas claiming that they know me But like really do they Bars