Lil Yachty – Nuthin’ 2 Prove (Album Review)

Actually, Lil Yachty does have quite a bit to prove… Despite dropping a few solid verses on other artists’ s**t, he hasn’t quite delivered a full body of work that has caught my attention yet. My hope is that he was f**kin’ with us on those first two albums, and that this third one is the real deal. I doubt it, but I’ll remain hopeful.

STREAM

TOP 5

HONORABLE MENTION. GIMMIE MY RESPECT

Man, I wish “Gimmie My Respect” was longer! The beat to it is tough, Yachty sticks his chest out on his raps, and lyrically, everything he’s talking about is pretty intriguing. I can legitimately play this joint to hip hop enthusiasts and not feel embarrassed.

~~This is Yachty’s version of “Dedicate.”~~

5. YACHT CLUB

The instrumental to “Yacht Club” is bass boomin,’ yet features this somber root. Juice WRLD practically provides all the energy the song needs, singing with this infectious melody and carefree approach throughout. He continues to be a brash n***a (See my WRLD on Drugs review), talking about drug-usage, shooting n***as and f**kin’ with chicks. Yachty even tells the n***a that he’s reckless on his own verse.

Lil Yachty is just as reckless as Juice is on his part, he just doesn’t sound as cold. Matter of fact, it sounds like he’s trying to keep up with the Chicago rapper, bragging and boasting about his stupid decision-making process these days.

4. GET DRIPPED

“Get Dripped” is clearly a song Playboi Carti let Yachty have, because everything from the track’s rhythm to its lack of structure falls in line with what the ATL rapper likes to do. On Playboi Carti’s part, he practically loses himself in the beat (Like seriously, it sounds like he was intoxicated by it), dropping this hoppy ass verse that has him using the words ‘drip’ and ‘lil b*tch’ 127 times. On Yachty’s contributions, he hurls out punchlines galore, opting to come across as mister cool. Strangely, the collaboration between the two styles work really well.

3. WHO WANT THE SMOKE

There are some major players on this song, but please give a standing ovation to the beat (Kudos Tay Keith)!

Let me start off by saying this: Other than a solid first verse, Lil Yachty’s contributions on this song is very comical (On his second verse, he literally sounds like a thug with brain damage). Matter of fact, he doesn’t even issue out threats that sound scary, Damn, in my opinion, he had such a great opportunity to prove he has gangsta ties to the world on this joint, and instead, he fell flat on his face. Nonetheless, I like his effort when it comes to being the musical version of Draymond Green.

As expected, Cardi B and Offset provide the real grit for this record, both dropping heavy-hitting verses that actually sound aggressive and on beat (Shot at Yachty). I say they strong arm this song away from Yachty, remove his contributions and add 21 Savage to it (That’s what happened with rockstar, right?).

If the smoke sounds like this, I’m OK with having all of it!

2. SAINTLAURENTYSL

What album is Lil Baby not on?

“SAINTLAURENTYSL” is fire! I love the beat’s smooth yet bass boomin’ sound, the erratic flows that both Yachty and Lil Baby utilize, and most importantly, their ‘cooler than the other side of the pillow’ demeanor. I just feel like both of our heroes are in complete sync with one another on this joint, each giving off the same vibes, talking about similar s**t and feeding off of one another’s lethargic energy.

1. FALLIN’ IN LUV

This might be a stretch, but “Fallin’ In Luv” sorta reminds me of some s**t The Weeknd would make. Before you start bombarding me with hate mail, hear me out! The song features this dark ass R&B trap beat that encourages vulnerable lyrics and passionate vocals, and much to my surprise, both Gunna and Yachty give it to us (And it’s decent). Aside from that, they describe their respective women’s attributes in a way that i find similar to the way The Weeknd does on a lot of his songs (Especially the ones he has with Future). If you don’t agree with my comparison, it’s all good, because this song is still very enjoyable, as both rappers nail their melodies, ride the beat effectively, and deliver the most heartwarming content I’ve heard them deliver in their careers (That’s a bit of an exaggeration, I am aware)!

This might be Lil Yachty’s best song to-date…

SONG BY SONG BREAKDOWN

1. GIMMIE MY RESPECT (4/5)

2. GET DRIPPED (3.5/5)

3. RILEY FROM THE BOONDOCKS (3/5)

4. I’M THE MAC (2.5/5)

5. YACHT CLUB (3.5/5)

6. SAINTLAURENTYSL (5/5)

7. WE OUTTA HERE! (2/5)

8. WHO WANT THE SMOKE (4/5)

9. WORTH IT (2/5)

10. EVERYTHING GOOD, EVERYTHING RIGHT (2/5)

11. NEXT UP (2.5/5)

12. FOREVER WORLD (3.5/5)

13. NOLIA (3.5/5)

14. FALLIN IN LOVE (5/5)

15. STONEY (2/5)

OVERALL RATING

(C-)

“Nuthin’ 2 Prove” is substantially better than the other two albums Yachty dropped, but it still isn’t the best he can do.

You can tell Yachty wanted his respect from the moment you pressed play on this album, because for one, he named the intro track “Gimmie My Respect” (Duh). Aside from that, I felt like he focused on rapping tough on majority of the tracks, only resulting to that horrendous ‘auto-tuned up’ crooning on a few songs here and there (And those songs were slightly above pitiful). But my favorite version of Yachty on this album was the one that understood exactly what he needed to do to be successful; that means sing when a song desperately needed it (ie Fallin’ In Love), rap hard when the beat challenges him to (ie. Who want the smoke), and not do too much when the song gives off a laid-back feel (ie. Yacht Club). I see vast improvement in his ear for music, but he still has a long way to go before I consider him a respectable rapper.

Like I said in the paragraph before, Lil Yachty still resorts to thinking he’s Beyonce. Too many songs had him testing out his vocal chords, and quite honestly, I’ve never wanted to hear him do that s**t (Surprisingly, his writing was alright on these songs). The other songs I hated were brain dead rap joints like “I’m The Mac” and “We Outta Here” where he drops lazy bars and repeats the same s**t over and over again. I felt dumber listening to these type of songs, and on the real, I wont tolarate gitting dummer litsening 2 his s**t (Aw, f**k!).

I thoroughly enjoyed the features on this album. I feel like Yachty linked up with artists that do what he does (better than him, of course), which resulted in music that simply fit for both parties. Every guest was needed, especially because it felt like Yachty wanted to come across like their understudies when he got chance to lay down his contributions. (BTW, Yachty is a bad artist, but I can’t knock his versatility)

The beats on this project are fantastic. Matter of fact, I think this is the single most important reason we got an improved version of the Atlanta-based rapper. For the most part, every one of them were bass boomin’, and from there, they either went the tough route or the sentimental route. In my opinion, you couldn’t fail with the s**t he was laced with, but then again, it’s Yachty, so nothing is impossible…

C- might be a poor grade for your major hip hop players, but for Yachty, it’s a step in the right direction. I feel like he’s slowly but surely starting to take the rap game as serious as he needs to, gaining an understanding of what people want to hear from him in the process. On this particular project, he drops mainly average and poor music, but on the real, the few songs that are gems are truly special! I legit think “Fallin In Love” is one of the best rap songs this year, and really f**k with “SAINTLAURENTYSL.” If we can somehow, someway convince this n***a that he is capable of leaving us in awe when he actually tries, he can finally gain that respect he believes he deserves.