Lil Yachty is America's Greatest Talent Scout

One of the most essential rap hits of last year, “We Paid,” centers on an unlikely duo — that of Atlanta’s Lil Baby and Detroit’s 42 Dugg. Most of the track’s appeal comes from their give-and-take, with Baby as the Southern superstar, Dugg as the Michigan upstart, and both of them trading bars in a way that lands somewhere between their two regions’ styles. One lyric stands out in the exchange, when Dugg says he’s come “from the D to the A.” It alludes to the fact that this isn’t the first time a major Atlanta rapper has tapped in with Michigan rap’s renaissance over the last few years. The one who originally charted that course — and coined that lyric — was Lil Yachty, who, months before the Michigan marathon of “First Day Out” peaked on the charts in 2017, released the explosive “From the D to the A” with Detroit’s Tee Grizzley.

Even though Yachty isn’t yet used to making music like this, he still holds his own and tears the track up, trying to match Tee’s energy and flows as they go back and forth. There’s a surprisingly fun chemistry between the two of them, because Yachty obviously loves Detroit rap for what it is and lets the more experienced partner lead the way. It would not be the last time he tried his hand at this now-familiar Michigan style. Looking back now, it feels like an obvious harbinger of collabs to come; a younger Lil Baby himself even appears in the video at 2:36.

The project that would eventually become Michigan Boy Boat, Yachty’s latest mixtape featuring all of the rap talent he’s befriended in Michigan over the past few years — and some of his best performances yet in their style — was originally called D to the A as well, after the song with Tee Grizzley. Before it became a solo effort exploring all of Michigan, it was first teased in mid-2019 as a project that would bridge the gap between the cities and connect Yachty and his Atlanta peers to Detroit artists like Tee, Drego & Beno, and Sada Baby. 

“SB5” with Sada Baby surfaced in 2020 as the first single from this project. The Detroit firebrand makes an even better sparring partner for Yachty, who at this point was starting to feel more at home on Michigan beats, matching Sada bar-for-bar over the shadowy instrumental. But Yachty really hit his stride in Flint last year, where his endearing takes on Michigan flows fit perfectly in outlandish back-and-forths with rappers like YN Jay and Krispylife Kidd. When trading bars, Flint rappers try to make each other laugh, and as an outsider, Yachty brings his own affable comedic timing.

In a November interview, Flint rappers RMC Mike and Rio da Yung OG complimented Yachty’s attention to smaller artists like themselves, his humility despite his stardom, and his ability to comfortably work with them and “feel regular.” Michigan isn’t the only region Yachty, who has recently started building his Concrete Boys label imprint, has set his eye on. “I just fuck with new talent,” Yachty said in a recent conversation with Rolling Stone. He’s like a latter-day Soulja Boy, finding his way next to whatever new artists he likes and using his loveable charisma to absorb their styles and pull it off. Where Soulja navigated from Shawty Lo to Lil B to Chief Keef, Yachty has hopped around from Playboi Carti to Goonew to Rio — and rarely felt out of place.

It is hard to overstate just how many artists and sounds he’s been early on, even outside of Michigan. Months after blowing up, Yachty dropped “Killa Killa” with Goth Money associate and SoundCloud legend Black Kray in 2016 — still Kray’s highest-profile feature, and the first time a rapper as big as Yachty hopped on a Working on Dying-produced tread beat, years before Uzi or Carti did the same. He gave the DMV’s Rico Nasty her first big feature in 2016 when he took a liking to her “sugar trap” sound, akin to his own, and remixed “Hey Arnold;” the same thing happened on Creek Boyz’ “With My Team.” Atlanta rappers from Lil Baby to Lil Keed have gotten his blessing on their first mixtapes. In 2018, he had a song with Dallas’ 10k.caash. He recently teased a collaboration with $oFaygo, the most promising rapper to break out from SoundCloud in some time. Everywhere you look in America, there’s been Yachty, finding the people who are bubbling under the radar and offering them features.

But Yachty doesn’t just have good taste because he locates cool artists before they blow up. It’s also about curation; throughout his career, he has specifically sought out rappers who jell with the sugary melodies for which he first made his name — or, more recently, the murmurs and punch-ins that have authenticated him to local YouTube commenters who are just as excited as I am that the “Minnesota” guy can actually rap so well. From collaborations with Chicago’s Valee to LA’s Drakeo and Ohgeesy to Detroit’s Sada Baby, he’s developed a dependable, bar-heavy style of punchline rap that can slot in alongside lethargic or comedic rappers across the country while preserving his goofy-kid personality. Most people wouldn’t think to see commonalities between such disparate rappers, but Yachty’s network of collaborations helps connect the dots. Being from Atlanta himself, he was an early adopter of the Hoodrich Pablo Juan flow that has now spread its punch-in gospel throughout the United States to places like the DMV, where he worked with Lil Dude and Goonew, and even New York, which was likely the inspiration for the Shawny Binladen-style “Cortex” he released just a few days ago, sporting a famous sample and drill-adjacent beat that would fit anyone in the Yellow Tape Boyz. (I can see him showing up on a Surf Gang song soon.) 

He even knows when not to get on the mic with the rappers he likes. On his most notorious collaboration, Miles McCollum doesn’t rap at all: Yachty is credited as the main writer for City Girls’ raunchy 2019 anthem “Act Up,” and lets JT and Yung Miami bring the words to life. He’s so chameleonic that he can assist in an incredible song like this one, steeped in intensely-regional, very female Miami rap, and you wouldn’t even know it was him if the writing credit didn’t tip you off.

Yachty has the savviest taste in rap of any rapper alive, and Michigan Boy Boat proves it. Who else would think to get Swae Lee on a Michigan beat from SAV with a “Wack Jumper”-style violin sample, have him rap instead of sing, and make it work? Who else would even have the connections to get that together on a major label like Quality Control? Besides assembling some of Michigan’s best rappers, I’m struck by the production roster on Michigan Boy Boat. It’s a who’s-who of some of the finest producers associated with the state, from Helluva to Enrgy Beats to Carlo Anthony. But Yachty chooses beats that feel much more immediate than their usual output, more likely to catch the ears of new listeners with key changes and compelling samples while still keeping their raw Michigan DNA. He’s figured out how to use his reach to get more eyes on artists far outside a general audience’s comfort zone, and how to curate those artists to both wider tastes and his own strong suits as a rapper. It works because, as Yachty has repeatedly expressed, he’s mostly trying to enjoy himself rapping, not to top charts; he brings out what’s most fun at the heart of everyone he collaborates with.