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Lil Yachty Guides Listeners on a Trippy Journey with ‘Let’s Start Here’ Album: Stream It Now

Listen to 'Let's Start Here' here.

By Heran Mamo

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For Gossip, Existence Itself Is an Act of Protest: 'Everything About This Is Radical'

Lil yachty announces new album ‘let’s start here’, trending on billboard.

In the week leading up to the album’s release, he unveiled a nearly two-minute skit titled “Department of Mental Tranquility,” which shows Yachty walking into the video’s namesake and responding to a receptionist’s pestering, miscellaneous questions in a sweltering waiting room replete with erratic people before the performer carefully enters into the white light.

Yachty released his last full-length album,  Lil Boat 3 , on May 29, 2020. The 19-track set, which included lead single “Oprah’s Bank Account” featuring  DaBaby  and Drake , launched at No. 14 on the Billboard 200 . 

Stream Let’s Start Here below.

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How Lil Yachty Ended Up at His Excellent New Psychedelic Album Let's Start Here

By Brady Brickner-Wood

The evening before Lil Yachty released his fifth studio album,  Let’s Start Here,  he  gathered an IMAX theater’s worth of his fans and famous friends at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City and made something clear: He wanted to be taken seriously. Not just as a “Soundcloud rapper, not some mumble rapper, not some guy that just made one hit,” he told the crowd before pressing play on his album. “I wanted to be taken serious because music is everything to me.” 

There’s a spotty history of rappers making dramatic stylistic pivots, a history Yachty now joins with  Let’s Start Here,  a funk-flecked psychedelic rock album. But unlike other notable rap-to-rock faceplants—Kid Cudi’s  Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven  comes to mind, as does Lil Wayne’s  Rebirth —the record avoids hackneyed pastiche and gratuitous playacting and cash-grabbing crossover singles; instead, Yachty sounds unbridled and free, a rapper creatively liberated from the strictures of mainstream hip-hop. Long an oddball who’s delighted in defying traditional rap ethos and expectations,  Let’s Start Here  is a maximalist and multi-genre undertaking that rewrites the narrative of Yachty’s curious career trajectory. 

Admittedly, it’d be easy to write off the album as Tame Impala karaoke, a gimmicky record from a guy who heard Yves Tumor once and thought: Let’s do  that . But set aside your Yachty skepticism and probe the album’s surface a touch deeper. While the arrangements tend toward the obvious, the record remains an intricate, unraveling swell of sumptuous live instruments and reverb-drenched textures made more impressive by the fact that Yachty co-produced every song. Fielding support from an all-star cast of characters, including production work from former Chairlift member Patrick Wimberly, Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s Jacob Portrait, Justin Raisen, Nick Hakim, and Magdalena Bay, and vocals from Daniel Caesar, Diana Gordon,  Foushée , Justine Skye, and Teezo Touchdown, Yachty surrounds himself with a group of disparately talented collaborators. You can hear the acute attention to detail and wide-scale ambition in the spaced-out denouement on “We Saw the Sun!” or on the blistering terror of “I’ve Officially Lost Vision!!!!” or during the cool romanticism of “Say Something.” Though occasionally overindulgent,  Let’s Start Here  is a spectacular statement from hip-hop’s prevailing weirdo. It’s not shocking that Yachty took another hard left—but how exactly did he end up  here ?

In 2016, as the forefather of “bubblegum trap” ascended into mainstream consciousness, an achievement like  Let’s Start Here  would’ve seemed inconceivable. The then 18-year-old Yachty gained national attention when a pair of his songs, “One Night” and “Minnesota,” went viral. Though clearly indebted to hip-hop trailblazers Lil B, Chief Keef, and Young Thug, his work instantly stood apart from the gritted-teeth toughness of his Atlanta trap contemporaries. Yachty flaunted a childlike awe and cartoonish demeanor that communicated a swaggering, unbothered cool. His singsong flows and campy melodies contained a winking humor to them, a subversive playfulness that endeared him to a generation of very online kids who saw themselves in Yachty’s goofy, eccentric persona. He starred in Sprite  commercials alongside LeBron James, performed live shows at the  Museum of Modern Art , and modeled in Kanye West’s  Life of Pablo  listening event at Madison Square Garden. Relishing in his cultural influence, he declared to the  New York Times  that he was not a rapper but an  artist. “And I’m more than an artist,” he added. “I’m a brand.”

 As Sheldon Pearce pointed out in his Pitchfork  review of Yachty’s 2016 mixtape,  Lil Boat , “There isn’t a single thing Lil Yachty’s doing that someone else isn’t doing better, and in richer details.” He wasn’t wrong. While Yachty’s songs were charming and catchy (and, sometimes, convincing), his music was often tangential to his brand. What was the point of rapping as sharply as the Migos or singing as intensely as Trippie Redd when you’d inked deals with Nautica and Target, possessed a sixth-sense for going viral, and had incoming collaborations with Katy Perry and Carly Rae Jepsen? What mattered more was his presentation: the candy-red hair and beaded braids, the spectacular smile that showed rows of rainbow-bedazzled grills, the wobbly, weak falsetto that defaulted to a chintzy nursery rhyme cadence. He didn’t need technical ability or historical reverence to become a celebrity; he was a meme brought to life, the personification of hip-hop’s growing generational divide, a sudden star who, like so many other Soundcloud acts, seemed destined to crash and burn after a fleeting moment in the sun.

 One problem: the music wasn’t very good. Yachty’s debut album, 2017’s  Teenage Emotions, was a glitter-bomb of pop-rap explorations that floundered with shaky hooks and schmaltzy swings at crossover hits. Worse, his novelty began to fade, those sparkly, cheerful, and puerile bubblegum trap songs aging like day-old french fries. Even when he hued closer to hard-nosed rap on 2018’s  Lil Boat 2  and  Nuthin’ 2 Prove,  you could feel Yachty desperate to recapture the magic that once came so easily to him. But rap years are like dog years, and by 2020, Yachty no longer seemed so radically weird. He was an established rapper making mid mainstream rap. The only question now was whether we’d already seen the best of him.

If his next moves were any indication—writing the  theme song to the  Saved by the Bell  sitcom revival and announcing his involvement in an upcoming  movie based on the card game Uno—then the answer was yes. But in April 2021, Yachty dropped  Michigan Boat Boy,  a mixtape that saw him swapping conventional trap for Detroit and Flint’s fast-paced beats and plain-spoken flows. Never fully of a piece with his Atlanta colleagues, Yachty found a cohort of kindred spirits in Michigan, a troop of rappers whose humor, imagination, and debauchery matched his own. From the  looks of it, leaders in the scene like Babyface Ray, Rio Da Yung OG, and YN Jay embraced Yachty with open arms, and  Michigan Boat Boy  thrives off that communion. 

 Then “ Poland ” happened. When Yachty uploaded the minute-and-a-half long track to Soundcloud a few months back, he received an unlikely and much needed jolt. Building off the rage rap production he played with on the  Birthday Mix 6  EP, “Poland” finds Yachty’s warbling about carrying pharmaceutical-grade cough syrup across international borders, a conceit that captured the imagination of TikTok and beyond. Recorded as a joke and released only after a leaked version went viral, the song has since amassed over a hundred-millions streams across all platforms. With his co-production flourishes (and adlibs) splattered across Drake and 21 Savage’s  Her Loss,  fans had reason to believe that Yachty’s creative potential had finally clicked into focus.

 But  Let’s Start Here  sounds nothing like “Poland”—in fact, the song doesn’t even appear on the project. Instead, amid a tapestry of scabrous guitars, searing bass, and vibrant drums, Yachty sounds right at home on this psych-rock spectacle of an album. He rarely raps, but his singing often relies on the virtues of his rapping: those greased-vowel deliveries and unrushed cadences, the autotune-sheathed vibrato. “Pretty,” for instance, is decidedly  not  a rap song—but what is it, then? It’s indebted to trap as much as it is ’90s R&B and MGMT, its drugged-out drums and warm keys able to house an indeterminate amount of ideas.

Yachty didn’t need to abandon hip-hop to find himself as an artist, but his experimental impulses helped him craft his first great album. Perhaps this is his lone dalliance in psych rock—maybe a return to trap is imminent. Or, maybe, he’ll make another 180, or venture deeper into the dystopia of corporate sponsorships. Who’s to say? For now, it’s invigorating to see Yachty shake loose the baggage of his teenage virality and emerge more fully into his adult artistic identity. His guise as a boundary-pushing rockstar isn’t a new archetype, but it’s an archetype he’s infused with his glittery idiosyncrasies. And look what he’s done: he’s once again morphed into a star the world didn’t see coming.

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Lil Yachty Reveals AI-Generated Album Cover for ‘Let’s Start Here,’ Depicting Demented Boardroom of Executives

By Yousef Srour

Yousef Srour

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Lil Yachty has revealed the artwork and release date for his forthcoming album, “Let’s Start Here,” set to debut Jan. 27 on Quality Control Music and Motown Records.

Ever the provocateur, the rapper’s new cover art previews an AI-generated image of what seems to be seven executives sitting next to each other in suits. With malformed faces akin to a psychedelic trip down the rabbit hole, the artwork seems unremarkable upon first glance. However, the longer you stare at their faces, they look inhuman, with contorted facial features and warped smiles.

The post is captioned : “Let’s Start Here. – 1/27  Chapter 2. Thank You for the patience,” hinting at a potential redux of an already teased album, collectively referred to as “Sonic Ranch.” On Dec. 25, Yachty’s latest album was leaked by Leaked.cx, much to the Michigan rapper’s disappointment. He took to Twitter later that day to post a half-hearted sad-face emoji to express anguish in the untimely launch of a potentially seminal work within his discography.

In an interview with Icebox last year , the “ Minnesota ” rapper has expressed that his “new album is a non-rap album,” hence the second chapter that he alludes to in his Instagram post. Yachty explains: “It’s alternative, it’s sick!” After recently collaborating with artists such as Tame Impala, he’s been in the process of creating a “psychedelic alternative project… [with] all live instrumentation.”

Slowly shedding major label support, Yachty now has his own label and creative consultant company, Concrete Records and Concrete Family, respectively. Working closely with Concrete Family, Yachty teamed up with the General Mills cereal brand in 2020 for a limited collaboration with Reese’s Puffs and has an undisclosed sneaker set to be released at a later date. Similar to his 2021 mixtape, “Michigan Boat Boy,” which featured almost solely Detroit artists including Rio Da Yung OG and Babyface Ray, Yachty plans to also release a mixtape with the Concrete Boys collective sometime this year.

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Lil Uzi Vert with Special Guests Lil Yachty, JID, Rico Nasty & LIHTZ

To headline summerfest, on july 6, 2024, at american family insurance amphitheater, tickets on sale friday, march 15 at 10:00 a.m..

For immediate release

MILWAUKEE, WI (March 11, 2024) – Summerfest presented by American Family Insurance is excited to announce that Lil Uzi Vert, with special guests Lil Yachty, JID, Rico Nasty, and LIHTZ will headline the American Family Insurance Amphitheater on Saturday, July 6, 2024, during the festival's last day.

Tickets go on sale Friday, March 15, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. CST at Summerfest.com and Ticketmaster.com and in person at the American Family Insurance Amphitheater Box Office, and include admission to Summerfest the day of the show.  

About Lil Uzi Vert RIAA Diamond-certified and multiple GRAMMY-nominated superstar LIL UZI VERT has a sound as dynamic as their vision and trend-setting fashion. The Philadelphia native boasts over 31 billion career streams, four GRAMMY nominations and over 100 career Billboard Hot 100 charted songs. Uzi released the 26-track album PINK TAPE, the first rap album of 2023 to top the Billboard 200 chart, their third consecutive #1 album. The success of Uzi’s latest project follows the critically acclaimed RIAA Platinum albums; LUV IS RAGE 2, ETERNAL ATAKE, and LIL UZI VERT VS. THE WORLD, two of which landed #1 on the Billboard 200 chart. LUV IS RAGE 2 featured the hit Diamond certified worldwide hit, “XO Tour Llif3,” 4X Platinum certified, “The Way Life Goes,” and Platinum certified, “Neon Guts (feat. Pharrell Williams).”

 Uzi’s boundless discography includes THE PERFECT LUV TAPE, LUV IS RAGE, PLUTO X BABY PLUTO with Future, RED & WHITE EP, and LUV VS. THE WORLD 2. In addition to their extensive catalog, the artist has also featured on several record-breaking tracks including Migos’ RIAA 4X Platinum, GRAMMY-nominated, chart-topping hit single, “Bad and Boujee.”  Lil Uzi Vert hit the road on the sold out PINK TAPE TOUR in 2023 and was nominated for Best Rap Song for the chart topping smash, “I Just Wanna Rock.”

About Lil Yachty Lil Yachty is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer from Atlanta Georgia. He’s released five studio albums, with his most recent being Let’s Start Here. , a psychedelic alternative rock album released in January of 2023 and debuted as #1 on Billboard’s Top Rock & Alternative Albums list, #9 on Billboard’s Top 200 list, was the #1 Album on Apple Music, and has received over 60 million streams in the first two months. He made his Saturday Night Live (SNL) musical guest debut April 1st of this year and he graced the cover of Billboard magazine’s 2023 March issue, has made multiple appearances on film and TV, collaborated with brands such as Sprite, Reese’s Puffs, and Nautica, delved into fashion with projects such as his own nail polish brand Crete, and has his own frozen pizza (Deep Cuts Yachty’s Pizzeria).

About J.I.D. Born and raised in East Atlanta, Grammy nominated J.I.D has been heralded as “one of rap’s best storytellers'' (Rolling Stone). He grew up on his parents’ collection of classic funk/soul LPs, and broke onto the scene with his 2015 EP, DiCaprio . Soon after J. Cole signed him to Dreamville Records and he

made his major-label debut with the widely celebrated The Never Story (2017), followed quickly by the critically acclaimed album DiCaprio 2 (2018) which helped induct him to XXL’s Freshman class. His momentum continued with stellar contributions to Dreamville’s Platinum certified compilation Revenge of the Dreamers III (2019) which debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 charts and received multiple GRAMMY nominations. Having collaborated with music’s biggest names, J.I.D celebrated a global hit

with “Enemy” alongside Imagine Dragons in 2021; priming fans for J.I.D’s third studio album The Forever Story . Released last year, the album was widely acclaimed and included in many “best album of the

year” lists and included a stirring live rendition on NPR’s Tiny Desk stage. The album was kicked off with first single, “Surround Sound” featuring 21 Savage and Baby Tate, and two years since its initial release the song re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 charts in Fall of 2023 thanks to a viral internet trend dubbed “Surround Sound Ceiling Challenge.” The song which has now been used over half a million videos garnering over 3.5 billion views is nearing double Platinum status. His most personal project to date, The Forever Story is a celebration of storytelling and J.I.D’s ability to weave personality and prose seamlessly across infectious production. Revered for his live performance style, he has toured across the globe selling out venues and festival stages creating a wave of throbbing fans with every performance. His nimble, head-nodding lyricism and lightning fast flow has awarded J.I.D a loyal and cult-like fanbase while his dedication to perfecting the art is sportsman-like, leaving room for J.I.D to be one of rap’s greatest in the making.

About Rico Nasty Many artists change the game. However, Rico Nasty reinvents, recharges, and reimagines it with every move. Instead, the Washington, D.C.-born and Maryland-raised sonic sorceress shapeshifts at the speed of the culture, infusing airtight rap with uncontainable punk energy, hyperpop unpredictability, industrial intensity, and just the right amount of heavy metal attitude. Back in high school, she made waves with a series of independent projects before reaching critical mass with 2017’s Sugar Trap 2. On its heels, she maintained this momentum with the fan favorite Nasty in 2018. The collaborative mixtape Anger Management with Kenny Beats closed out 2019 on over a dozen year-end lists, including Complex, Dazed, Fact, The FADER, GQ, NME, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Stereogum, and Vice. During 2020, her full-length debut, Nightmare Vacation, boasted the gold-certified hit “Smack A Bitch.” Peers sought her out for high-profile collaborations, including the platinum “Tia Tamera” with Doja Cat, “#PROUDCATOWNERREMIX” with the late XXXTentacion, “¡aquí yo mando!” with Kali Uchis, and more. Rico’s’s the rare outlier who can grace the cover the XXL Freshman issue or light up Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty Show as an ambassador and ignite a mosh pit. With an inimitable and influential signature style, she has reached multiplatinum status, posted up nearly 1 billion streams, and sold out countless shows. Last year she unleashed unfiltered truth with the force of a tornado through a tidal wave on Las Ruinas but from here on out Rico’s new mission is to take us back to the Sugar Trap – where it all began.

About LIHTZ Philadelphia’s Andrew Christian Howard, p/k/a “LIHTZ” is a multifaceted artist that has made a name for himself in music and television. Born in West Philly, Lihtz had a rough upbringing moving from shelter to shelter with his sickly mother. At the age of 7-years-old, Lihtz and his family moved to West Oak Lane or the “Uptown” area of Philadelphia. It was here where he made a name for himself.

Inspired by his uncle, “Big Biscuit,” who was a rapper, Lihtz wanted to follow in his footsteps and by the age of 10-years-old, he found himself in a rap group. This along with his time in church played a heavy role in the soulfulness of his music and heartfelt lyrics.  Lihtz briefly moved to Atlanta after high school to hone in on his sound. Upon moving back to Philly, Lihtz received a cosign from Gillie Da Kid (Million Dollars Worth of Game Co-host) which helped launch his music career. Featured on songs from other artists in Philadelphia, Lihtz was able to build his own catalog of street anthems. This eventually led Lihtz to be featured on “Never Lose” by Meek Mill. Since that time, Lihtz has been met with moments of tragedy and career obstacles. In 2023 Lihtz emerged with a new image and sound which pushed him in a different direction from his earlier work. The intention of wearing a mask was to force people to focus on the music while also seeing him in a new light. Lihtz dedication to personal growth birthed many songs including his current single “Serenity.” The song represents the search for substance that gives your life purpose before it's too late.

About Summerfest presented by American Family Insurance   Summerfest presented by American Family Insurance is a premier independent music festival, hosting the industry’s biggest acts for an unforgettable live music experience.  Since its inception in 1968, Summerfest continues to distinguish itself as a top national music festival and has developed an unrivaled reputation, consistently featuring hundreds of performances across 12 stages, throughout the 75-acre festival grounds along Lake Michigan. Summerfest 2024 will take place over three weekends - June 20-22, June 27-29, and July 4-6. For more information, visit Summerfest.com , or follow us on social media @Summerfest on Facebook, Instagram, X, and TikTok.   

Milwaukee World Festival, Inc., producer of Summerfest, continues to fulfill its nonprofit mission of bringing the community together and providing a showcase for performing arts, activities, and recreation to the public, through music and special events.

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Tired of inflated ticket prices, Yungblud is launching his own affordable music festival

Sian Watson

Associated Press

Yungblud poses for portrait photographs in London, Tuesday, March 19, 2024. (Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)

LONDON – Tired of inflated ticket prices, recording artist Yungblud is launching his own affordable music festival.

Bludfest takes place on Aug. 11 in the iconic Milton Keynes Bowl, which in the past has hosted the likes of David Bowie and Green Day in Buckinghamshire, England, northwest of London.

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Yungblud, whose real name is Dom Harrison, thinks that currently festivals are “unrepresentative of people” — so he’s fixing the price point of Bludfest at 49.50 pounds (around $63).

“It’s like massive ticket charges, massive prices that most of the time aren’t really going to the artist anyway,” he said of typical festival prices in a recent interview with The Associated Press.

He adds that music festivals are becoming inaccessible when really they should be about “having fun and making memories.”

Joining him on the bill are Lil Yachty, duo Soft Play, Nessa Barrett, Lola Young and Jazmin Bean. The Damned are also playing in an “icons” slot. Tickets for the event go on sale March 22.

Yungblud says he aims to make a “physical world” for him and his fanbase, and then “anyone else who wants to come along.”

The British star is also offering a “Make a Friend” option for fans attending alone. You can either chat before on a Discord channel, or go to the designated tent and meet people in person.

And he hopes to expand it out of the U.K. if it goes according to plan, taking the concept to different regions across the globe.

As well as Bludfest, Yungblud is also working on a new record, his fourth. In the past he’s written about darkness and depression, but says this one has a more positive tone.

“I’ve sung about the things that really hurt me in the beginning. And this new album flips over and it’s about the light. It’s about wanting to be alive and wanting to be with my friends and thinking I can get through it because these people have given me some hope,” he said.

And it’s not just his friends who give him hope — it’s also his fans.

“I really do have a strong faith in humanity in me because I see people every day and I see what they do for each other at my gigs,” he said.

Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

KSAT News at Noon : Mar 21, 2024

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Let’s Start Here.

January 27, 2023 14 Songs, 57 minutes Quality Control Music/Motown Records; ℗ 2023 Quality Control Music, LLC, under exclusive license to UMG Recordings, Inc.

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Lil Yachty Shuts Down Playboi Carti Sound Comparisons

Earlier this week, Kai Cenat previewed an unreleased song from Lil Yachty during his livestream. After fans accused the “A Cold Sunday” artist of copying Playboi Carti’s cadence, he decided to respond on Twitter yesterday (March 20) evening.

“Biting him? How did I bite him? The beat? If that’s the case, I [have] been workin’ with Cardo since 2019 or 2020 on record. Y’all fans be smoking the strongest d**k,” Yachty quote-tweeted a social media user’s shade. The original post that he responded to read, “Carti can’t try one new sound without rappers immediately biting him. He’s generational.”

Cardo, who’s known for producing songs for Drake, Travis Scott, and Kendrick Lamar, has worked on several of Carti’s recent releases. The Grammy-winning beatmaker is responsible for “H00DBYAIR,” “KETAMINE,” “ EVILJ0RDAN ,” and “BACKR00MS,” all of which are expected to appear on the musician’s next album.

Unfortunately for Yachty, people pointed out more alleged similarities than just the beat. One account wrote, “The song is terrible. The beat is a ‘H00DBYAIR’-type beat. Your flow is an obvious attempt at a Carti flow, and you used a ‘what’ ad-lib in the same cadence [that] Carti uses.”

Yachty also dismissed accusations of him copying Carti last year. In July 2023, DJ Akademiks claimed the Whole Lotta Red artist “made him change his entire sound” during a livestream . The music commentator further alleged that records like “Poland” and “Strike (Holster)” drew influence from the Georgia native.

However, Yachty quickly pointed out, “[You are] so insane. I didn’t tell [you] this at all. Stop drinking, bro. I said [Tyler, The Creator] encouraged me to take that route.”

In 2023, the QC rapper put out Let’s Start Here. , which featured Justine Skye, Teezo Touchdown, Daniel Caesar, Diana Gordon, and Fousheé. It saw him venturing into psychedelic rock and spawned songs like “​​​drive ME crazy!” and “pRETTy.”

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Veeze’s Greatness Speaks for Itself — One Croaky Bar at a Time

By Andre Gee

Veeze has joked that 2022 was his “rap internship” as he prepped his debut LP, Ganger, and spent time around rap stars like Lil Baby, Lil Yachty, and Babyface Ray, observing them and learning rap-star decorum. Now, with the album out to much acclaim , the 28-year-old Detroit native is on the verge of stardom, and he’s the one whose example younger artists will be following. 

Singles like “GOMD” and “Not a Drill” were ubiquitous among rap heads in 2023, with so many artists still doing freestyles to the latter that he had to publicly ask them to stop recently. Veeze’s style — a sludgy delivery and stellar ear for beats that make him one of rap’s most fun listens — is too distinct to imitate, so he has to try and take freestyles as flattery. Beat-jacking notwithstanding, Veeze says he’s proud of Ganger ‘s impact.  

Veeze isn’t in an especially verbose mood when we catch up by phone; asked how his recording pace has been since Ganger dropped and he ascended in fame, he curtly answers: “The same.” But those two words are all his cult fanbase needs to hear.  

Ganger was a long-anticipated project after Veeze broke out with songs like 2019’s “Big Draco” and “Law & Order,” with hilarious putdowns like “He sworn on God he was gettin’ money, going straight to hell.” His sense of humor lumps him in with a broader movement of Michigan rappers who specialize in side-splitting bars. 

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He said he initially had an album that he was planning to drop around that time, but having to start from zero on Instagram influenced him to create an entirely new project as well. Enter Ganger , a 21-track project showcasing Veeze as a double-cup-wielding villain over a refreshing variety of production. Every artist talks about an ambitious creative process, but you can hear it on a project like this. On “you know i,” he samples Bone Thugs’ “Thuggish Ruggish Bone” on two different beats while simultaneously borrowing a “Big Pimpin” line from Jay-Z. He’s taking it easy with Chicago’s Lucki on the smoky “Broke Phone,” then “7Sixers” turns things back up with a sleek loop from producer and close collaborator Rocaine. And on “Tramp Stamp” he offers the rare line that’s retroactively more potent with “Slimeball like P. Diddy, cake walk to get it.” 

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“Some people’s voices are so exclusive, that’s what make the type of artist they [are],” he reasons. “Even if it’s the way they make their voice when they’re in the studio, just to make yourself poke out. That’s one of the things the fans really like, the way they’re approaching not sounding the same as any other rapper. It means a lot to me how I approach it.”

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“We just be doing shit,” he says. “Sometimes I do a couple songs, sometimes I only do one song. Sometimes I do five songs. I work every day though, so I make a boundless amount.” Hopefully, the new artists around him are taking notes.

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The Best Rising Artists of Spring 2024

Get to know 9 artists who are leading the next generation of music..

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As Spring breathes new life into us once again, we’re introduced to a new selection of rising artists making their marks in music. This season, Hypebeast is focusing on nine artists who are creating and exploring their unique sounds in the realms of Afrobeats, indie rock, rap, bedroom pop, trap and more, further underscoring the notion that genres no longer serve as confines for the next generation of musical artists.

For fans of: Montell Fish, Toby Mai, Isabel LaRosa

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TraviS & Elzzz Fly Flag High For Irish Rap Scene On ‘Doghouse’

The Dublin duo are here to put the Irish rap scene on the map with their latest project.

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Dublin, Ireland, is known to be a hub for many things: buzzing pubs, a thriving tech-house scene, great craic—the list could go on. TraviS & Elzzz are on a mission to add rap to that list with their latest project, Doghouse .

The duo are the founding members of the Gliders collective, a key part of the effervescent creative scene in the city, whose members include stylist and strategist TJ Meggison, music producer Liam Harris, and videographer Sam Fallover (who has worked with the likes of BXKS and Blanco). The project’s immersive production—handled entirely by Liam Harris—provides a canvas for the two rappers to paint a vivid picture of their journey, catapulting you into the depths of the Doghouse that they’re describing. “Being an artist is hard enough, but being an artist in Ireland without the necessary network is tough,” TraviS tells Complex UK. “All of that creates the best talent, though.”

From the onset, their determination is evident: Doghouse opens with “30 Days & 30 Nights”, acknowledging the toil they’ve experienced to get to where they are today, underscored by a determination to make their dreams come true. The repeated refrain of “we’re really gonna do this” embodies the unshakeable confidence TraviS & Elzzz demonstrate throughout the set, as they speak with a certainty that suggests they have already arrived at their desired destination spiritually, the physical reality is just playing catch-up. 

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Tracks such as “Notice Me” showcase this sentiment, with the lethargic instrumental capturing the toll that the grind has taken on their psyche in the doghouse . They also enlist the support of fellow torchbearers in the Irish music scene—Monjola, Sello and Reggie (the latter also featured in the Gliders cypher )—a testament to the community being cultivated in the country. Lead single “Blockbuster”, which received widespread applause from the likes of Jme and Tiffany Calver, was a triumphant declaration of arrival at a preordained destination of greatness with little regard for those who have doubted the pair, again complemented flawlessly by an instrumental which feels like the sonic representation of an eruption. And while they know where they’re headed to, TraviS & Elzzz are still firmly aware of where they’re coming from, with “Naij Blood” paying homage to their Nigerian roots.

Last year, their Full Circle project became the highest-charting domestic rap album in Irish history. This time round, TraviS & Elzzz have been in the doghouse and are ready for the world to hear them. As TraviS puts it, “Dublin ain’t the only thing in the doghouse—the whole world is.”

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