2016 has been a huge year for artists, established and emerging alike, but maybe none more so than Lil Yachty. He started off the year by dropping his debut mixtape, Lil Boat, back in March, since then he signed a record deal with QC, dropped multiple bangers, including his smash guest feature on Broccoli that has gone 2x platinum, made the XXL Cover, and headlined his sold-out tour. Now Yachty is back attempting to take over the summer with his latest drop, Summer Songs 2.

Yachty announced Summer Songs 2 a while back, so his fans have been waiting quite some time for it. In the week preceding Summer Songs 2, Yachty dropped two videos. The first being Keep Sailing, a documentary about the Sailing Team and his come up and the second being the official “Broccoli” video.

SS2 starts off with an intro from Uncle Darnell Boat who introduces the tape. The chorus of the song lays the foundation for the rest of the tape and Yachty’s music in general. ” We do what we wanna do/ We are the Youth, We are the youth” as Yachty screams throughout. Yachty follows that up with “For Hot 97” a track that features Jban$, Byou, and BigBruthaChubba. This song is directed towards Hot97 because of what happened during his freestyle attempt on the show.

My favorite song on the tape was up next in “IDK,” one of the stronger songs on SS2. The beat was excellently produced by D33J who crafted it perfectly for Yachty. Yachty delivers on it too; his flow is fire, and he combines it with witty lines we don’t typically get from him. ” I wanna stuff you, then lick you, then stick you just like a lil’ rello/ I’m too complex, shoulda’ called me Marc Ecko” Fantastic wordplay, especially for a rapper who isn’t known for his lyrics.



Other Standout tracks? “Pretty” ft. Burberry Perry, “Such Ease” Ft. Burberry Perry and Tyler Royale, “So Many People,” “All In” Ft. The Sailing Team, and “Life Goes On.”

“Pretty” finds Yachty rap-singing about a special lady throughout the song. As Yachty croons the chorus and raps verses about why he adores his love interest, it becomes apparent his musical talent is undeniable. His ability to seamlessly mesh rapping and singing is elite at such an early stage in his career,only adding to Yachty’s case as one of hip-hop’s best newcomers. “Pretty” is one of the deeper cuts on the project and TheGood Perry adds a solid verse of his own, showcasing his own vocal abilities. “Such Ease” follows a similar structure to “Pretty”; Yachty again is singing, but this time about his past and how he used to be broke. Both are excellent songs that show Yachty and Perry’s fantastic chemistry together.

“All In” was another solid track. Yachty opens up the chorus crooning about money and friendship, a perfect fit for this song, ” Bankroll after bankroll I spend, seven years later and I got the same friends” as he repeats throughout the chorus. Every member of the Sailing Team gets a verse on this one, but some stood out more than others. Soop and BigBruthaChubba had notable verses among the rest, but the best two verses went to Jban$ and Kodie Shane. This track wasn’t about lyrical ability, but more so about each rapper’s ability to flow on the track, and to me, Jban$ and Kodie Shane did it the best.

The last song I’ll talk about is “Life Goes On,” the best song on the tape. This song is the perfect embodiment of Yachty’s music. The youthfulness and the positivity radiate throughout the track. As the title suggest, the song is about pushing through in life no matter the circumstance, whether that is ignoring your haters or struggling through unemployment. The song finds Yachty going deeper than he ever has before as he talks about his past situation. “Mama had no job I had to get a 9 to 5/ Just when I thought we lost it all/ She said, boy be strong God gon’ keep us in our home,” and after that giving out words of encouragement to those who are currently going through it, “Blessings come true, I swear they do/ you might be down at the moment but stay down and you’ll be up soon”. Cook Laflare also was no slouch with his verse either. Excellent job by Yachty, music like this exudes the potential the rap world sees from the 19-year-old.

There was a lot of good on SS2, but also some bad. Yachty’s rapping still needs work, and it showed on his guest appearances. He gets out-rapped on features from Offset and Lil Herb. On “For Hot 97,” he tried to display his lyrical ability, but at times it seemed like he couldn’t keep up with the fast beat. You can hear the difference of quality on more rapid beats, where Yachty just appears to lag at times and at other times his lyrics just weren’t quality at all.

All in All, Summer Songs 2 was another solid project by the future rap star. He zoned in on his strengths like his singing and song making ability, and you can tell he’s made strides on his weakness like overall lyrical and rapping ability. Progression is always a great thing, especially from young and upcoming rappers. He has come a long way in a very short time span, from the Freeman Lofts to the unquestioned King of the Youth. Lil Boat got it right now.

And it should stay that way for the foreseeable future.

For more of my opinions on music and everything relating to HipHop make sure to follow me on Twitter: @_WhyToby