Lil Yachty Says ‘Hip-Hop Is in a Terrible Place’ Right Now, Addresses Grammys Snub

Lil Yachty has revealed that he thinks the state of hip-hop isn’t in a good place.

During his conversation at Rolling Stone’s Musicians on Musicians event in Brooklyn, New York, Lil Boat wasted no time telling the audience how he felt about the current landscape of hip-hop. According to Yachty, rappers are afraid to take risks these days. 

“Hip-hop is in a terrible place,” Yachty said. “The state of hip-hop right now is a lot of imitation. It’s a lot of quick, low-quality music being put out.“

He continued, “It’s a lot less risk-taking, it’s a lot less originality…People are too safe now. Everyone is so safe. I rather take the risk than take the L.”

The moderator mentioned that JID is one of those artists who are continually taking risks. Yachty agreed and spoke highly of his fellow Atlanta native. 

“I love JID,” Yachty added. “JID is such a beautiful person. He has the spirit of like a real Atlanta Negro and he’s such a good, kind person and he just always embraced me with open arms so I got nothing but respect for JID. I never heard a bad verse from JID ever.” 

Lil Yachty took a huge risk with his latest album, Let’s Start Here, where he experimented with several sounds outside of hip-hop, such as psychedelic rock. The 14-track effort was well-received by critics and fans alike, with many feeling Yachty would get a Grammy nomination for the body of work. However, the 26-year-old was snubbed by the Recording Academy and revealed he didn’t understand why. 

“I just worked really hard from start to finish,” Yachty said. “I just don’t know. I handled it way better than I thought I did. Like I thought I was gonna be like throwing shit around like mad as hell, but I didn’t care. When it came out I just honestly 0.5 seconds after deleted it out of my brain.” 

He continued, “It’s crazy because the last eight months I’ve been thinking about it but when it came out I was like, ‘Ok’ because at the end of the day it is what you love. Creating that album built such a level of confidence for me. And I’ve loved my artistry all over again on another level and I’ve become so confident in myself and knowing that was the starting point for what I can do and what I’m going to do.”