At 19-years-old, rapper Lil Yachty has listed Soulja Boy, Kid Cudi, and Lil B among his musical influences, which in essence would mean that he may be familiar with the Hip Hop that predates those artists, but couldn't say that he necessarily draws from it; although it's fair to assume that Soulja Boy, Kid Cudi, and Lil B likely did. For Lil Yachty, whose experience as a rapper doesn't doesn't appear to extend six months, nationally nor locally, it wouldn't matter. He couldn't name you five 2Pac or Biggie songs, and he has no reservations about admitting that, as he did in an interview with Billboard this week.

"If I’m doing this my way and making all this money, why should I do it how everybody says it’s supposed to be done?” Yachty, whose first mixtape was ironically released on March 9 [universally remembered as the day B.I.G died], went on to tell Billboard. The statement is reminiscent of when he told L.A.'s Real 92.3, "If I wanna make say ‘yah’ the whole track and it turn up people because the beat turned up, f*** it. I’m making a song called 'Yah.' It’s the not the same no more bro, n****s is not doing spin moves on cardboard no more."

The self-branded "King of Teens" has made no secret about his indifference towards the architects of the art-form, famously proclaiming "Ion wanna be Nas, I wanna be rich," and drawing a line in the sand between what the younger generation relates to as Hip Hop in contrast to how Hip Hop's elders facilitated the genre. But he is not alone in his thinking, and neither might he be the only mainstream Hip Hop artist in his age bracket who can't reference Pac or Big at will. Rich Homie Quan received flack back in July, when during a BET Awards tribute to the Notorious One, he forgot the lyrics to "Get Money" mid-verse.

Source: hiphopdx.com