With three weeks to go before the release of Lil Yachty's forthcoming Teenage Emotions LP, the "Peek A Boo" rapper has steadily built a buzz that is likely to prove rewarding when the numbers come in. A good deal of the attention Yachty has received has come courtesy of his album's cover art, which dropped to a mixed reception midway through April, and has continued to spark dialogue over its inclusion of social outcasts.
"I thought about all the things I saw in high school for the first time that I had never experienced before. Like, I had never seen two dudes kissing until high school, you know what I'm saying? And the topic of obesity was never that serious until high school. I had never seen vitiligo until high school. I'd never seen albino kids until high school. I'd never seen EMO kids until high school, you know what I'm saying?" said Yachty, while breaking down his reason for grouping each alienated individual together with one another.
Front and center in the photo is Yachty himself, who claims to identify as an outsider who makes music that encourages teens to embrace who they are, apart from society's standards and expectations of them. As VladTV regular Lord Jamar recently pointed out, he has essentially taken it upon himself to carve out a niche the "abnormal" can call their own, and it is one in which he considers himself king.
Despite Yachty embracing a view of him from true school hip hop heads, as an anomaly, however, he doesn't necessarily roll with a clique of so-called freaks. Fans who can get past the two guys kissing and the green Mohawk will notice four guys who don't pop in the photo, as much as the others do. From left to right they are, Aaron, Earl the Pearl, Mitch and Big Brutha Chubba; Lil Boat's clique, and the balancing factor that the Quality Control rapper anticipates will allow him to remain firmly planted in the genre as he continues to cast a net among his vast alternative audience.
Source: youtube.com
