Lil Yachty is fast joining religion, politics and Kanye West as topics you shouldn’t bring up at the dinner table.

The divisive Atlanta rapper’s unique style has split opinion in the rap world and beyond. As he told us in our current cover story, “If you’re different, it’s going to take a second for people to accept change”.

Since his sudden arrival onto the scene, everyone from Kanye West through to Skepta and Frank Ocean have made their support for the 19-year-old clear. To celebrate those firmly in Yachty’s corner, we spoke to some high-profile supporters about what makes him so special.

LIAM HODGES

Fashion Designer

Yachty’s just a really interesting new artist. Who else can start a mixtape with a Finding Nemo sample? 

DJ SEMTEX

DJ

Yachty is a unique artist with his own very fresh style. He is clearly influenced by the 808s and Heartbreak era, he doesn’t follow tradition or subscribe to the ‘Hip Hop rule book’ which is why there is a backlash against his artistry.

Charli XCX

Musician

He’s very creative with everything he does, like his lyrics, his videos, his hair. I think he’s a true individual and people really connect to that, especially younger people, now more than ever, because it’s exciting and genre defying. But also I feel like it’s him really truly having a fucking great time with his best friends, that’s so cool to watch. He’s just a very nice and thoughtful guy – professional and sweet. He was a little shy when we first met and I like that in people. It’s a very honest quality.

[On working on After the Afterparty] He’s my favourite rapper at the moment and I was obsessing over his mixtape, so I just really wanted him to do this song with me. When I hit him up and he said yeah and that he liked the vision for the video that was like a dream, coz there’s nothing worse than when someone’s like, afraid to get involved in the vision. He’s definitely not that person. He’s visually extravagant and really good with videos. It was perfect.

ETHEREAL (Awful Records)

Rapper / Producer

I think Yachty is a breath of fresh air to music and media in general because not only is he a young new positive energy in such a dark industry, but he has managed to stay drug and alcohol free in a world that yearns for you to make mistakes and lose yourself.

GUNNER STAHL

Photographer

What makes him exciting is himself. He’s Yachty and no one else. He’s always fun to shoot. His hair makes the photo and draws much attention to every detail about it. If its not for people, its not for them. The same way I don’t listen to country music because its not for me. People need to realize they don’t need to relate with everything on earth. It’s okay to not like something but for you to bash it because you simply don’t get it is wrong.

COMMENTS

[fbcomments title=""]