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Lil Yachty's friendship with Drake has benefitted both artists in more ways than one. After contributing beats to Her Loss last year, Yachty is sharing exactly how he got so close with the 6 God.
During his debut appearance on the Rap Radar Podcast, which dropped on Thursday, February 23, hosts Elliott Wilson and Brian "B. Dot" Miller kick off the conversation by discussing the reception to Yachty's latest album Let's Start Here. Yachty said he appreciated the praise but feels there's more to be done. He also explained why he felt like he wasn't respected as an artist or a rapper.
"I do more than rap," Yachty said. "For a long time in my career, I wanted to be taken seriously as a rapper and I said that. So I would go try and do radio interviews or freestyles or whatever because I did Michigan Boy Boat and I did things to prove that I was a rapper, and I'm passed that. Now I'm proving that I'm an artist... I never wrote off being a rapper as not like being taken serious or not being as big as other genres/musicians or any of that. I just specifically myself, not speaking or nobody else or genre, want to be taken seriously as an artist."
Later on the conversation, Yachty also mentioned that he tried to get other artists like The Weeknd and Kid Cudi to contribute to the album, but ultimately settled for his friends like Justine Skye and Daniel Caesar. After B. Dot brought up his best friend Drake, Wilson asked Yachty about how he got involved with Drizzy and 21 Savage's Her Loss LP. Yachty produced songs like “Major Distribution,” “Privileged Rappers,” “Circo Loco" and “Jumbrotron S**t Poppin."
“I, for a very long time, wanted to do anything involving music with [Drake],” Yachty said. “So I’ve been telling him for the last, like, I don’t know how many years, like, ‘Bro...can I even just be in the room? I just wanna soak it up and see how you do it. I wanna see you rap, I wanna anything, you know?’ For real. I just feel like he’s -- to my opinion -- the greatest rapper ever. And that’s my personal opinion. I ain’t arguing with nobody or their mama.”
Watch the newest episode of the Rap Radar Podcast via Interval Presents below.