It was one of the biggest viral rap songs of 2022, maybe even of the last several years: you couldn’t escape the insatiable trap beat of ‘Poland’ last year, but it turns out that its creator, Lil Yachty, didn’t even want to release the track.
The rapper sat down for a chat with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe earlier this week for a surprise interview, during which the polarising ‘Poland’ naturally came up.
“That was irritating,” Lil Yachty revealed. “I was pissed because I made ‘Poland’ while making this album on a day when they were mixing and I was in the other room just bored with the homies. I would’ve never dropped ‘Poland’ — ever — because I wanted to pivot myself into this.”
He continued: “So I was really irritated when it dropped, but I’m so grateful it did. Like I said, I really don’t know what I do next. I don’t know if I’ma do this again or do more rap.”
It worked out well in the end: ‘Poland’ made it to the top 40 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and is nearing almost 90 million streams on Spotify. Not bad for a track that barely gets over the one-minute mark.
‘Poland’ also earned the approval of several of Lil Yachty’s hip hop peers, with the likes of Drake, Wiz Khalifa, and Offset all showing it some love on social media.
Lil Yachty was speaking to Zane Lowe to promote his new album, Let’s Start Here, released last month to mostly strong reviews, with particular praise for the rapper’s bold psychedelic rock approach.
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The rapper and musician’s ambitious left-turn incorporates experimental rock and jazz with near-flawless execution, arriving at something that feels genuinely brand-new,” Rolling Stone wrote, hailing Lil Yachty as “music’s boldest creative director.”
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