Over the past few years, Lil Yachty has found himself in some pretty hot weather, making a lot of outlandish remarks when it comes to two rappers who are considered by many – the greatest to ever do it.
As per Complex, Lil Yachty told Zane Lowe on an Apple Music interview, that he was just being “honest”.
The interview in question dates back to a statement he made in 2016 to Billboard, where he admitted that he hadn’t really listened to Biggie Smalls and Tupac. He said, “My whole vibe is different” and that he “honestly couldn’t name five songs” by hip-hop heroes Tupac and Biggie. His justification? “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?”
But after that, you can pretty much assume that all hell broke loose, finding himself receiving a lot of backlash and death threats.
In the interview with Zane Lowe from April this year, Yachty says that he never meant to disrespect. He said, “I was just being honest, I didn’t have no media training, right? All I knew was to be an honest person. So someone asked me about whether it’s a hip-hop lesson guide. My cousin would be honest. I’m going to tell the truth. I’m not like Biggie, Tupac, you’re going to say this every time, I didn’t listen to them but I didn’t say they were trash.”
And now just yesterday, Yachty has followed up on the interview again with HipHopDX, saying that, “I wouldn’t say study up, but I definitely went back and listened for about 30 seconds. I’m good. If you’re good at what you’re doing then art is art.” He added, “Do you need to study Picasso to learn how to paint? No. If you care then yes, but if not, who cares?”
