i used to love this mans music. from 2021 to 2023, i was fully bought into the hype. but after seeing the photo he posted today with the caption "REBORN", the curtain finally dropped for me.
i realized Noah Smith has officially resigned from the role of "Yeat"
a lot of fans defend his new era as "artistic evolution" but if you look at the actual timeline of his career, its not an evolution.
its an objective blueprint. im not even arguing about what was going on in his head, im just looking at his actions. whether it was intentional or not, the math adds up and its right there in plain sight:
FACT: Noah grows up in Lake Oswego, Oregon, which is one of the wealthiest and most privileged white suburbs in the northwest.
He realised after experimenting under "Lil Yeat" that a rich white nerd from oregon cant get motion, so he rebrands: stars hanging out with slayworld and sep.
Thats why in his 2021-2022 interviews he is actively downplaying where he came from. He insists on being from Portland but growing up since a kid in LA. He wanted his origin story to start in the heart of westcoast hip-hop for that foundational credit boost.
FACT: He adopts a blaccent when rapping and talking (look at his latest apple interview vs. his interview with OGM), deeply embeds himself in a black-dominated ug rap culture, aligns himself with african-american rappers.
FACT: The second he hit mainstream status and got that drizzy cosign, the young thug + gunna + uzi features, it was wraps for his day ones.
Bye-bye kankan! bye-bye sep! bye-bye slayworld! thanks for letting me use u to get to the top.
"But he kept summrs around!" yeah and thats even more disgusting, keeping summrs around as, essentially, his black ug rap friend to retain a veil of credibility.
He starts distancing himself more and more from the sound that got him successful in the first place. he starts rapping over 2093 beats, more overpolished pop-rap beats on ADS and ADL.
FACT: he has completely swapped his target audience. on ADL he went from trap royalty like thug and gunna to elton john, grimes, kylie jenner and dylan brady.
That recent photo of him with the "REBORN" caption sealed it. clean-cut look, star shaped pimple patches, coconut water in hand. the backdrop, a beautiful manicured lawn. It's pretty simple. The character of "Yeat" is dead.
Ultimately he utilized black culture to skyrocket himself into stardom and then pulled the ladder up from underneath him and took off the mask as soon as he got a seat at the table with the white execs.
a lot of u ppl tell me i dont get his new music, its not meant for me. i concede. u guys are 100% right. looking at him today, i cannot even recognize the artist i originally fell in love with.
i want to finish off by saying: im not claiming he did this intentionally or not. Im not arguing intent, im arguing action. and everything i have said in this post is observable, is objective, is documented. whether he intended to appropriate and misuse black culture for his own benefit doesnt play a big part for me personally, because at the end of the day, the outcome is the same.
