Yeat's Rise From SoundCloud Rage Rap to Mainstream Success

If there’s one thing I’d like to unsubscribe from, it’s Blueface and all his unhinged TMI facts that are inescapable online. If you’re enjoying this newsletter and want a chance to be featured on RapTV’s socials, tweet @rap and drop a line about why you read Today In Rap. In other non-Blueface related news:

• 7 weeks of song streams & revenue

• Quavo won’t take the stand in Takeoff trial

• Will 2023 be the year of rapper collab albums?

• Why Key Glock said “Fuck A Feature”

• Yeat’s rise from underground rage rap to Billboard charts

• ChatGPT’s 5 Biggie Smalls song picks

• Industry Insights

Song Streams & Revenue

Only “Creeping” and “Just Wanna Rock” remain in the top 10 of Hits Double Daily’s latest song revenue chart, which only shows the previous streaming week, but the chart above reflects the streams and revenue for the last 7 weeks from January 13th to March 2nd.

“Creepin” finally hit the half-a-million revenue mark and it only took 100 million streams to get there.

Ice Spice Makes Money Moves

Not pictured, the real rich flex is Ice Spice’s viral hit “Boys a liar Pt. 2” with Pink Pantheress which made $499,842 from 104,135,962 streams during the 4-week period of February 3rd to March 2nd.

Yeat entered the song revenue chart with his song “Split” from Aftërlyfe, earning $31,895 from 6,645,000 streams during its first week of release from February 24th to March 2nd.

Quavo Won’t Take the Stand in Takeoff’s Murder Trial Says 600 Breezy

It’s another day and another cup of rap tea spilled in a podcast 🍵 600 Breezy shared his thoughts, in a new interview with VLAD TV, on the Takeoff trial and whether or not Quavo will testify.

He’s certain Quavo will not take the stand and say anything that will brand him a “snitch”, per street code ethics.

The host mentioned Migos’ security guard, Migo Bands, may be cooperating and Breezy agreed it’s the right thing to do for someone who was there but for Quavo it’s different. For the sake of his career, the snitch label is a death sentence, and “his nephew dead and gone. Nothing he can do to bring him back,” Breezy says in the clip below.

Breezy also said it may not be right or fair but it is what it is. Considering Gunna’s state of affairs post-plea deal, along with other YSL members, I can’t disagree with him. It begs the question of what’s harder, trying to beat a RICO case in court or the snitch label forever?

Will 2023 Be the Year of Rapper Collab Albums?

While Nick Cannon is busy with his never-ending baby fever, rappers seem to have caught collab fever. Almost as soon as news broke that Metro Boomin said we are “definitely” getting a Metro x Future album this year, Drake and Lil Baby entered the chat.

Oh, and Lil Yachty said he’d love to make a joint album with Tyler, the Creator. All of this is after Tyga and YG announced they have a collab album on the way at Rolling Loud on Saturday. It’s like every rap friendship duo said me too! Me too! Let’s break it down.

Metro Boomin x Future

In an interview with Flaunt, Metro acknowledged a shortage of Boomin x Pluto songs since “Mask Off” in 2017 and confirmed you can expect a collab album from them this year. So much so, that he said, “I would definitely bet on it”.

He’s also working on the soundtrack for Spider-Verse 2 and named “Feel The Fiyaaah” and “Too Many Nights” as his favorite beats on Heroes and Villains.

Drake x Lil Baby

It was Drake’s Honestly, Nevermind collaborator, Black Koffee, that dropped the news on Podcast and Chill With MacG. During a conversation with Quality Control’s Coach K, Koffee was told that Drake and Lil Baby are making an album and Drake is possibly retiring.

Tyga x YG

Before performing their 2019 hit song “Go Loko” at Rolling Loud, Tyga and YG took a moment to announce that they started working on an album together a year or two ago, things got sidetracked, and now they’re ready to drop it.

No word on a release date but hopefully the image of Tyga and Avril Lavigne is out of my mind by then.

Lil Yachty x Tyler, the Creator

In a new interview with Billboard, Yachty said Tyler was the reason he made Let’s Start Here and he’d love to do a project with him. “He’s the one who told me to do it, just go for it. He’s so confident and I have so much respect for him because he takes me seriously, and always has.” This pairing would make a fire experimental I’ve-never-heard-anything-like-this-wtf album.

Why Key Glock Said “Fuck A Feature”

If you listened to Key Glock’s new Glockoma 2 album, noticed there were no features, and the last song is called “Fuck A Feature”, did it make you wonder who hurt him? He may have revealed the reason why in a new interview with Ebro Darden for Apple Music’s Rap Life.

After his first big breakout song, which he didn’t refer to by name, his close friend and collaborator, the late Young Dolph, wanted him to do a remix with a feature. Dolph mentioned two artists as options and one stood out to Glizzock because of his notoriety and fan base.

“I’m like, ‘Don’t just ask him, let’s offer him something.’ I offered him a million dollars, literally a million dollars,” Glock says in the interview clip. After some time, the mysterious featured artist ghosted him.

They didn’t say no but no response is a response and that didn’t sit well with the Memphis rapper who felt like he paid his respects and wasn’t given the same in return.

It’s unclear which artist ghosted him is, popular guesses have been Drake and Future, but Glock took to Twitter to shut down any speculation about it being T-Pain or that he sent his feature request via DM. He is, however, one of two features on Young Nudy’s new album Gumbo and appears on the song “Pot Roast”.

Yeat’s Rise From SoundCloud Rage Rap to Billboard Charts

Listening to a Yeat song is like sitting in the comfort of discomfort. The beats are rowdy and the lyrics are nihilistic, you can’t tell if he’s speaking English in a mumble rap cadence or spitting a word he made up on a whim.

You either get it or you don’t but those that do have an unparalleled loyalty to the 23-year-old rapper and act as his PR team telling everyone and anyone who will listen why he’s the best.

How his SoundCloud sound found a home on TikTok

Yeat’s been putting out music on SoundCloud since late 2016 but that’s not how he blew up. Similar to his predecessors think XXXtentacion, Juice WRLD, and Playboi Carti, he benefitted from the platform’s ease of upload and social discovery which is how he built a niche following at first.

In July 2021, his song “Sorry Bout That” with eccentric vocals and video-game-like synths started to go viral on TikTok. Then came “Gët Busy” thanks to the meme-ability of the line “this song was already turnt, but here’s a bell”, giving Yeat even more virality on the platform.

That same summer his Spotify Monthly Listeners climbed from 6,500 to around 200,000 over a three-month period. The release of his EP, Up to Më, in September 2021 and the success of “Gët Busy” pushed his listeners past the 1 million mark.

Then came the co-signs from Drake, Lil Yachty, Gunna, Young Thug, Earl Sweatshirt, and Lil Uzi Vert. It’s always a telltale sign that a rapper’s star is ascending from niche to mainstream.

Why he’s succeeded where others failed

Yeat’s sound has all the markings of the rage rag community it originated from but what separates him from the countless other young rappers trying to make it is his distinct worldbuilding ability. To be a Yeat fan is a lifestyle.

If you go to a Yeat show, you’ll see countless underage kids losing their minds, moshing, screaming, and desperately trying to get as close to the stage as possible.

He connects to the 16-year-old kid with a white picket fence who feels misunderstood, the Percocet-popping teenager that only listens to rage rap, the quintessential studio girl dying to go to the after party, and even the late 20-somethings who were on SoundCloud before Yeat was in high school.

It’s remarkable considering rap and hip-hop fans are among the least enthusiastic compared to other genres but Yeat being his reclusive and aloof self has steadily turned listeners into super fans.

He’s not as demonic as Playboi Carti or personable as Lil Uzi Vert, he’s just Yeat but that’s exactly how he found his own lane to succeed.

Remembering Biggie & When Lil Yachty Used to Rap

26 years ago today, Notorious B.I.G. was fatally shot in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles. He was only 24 years old at the time and the mystery surrounding his death has led to countless conspiracy theories and speculation.

Biggie’s legacy as one of the greatest rappers of all time has only continued to grow over the years, with his distinctive flow and storytelling abilities influencing countless artists.

5 years ago today, Lil Yachty released his second studio album Lil Boat 2. It debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200 chart with 64,000 album-equivalent units for first-week sales.

Despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, the album was well received by fans and has standout tracks like, “BOOM!” ft. Ugly God, “Mickey” ft. Offset and Lil Baby, and “66” ft. Trippie Redd.

ChatGPT’s 5 Big Poppa Song Picks

ChatGPT has the aux again and in honor of Biggie Smalls, it’s playing 5 of his songs, which are often overshadowed by his more popular hits, to up your aux.

1. “Everyday Struggle”(1994) This song features a slow, contemplative beat to complement his introspective lyrics about the challenges of life in the streets. Listen on Spotify & Apple Music

2. “Long Goodnight Kiss” (1997) This haunting track showcases his storytelling abilities as he weaves a tale of betrayal and revenge—speculation suggests it’s a diss to Tupac. Listen on Spotify & Apple Music

3. “The What” ft. Method Man (1994) Both ‘90s legends trade hard-hitting bars over a gritty beat. Listen on Spotify & Apple Music

4. “Somebody’s Gotta Die” (1997) Biggie delivers vivid imagery and dark humor as he tells a story of a planned hit on a rival. Listen on Spotify & Apple Music

5. “Ten Crack Commandments” (1997) I disagree with chatGPT on this one, it’s not an overshadowed Biggie track but it still hits as he dispenses streetwise advice over a classic boom-bap beat. Listen on Spotify & Apple Music

• Apple’s money and Snoop Dogg’s songs back this $1 billion music startup named Gamma which positions itself as an alternative to traditional record labels.

• The Weeknd ties Michael Jackson’s Billboard record, making them the only male soloists to score multiple No. 1 singles

• Spotify’s new design turns your music and podcasts into a TikTok feed leaning heavily on imagery and vertical scrolling.