Lil Yachty first made his mark on the culture when he dropped his arguably most famous single “One Night” in 2015. The music video of him performing the track went viral, and gave the young rapper a fan base to drop his debut mixtape Lil Boat a year later in 2016. Yachty went on to release another tape, Summer Songs 2, before the end of 2016, and signed a joint venture record deal with Quality Control Music, Capitol Records, Motown Records.

The 20-year-old rapper quickly gained credit for his personal style of a rap-pop flow combined with auto tuned vocals. Some might even consider “Lil Boat” one of the best “mumble” rappers out, but that sure wasn’t the case on Lil Boat 2.

Coming off his debut studio album Teenage Emotions (2017), the young artist has teased the follow up album for a good six months before finally setting a release date of March 10, 2018.

The album tracklist that was released several days before the project gave us some much needed guidance as to what to expect from Lil Boat 2. Familiar names like Migos members Offset and Quavo, Tee Grizzley, NBA Youngboy, 2 Chainz, Lil Baby, and PnB Rock were all present.

Production credits were also very promising, including Southside, Pi’erre, Dj Durel, and 808 Mafia.

Lil Boat 2 isn’t an album you can just listen to once and develop a strong opinion on what you just heard. After a couple of days, I finally gathered enough thoughts to put together my final decision.

Although the album didn’t quite live up to the expectations I had given it before the release, it did have some highlights that I didn’t see coming.

The best song off the album is a hard tie between “Talk To Me Nice,” “She Ready,” and “NBAYOUNGBOAT.” All of three will make it to Blake’s Bops without a doubt.

With all those tracks in particular, I was very impressed with what each had to offer. Quavo was dead second behind 2 Chainz for the best feature, although that might not be totally fair considering 2 Chainz has never had a bad feature in his whole career.

“She Ready” is a wonderful example of the Atlanta native in his zone. PnB was a great pick for the track, and Yachty does a nice job capturing the feeling of getting ready to cuff a girl. My guess is this might be the underrated banger that slips away from any mainstream hype.

“Talk To Me Nice” and “NBAYOUNGBOAT” are two hard-flows that Yachty doesn’t excel on, but does contribute a fair share of bars. Quavo, again, is the M.V.P. for the catchy hook and well-rapped verse.

‘FYM” and “Count Me In” are two of my favorite solo tracks, but don’t sleep on “Self Made” and “Das Cap.”

Yachty is still young, and that means he’s still finding what sound works best for him. While this album showed signs of progression, I felt like Lil Boat didn’t capture what he was trying to behind the meaning of the project. Yachty’s whole flow is just a laid back, easy-going, vibe that nobody can hate on. I like what I heard, but at the same time I wasn’t moved by the tracks in the way I had hoped.

The biggest let down of the whole equal album was “Get Money Bros.” After hearing Detroit rapper Tee Grizzley and Yachty combine on “From The D To The A” last year, I had huge standards to what their new duo should hold. The flow was way too laid back for both artists, and most of the lines and punches were forced and not real at all. Thumbs down to both for a pathetic team up.

Overall, the project wasn’t good but it wasn’t trash at the same time. It’ll be interesting to see what Lil Yachty does in the future, and if he choses to work with the same names as he has in the past. I’d look for him to pop-up in a few projects and tracks before another album or tape from the young star.

You can stream Yachty’s second studio album at: http://https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/lil-boat-2/1355203148