Steve 'Flash' Juon“I’d rather do than say
And I done did it all before
I done had sex with six different whores
at the same time on they grandmother’s back, porch”
“Teenage Emotions” was released when Lil Yachty was 20 years old. I realize Yachty probably wrote the lyrics to “Like a Star” when he was still a teen, but even at 18 or 19 I would still expect a LITTLE (pun intended) more maturity than he shows in the lyrics. It’s fine to be young, wild and rebellious. In fact I freely encourage people to enjoy their youth as much as possible before life cripples you with bills, taxes, illness and a dreary 9 to 5 (or 12 to 8) job. Nevertheless hearing Yachty brag about having sex with six women at once screams “tell me you’re immature without telling me you have nothing to say.” It’s a flex that doesn’t even make sense. If he said he had sex with two women at once I might have believed him, but he tripled that and made it gross by bringing up the elderly. It’s still a better song than “DN Freestyle.”
Technically speaking it’s a “freestyle” but it’s one of the most disjointed songs I’ve ever heard committed to an album. If you dare to click play (I don’t recommend it) you’ll spend two minutes trying to figure out whether the beat is out of sync with the rhymes or vice versa. In fact I’m convinced that these bars (if you can even call them that) and this instrumental were two entirely different sessions that were spliced together, and neither of them was good enough to save in the first place. There’s not a single listenable thing about it. It’s not until the third track of “Teenage Emotions” that we get anything resembling a good song in the form of “Peek a Boo” featuring Migos. Yachty’s performance is gross and misogynistic, but the Ricky Racks track and guest stars try their hardest to save it.
I’d like to stop for a second here and talk about Yachty’s famous trilogy of albums. “Lil Boat” was the mixtape that introduced him to the world before this album, which our writer Michael G. described as having “a strange, fluffy, theme park-like vibe.” That’s fair, but I was expecting something more from him on “Lil Boat 2” and instead felt like it was a carbon copy of the first with mediocre lyrics. Staffer Ryan Feyre seemed to find that improvement on “Lil Boat 3.” As the site’s editor I always trust the opinions of our contributors, whether I agree or not, and I will agree only to the degree it was slightly better than the first two. If there’s one thing songs like “Harley” convince me of it’s that Yachty has always been style over substance.
“Harley, Harley, Harley, Harley, Harley/riding like a Harley, Harley, Harley, Harley, Harley/my new bitch a bot, my new bitch a Barbie/and I’m balling hard/cain’t nobody guard me, nooooo, no.” These lyrics were not worth quoting, and they weren’t worth filtering through AutoTune either. It’s just annoying. Most of the songs on “Teenage Emotions” fit into that category. It’s like hearing a narcissist who lacks self-awareness confess all of his sins. “Say My Name” shows he’s obsessed with being adored without giving us any reason to do so. “Lady In Yellow” is his plaintive cry to a woman he wants to sleep with, but all he does is insult her and say she’s “playing games” then promises to make her “sing a capella.” This is your idea of flirting Yachty? I can’t see a woman being impressed. “I just got a question baby, can I fuck… on you?” Wow. That’s the least attractive come on I’ve ever heard be said seriously.
Yachty literally offers the object of his desire nothing. He can’t even guarantee anything but that he’ll get his rocks off in her. He’s not promising to make her climax. He’s not offering to take her out for a fancy meal. He can’t even offer to treat her to a night of shopping in Dubai, which seems to be how all ballers show off these days. “Offering nothing” sums up this album well. “Moments” has him vowing to “live in slow mo” which is how I felt hearing his tedious lyrics over a tired slow track. “Running With a Ghost” makes me wish I was watching Casper instead (any version). “Priorities” is hugely ironic given how the only ones in Yachty’s world are his selfish interests, and anyone who can’t deliver those to him are “some haters.” It’s insulting to teenagers to call this “Teenage Emotions.” They are wild and young, sure, but they are also more thoughtful, intelligent, and interesting than Yachty on this album. He’s not a good representative of the youth or of rap music in general here. Skip this release.