Yeat Is Like No Other

Just a year ago, he was still a name that felt reserved for people constantly digging through SoundCloud, TikTok and the newest corners of internet rap. Now, in August 2022, he's already released two projects this year, landed a major-label deal, scored a Billboard top-10 album and become one of the most recognizable artists coming out of the rage scene.

And somehow, it still feels early.

From “Gët Busy” to Everywhere

Yeat's rise really started accelerating in 2021.

Tracks like “Sorry Bout That,” “Money Twerk” and “Gët Busy” began circulating online, with “Gët Busy” becoming especially impossible to escape. That famous bell-drop moment became a meme, a sound and eventually a calling card.

But reducing Yeat to a TikTok moment misses what's actually interesting about him.

There's a whole world behind the memes.

His music sounds completely blown out. The bass is enormous, his vocals are layered with Auto-Tune and effects, and his production often feels like it's intentionally trying to overwhelm you.

It's not particularly interested in sounding clean.

It's supposed to feel like too much.

And that's exactly why it works.

2 Alivë Changed the Conversation

In February, Yeat dropped 2 Alivë.

The album debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard 200, giving him his first top-10 album and proving that the internet hype wasn't just hype.

The project features names like Young Thug, Gunna and Ken Carson, but Yeat never disappears behind the features. If anything, the collaborations make his own sound feel even more distinct.

Songs like “Poppin,” “Still Countin,” “On Tha Linë” and “Turban” are essentially concentrated doses of what makes Yeat interesting: huge production, strange vocal choices, repetitive hooks and a vocabulary that seems to have been created entirely inside his own universe.

“Tonka.”

“Twizzy.”

“Luh.”

“Geek.”

None of it should necessarily work.

It does.

The Internet Is the Scene

Maybe the biggest reason Yeat feels different is that he doesn't really need the traditional rap machine.

His audience found him online.

The memes found him online.

The songs spread online.

Even the language surrounding his music feels like it was built by the people listening to it.

That's something a lot of artists are trying to manufacture right now, but Yeat seems to have stumbled into it naturally. His music, fashion and whole aesthetic feel connected to the same strange corner of the internet.

And now that audience is getting much bigger.

“Rich Minion” Was Supposed to Be a Joke

Then came “Rich Minion.”

The song was made for Minions: The Rise of Gru, which sounds completely ridiculous when you say it out loud.

Yeat making a song for a Minions movie?

Somehow, it made perfect sense.

The song became associated with the viral “Gentleminions” trend, where groups of people dressed in suits went to see the movie together. “Rich Minion” eventually became Yeat's second Billboard Hot 100 entry, peaking at No. 99.

It's one of those moments that would have sounded impossible a year ago.

An underground rapper with songs circulating on TikTok is suddenly attached to a major Hollywood movie and appearing on the Billboard charts because people are turning his song into an internet phenomenon.

That's Yeat's career right now.

Everything keeps getting bigger.

What's Next?

That's the interesting part.

Yeat has already proven that Up 2 Më wasn't a fluke. He's followed it with 2 Alivë, watched that project reach No. 6, expanded his audience and somehow found himself at the center of one of the most exciting movements in rap.

And he's only 22.

There are still people who don't understand the appeal.

That's fine.

Yeat doesn't really sound like he's making music for everyone.

He's making music for the people who understand it.

The people who know the words to “Get Busy.”

The people who know what “twizzy” means.

The people who hear those distorted synths and immediately know exactly what kind of song they're about to get.

Right now, Yeat is sitting in a strange position: too big to call underground, but still too weird to feel completely mainstream.

That might be the perfect place for him.

Because if there's one thing Yeat has shown over the last year, it's that he doesn't need to fit into the existing rap landscape.

He can build his own.

And judging by how quickly everyone else is starting to follow, people are already moving in.