Lil Yachty reckons he’s only listened to about “30 seconds” of Biggie and 2Pac since controversially saying he found them overrated five years ago.
In an interview with HipHopDX, Little Yachty was asked if he’d gone back and listened to Biggie and 2Pac and gave yet another pretty honest reply.
“I wouldn’t say study up, but I definitely went back and listened for about 30 seconds,” Yachty said.
“I’m good. If you’re good at what you’re doing then art is art. Do you need to study Picasso to learn how to paint? No. If you care then yes, but if not, who cares?”
I mean he has a point, just because he’s a rapper doesn’t mean he has to listen to everyone else’s music. But even after all the damage control Yachty went into after his previous comments, people still can’t seem to let it go.
In 2016, Yachty said he couldn’t name “five songs” by either of the late rappers. Following those comments, the 66 rapper was met with an insane amount of backlash and even death threats. Despite all that, he believes that overall the experience was character building.
I’m sorry but I refuse to lie. If I don’t listen to biggie or think he is as big as everybody else why is that a problem lol who cares bro
— C.V Thomas (@lilyachty) November 8, 2016
I speak my mind. I might be the only new age artist speaking his mind.
— concrete boy boat (@lilyachty) November 8, 2016
“I was like 19, 18, 19,” Yachty said in an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe.
“I had never in my life, I had never been hated like that. People hated me after that, like death threats, just a lot. You know what I’m saying?
“I think that’s what really started that hate for me. So many people just automatically trying to dump me like he’s whack, he’s corny, or whatever the case may be, you know what I’m saying? But it taught me a lot. It built my character up and made me so strong.”
Yachty defended his comments on the same podcast and said that he puts the mistake down to his young age at the time and lack of media training.
“I never meant to disrespect. I was just being honest,” the 23-year-old rapper said.
“I didn’t have no media training, right? All I knew was to be an honest person.
“I didn’t listen to them [Biggie and 2Pac] but I didn’t say they were trash.”
