Music Reviews: 2093-Yeat

I wasn’t big on Yeat. I didn’t get it. It was hard for me, to shake the view of him “as the guy who raps over hard Tik-Tok beats.” After a while though, the guy was hard to shake. He was on a Drake record, Drake’s on this record. At some point, I just broke down and ripped “IDGAF”, the song Drake and Yeat had on For All The Dogs. This was the first time I really appreciated Yeat’s sound in it’s fullness. It’s commercial anarchy, an idea I should be opposed to, but find myself holding deep respect for.

As I do for this record. There’s something very likeable about Yeat. He’s very relatable but also intriguing. He’s hard, but he’s not a gifted gangster like Future, a legendary drug dealer like Pusha T, or aristocrat trap lord like Rick Ross. He’s not spectral like Travis Scott, or instinctual like Young Thug. Yeat is more of a futuristic rage astronaut. He sounds dead, disconnected from humanity in a way that makes his pain, his hunger and his wealth more a state of existence than a matter of circumstance or tragedy.

2093 sounds like the backdrop for a futuristic space raid, a primal yet hi-tech battleground for Yeat and his inner demons. Whatever you think of the lyricist Yeat is, this is undoubtedly his strongest record from a performance and production standpoint. Especially production. Perhaps that is what makes this record so fascinating. Despite some of the “limitations” of a rapper like Yeat, this is unquestionably good record.

In a way, it reminds me of DS2. Obviously DS2 is better. But 2093 has a lot of the same energy. Every song is solid, if not good and many of the themes are even similar. But at it’s heart, there is a key diverting line- Yeat isn’t as broken as Future, not yet. Yeat is still pondering, discovering himself, even on this record.

The record starts strong- “Psycho CEO”,”Power Trip”, and “Breathe” are all good tracks. It’s a strong 3 track run that highlights the strengths and diversity of the album, perhaps more than some of the my actual favorite tracks. The next 3 tracks “More”,”Bought The Earth”, and “Nothing Changes.” I frankly just don’t love “More". I love the beat on “Bought The Earth”, but it’s a case where Yeat seems to run out of things to say while the beat is still developing. “Nothing Changes” is a somewhat hypnotic banger, but it feels like the cookie is shaped too much like the cutter. One of these tracks alone would’ve been fine. A shortened “Bought The Earth” is probably a moment. As a three track run, it’s probably one of the weaker parts of the record.

“U Should Know”, the track that follows, is one of my favorite on the record. It’s got these trippy deserty style synths that sounds like extend horizontally all the way back to their origin. It’s a sound becoming itself. Yeat’s performance is subdued, but charismatic. He mixes it up enough to keep it interesting, while this spacy sci-fi beat unfolds around him. The hook isn’t anything groundbreaking, but it’s pretty fun. This is a highlight.

The Lil Wayne feature “Lyfestyle” is… not really a highlight. It’s a decent track, not terrible, but it’s not the best song and it feels like Lil Wayne is being thrown on top of a B-side. It’s also a slower paced song. The next track “ILUV” is a solid track, but it feels a little dated. The beat and the flow feels like it would’ve been groundbreaking in 2021, if Carti did it. But it’s 2024 and Yeat.

The next song “Tell me”, is one of, if not the hardest song on the record. It’s gritty, unnerving and introspective, finding Yeat at his most unflappable. “Send you straight to Hell…I love Hell” Yeat croons at one point. The beat is epic, extraordinary. It sounds like Bladerunner music with 808s and Heartbreaks on crack blasted over it.

Another one like that…”Shade", the next track. This beat reminds me of 90s Doom, with it’s droning, dry synths and starry pads. The flow and performance here is quite good too. This is one of the best tracks on the record for sure.

The next two tracks “Keep Pushing” and “Riot/Set It Off” are both excellent as well. The production may not be quite as stellar, but as concepts they are a little more interesting. They serve as an example of the potential this record would have if it was 15-16 tracks instead of 22. “Keep Pushing” keeps up with the more 808s style melodic flows while “Riot” is a like a more brute force Carti track.

The next 4-5 tracks are sound, but there is something a little less potent here. I liked these songs, but I did feel like they constituted some fat that could’ve been trimmed. “Familia” produced by BNYX was the standout of this group. It felt like this was a classic Yeat track that would’ve made a great transition track to more futuristic stuff.

“Pyschocaine” is a decent song. It has this manic energy. It does suffer from being the THIRD time this one synth progression reoccurs (the bull fighting one, the semi-tone up). The drums are bouncy and the hats are tight in all the right places though and overall it’s a solid piece of music even if no singular element stands out too much.

“Run They Mouth” is a similar story to both “Psychocaine” and “Familia.” Great drums, fun, sparse, melodic beat. It’s beat reminded me of the production of Future’s Save Me EP, which saw a lot of auto-tuned background vocals being used as the anchor for the drums. I liked this song’s place on the record and it’s contribution, even if it wasn’t one of the best ones.

“If We Being Real” might be the best song on this record. Either this or “Tell me.” But frankly, it’s probably this track. The production soars. The flow is beautiful. It’s almost mournful, a sad yet hardened anthem to ego and self absorption. Yeat is isolated by his own greatness. It is the only way he relates to other people. He is Yeat. They are not Yeat. Therefore he is alone.

The record closes with “1093”, an okay closer (though “If We Being Real” would’ve been better.) I think at the end of the day, this record was a little overstuffed, but it was really good, especially when it was being good. The Drake feature, “As We Speak”, would’ve been a solid add on to the main record, as opposed to a re-release perk. There’s 14-16 good tracks here if you want to find them for yourself. I already know I’ve been working on my list.

In closing, I would recommend this Yeat record to anyone who seriously likes trap music. It’s a strong effort from a rising star who is creeping more into the mainstream day by day. He is a direct descendant of the mid-late 2010s Soundcloud wave and one of the few who has broken through more on the rap side. His aesthetic, in some ways, feels outdated, but in reality, it’s simply post. Yeat is the polished Soundcloud rapper the mainstream wanted and perhaps needed several years ago. He’s not Peep or X. A lot of the rock influence has been stripped away, in it’s place a homage to trap pioneers like Travis Scott or Future. But Yeat is still hungry, eyes turned towards the future and the boredom of victory.