Lil Yachty

Career

McCollum was born in Mableton, Georgia. In 2015, Miles Parks McCollum adopted the nautical stage name "Yachty" and moved from his hometown of Atlanta to New York City to launch his career. He stayed with a friend and networked with online street fashion personalities, while he built up his own Instagram following. Yachty first came to prominence in December 2015 when the SoundCloud version of his song "One Night" was used in a viral comedy video.

In February 2016, Yachty debuted as a model in Kanye West's Yeezy Season 3 fashion line at Madison Square Garden.

Yachty's debut mixtape Lil Boat was released in March 2016.

In April 2016, Yachty collaborated with D.R.A.M. on the hit song "Broccoli", which peaked at number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. He featured on Chance the Rapper's Coloring Book mixtape, released in May 2016. On June 10, 2016 he announced he had signed a joint venture record deal with Quality Control Music, Capitol Records, and Motown Records.

Yachty released his second mixtape Summer Songs 2 in July 2016.

In December 2016, he was featured on the hip hop single "iSpy" by Kyle.

Musical style

Lil Yachty calls his style "bubblegum trap." His songs have sampled sounds ranging from Mario Bros., Charlie Brown, the theme from Rugrats theme, and the startup sound of a GameCube console. Other themes in his works include clouds, cotton candy, the Super Nintendo, and scenes from Pixar films. His friend Burberry Perry is heavily involved in the production of his songs.

Rolling Stone described his music as "catchy, intentionally dinky-sounding tunes packed with off-color boasts delivered in a proudly amateurish singsong." The Guardian called his music "fun, hook-first pop rap oblivious to songcraft and structure that doesn’t take itself too seriously, with very little interest in legacy and even less in rap canon."

Endorsements

Yachty made a guest appearance in a Sprite commercial with Lebron James, where he is seen in an ice cave playing the piano. Lil Yachty was picked to be the face of the new Nautica and UrbanOutfitter collection. Yachty also appeared in the "It Takes Two" video with Carly Rae Jepsen for Target.

Legal issues

On September 1, 2015, Yachty and one other man were arrested at a mall in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida for credit card fraud, Yachty was released after posting a bail bond of $11,000. According to Yachty, the charges were later expunged.

Discography