Ever since Noah Oliver Smith, more popularly known as Yeat, took off as a rapper in the summer of 2021, expectations and hype surround his name more and more as he starts to gain traction as one of the better underground rappers in the music industry. His career kickstarted when he released his album “4L” which gained a lot of popularity on Tiktok. Some notable tracks included “Sorry Bout That” and “Monëy Twerk”. He later released another hit album, “Up 2 Më”, which also gained popularity on Tiktok, especially his most famous song, “Gët Busy”. People started to acknowledge Yeat as more than just a Tiktok rapper, and rather an experimental rapper with a lot of potential as he gains more popularity and eventually becomes a mainstream artist. 

Recently, he released his third album in his trilogy of albums, titled “2 Alivë”. This is his debut album on a major label, and has had a lot of hype leading up to its release. The album is composed of his leaked songs as well as new ones. The album made a splash impact, peaking at #6 on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Billboard. The real question is: Does the album really meet all our expectations, or is it really not all that?

Personally, I feel like Yeat didn’t hit the expectations I had on him. After he released “Up 2 Më”, my expectations soared after listening to that album. I really thought that he had a real chance at becoming a mainstream rapper, and possibly one of the best currently. All it really took was to get signed by an actual label and continue to release his quality of music. Although the tracks on “2 Alivë” do sound like typical Yeat songs: his blurry auto tuned-soaked delivery full of screwball melodic touches, there was just something about it that didn’t hit. It possibly could have been the lack of the experimental concept which separates good albums from classics. Just take a look at Kanye West’s Yeezus and 808s and Heartbreak. Both of those albums combined earned a total of over 1500 nominations for awards and are solidified today as classics of West’s discography. 

Yeat started the album off with his track “Poppin”. In that track he showcased his usual talents, how he can really make a chorus a staple of a song, as well as how well the beats he uses go with his autotuned voice. There really wasn’t anything special, however. No features, no lyricism, nothing much. It still did give me hope that something great was going to happen later in the album. And I was right.

His follow up, titled “Outside”, featured a more popular rapper, Young Thug. This track was a hit, as he nailed the feature. My favorite part about this song was Young Thug’s verse mixed with the beats made by other underground producers, something I feel is very unique about Yeat. Some other songs that I liked were “Rëal Six”, “Rollin”, and “Still Countin”, which he ended the album off with. I still wish Yeat could have put a bit more meaning into his lyrics, but not every artist has to be that way. I guess it does make a little sense since Yeat is a trap artist in the making, and trap pays little attention to lyricism and rather the beat, but the lyrics were just a bit too vague for my liking. 

Even though this album wasn’t worth the hype, I still do believe that Yeat has the potential to become very mainstream. With him now a part of a label, he is finally getting the recognition he deserves, basically one hit album away from that. A lot of mainstream trap artists nowadays like Playboi Carti, Lil Uzi Vert, Future, Travis Scott, etc all have something which makes them stand out from the rest. Yeat has his own unique style which I believe can help him gain more popularity the more he makes music, now that he is signed by a known label.