Lil Yachty Enlists Playboi Carti, The Alchemist for Lil Boat 3 Album

Lil Yachty has been driving the boat this summer, but he's doing things a little differently than Megan Thee Stallion. The Atlanta native is hitting the studio to prepare for the release of his new album, Lil Boat 3, which is set for an October debut. While he's teased the project via social media over the past few months, Yachty has remained fairly tight-lipped about what's to come. Now, the 21-year-old artist opens up about some of the people he's locked in with for the LP.

Speaking to XXL in June, Lil Yachty revealed he's got a mix of home team players and well-respected production gurus creating the beats. "I haven’t really worked with any artists," Yachty shares. "This may be my album [with the least features]. [For producers,] I got Ronny J, Pi’erre Bourne, EarlThePearll, my brother, Mitch [GoneMad]. I been working with Alchemist and I’m supposed to go to North Carolina to fuck with 9th Wonder."

Hearing Lil Yachty rap over an Alchemist beat may come as a surprise to hip-hop fans, considering the lauded producer is synonymous with crafting a more classic rap soundscape and the Quality Control Music artist hails from the SoundCloud era. Yachty, who describes the beat as "crazy" and "fucking insane," admits this hasn't been a one-take track. "It's Alchemist, so honestly, I think I'm overthinking it," he points out. "But, I'm just trying so hard to make it so good. I keep scratching and starting over, you know, ’cause I don't want to fuck that up."

Two artists that will likely appear as features on Lil Boat 3 are Playboi Carti and Oliver Tree. According to Yachty, he teamed up with California alt-pop singer Oliver Tree for the forthcoming single "Asshole," which the rapper recently shot a video for. "It's really dope," Yachty says of the song. "It's more so poppy. Like 'iSpy,' kinda that lane... It's super catchy." "iSpy," Yachty's 2016 collab with Kyle, has over 575 million streams on Spotify to date.

Tree's creativity is what drew Yachty to the idea of collaborating with him. "I really love Oliver Tree," Yachty conveys of the 25-year-old Atlantic Records signee. "He's super creative, too. Up-and-coming artist; he's super talented." With more than 22 million YouTube views of the video for Tree's track "Hurt," his ingenious vision is becoming more popular than ever.

Bringing it back to songs like "Run It" in 2015, and their 2018 joint "Get Dripped," Playboi Carti and Yachty will satisfy their respective fans with another banger that's set to appear on Lil Boat 3. "I don't have one for his project [Whole Lotta Red], but I definitely got one for mine," Yachty continues, "’Cause we made it when we made 'Get Dripped.' And I'm just gonna keep it and put it on my shit." The title for the forthcoming track is still under wraps.

Since they're longtime friends, Yachty's also been privy to the content that will likely make the final tracklist for Carti's next album, Whole Lotta Red. "Carti plays me a bunch of music," he says. "All his music is super dope. I'm a big fan, you know, I love Carti and all his music."

But first up is Yachty's Lil Boat 3. Now that October is less than two months away, the pizza-loving rhymer is focused on solidifying the sound and direction of his next opus. "I'm definitely working all the time, every time, every day, on my project," Yachty explains. "So you know, get it done, and I've got a bunch of good shit, but as far as like something I'm like, 'Oh man, this is just gonna da-da-da-da...,' Nah, not really, you know? And that's why I'm still working to get there... I have tons of music. Just trying to slim it down and figuring out the direction and getting it all together and polishing it."

Lil Boat 3 will serve as Lil Yachty's sixth project, following Lil Boat (2016), Summer Songs 2 (2016), Teenage Emotions (2017), Lil Boat 2 (2018) and Nuthin' 2 Prove (2018). Ahead of the album, he'll be featured five times on the Quality Control Music compilation album, Control the Streets, Vol. 2, which arrives this week. Yachty also plans to drop the D to the A mixtape ("just ’cause it's something light") featuring Detroit rappers Sada Baby and Tee Grizzley ("two of my favorite artists"), and some ATL natives, this year.

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