Lil Yachty has built an entire career out of doing what most people probably never expect from him. The “One Night” hitmaker came into the game as another mumble rapper, but over the course of his decade-plus run, he’s pushed past every box he was put in.
The Georgia native gave us bubblegum trap on Teenage Emotions, several career-defining moments across his Lil Boat installments, and even a psychedelic rock pivot with Let’s Start Here. That kind of evolution doesn’t happen without some serious self-reflection, smart business moves, and perhaps the many lessons he’s picked up along the way from collaborators like Drake.
Below, REVOLT looks back on Lil Yachty’s 13 realest quotes covering everything from self-worth to success.
1. “Everything in life could always be better / Don't settle for less 'cause then you miss out on more.”
There is nothing admirable about pretending you want less. Lil Yachty understood that from the jump, especially on the Teenage Emotions cut “Better,” where he emphasized that settling for less means missing out on more. “It could always be better / Unlock your happiness and live for forever,” he rapped, which, as corny as it might sound, gets the point across.
2. “Nothing lasts forever, so whatever dump you’re in and whatever weird situation you got going on, things will come around if you allow it to.”
Life works a lot like the world around us. It can be day one moment and night the next, just like how things might feel great for a while and then suddenly, not so much. “It’s all mental, so if you allow yourself to open up to a positive future no matter what the current is, things will come back around,” the rapper said during Kai Cenat’s “Mafiathon 2” stream.
3. “No matter what you do, people are never happy.”
There’s no world where everyone is going to be happy with everything you do. Musicians and celebrities probably know that better than anyone. They get constantly picked apart for their songs, clothes, and even something as random as a social media post.
As Lil Yachty told Sofia Franklyn, “I stopped giving a f**k a long time ago because I started to realize there’s just so much to life than living up to the standards of people who probably live with their parents.” There’s nothing wrong with living at home, to be clear. However, dragging someone (or being dragged by someone) else while you’re still figuring things out yourself is where it starts to get a bit ridiculous.
4. “The negative side of the internet isn’t real. It’s not a real place. It’s all just trolls and make-believe.”
People say things online they’d never say in real life, especially not face-to-face. When asked about the biggest lesson he’s learned in his career, Lil Yachty told UPROXX, “Staying true to yourself and not letting anyone’s negative comments bring you down.”
5. “The first thing to achieve a goal is allowing yourself to think you can do it.”
Faith and fear can’t live in the same space. In order to achieve something, no matter how big or small, you need to believe that you can accomplish it. That’s easier said than done, as Lil Yachty made clear on the "Going Mental" podcast. “You'll never be able to do something if you think you can’t,” he shared with host Eileen Kelly.
6. “That’s how things work, you be who you are, and then people like you.”
You should never feel the need to shrink yourself or change how you act just to win people over or make money. The right opportunities will find you one way or another. “They gravitate,” Lil Yachty said in an interview with The Guardian. “You don’t act like something for it.”
7. “Failure to me isn't, like, always a negative thing.”
Failure doesn’t always mean defeat, which is a point Lil Yachty drives home on the appropriately titled “:(failure(:” from Let’s Start Here. “Try again, s**t. S**t, try even harder,” he urges. Go back, figure out where things went wrong, and with a little luck, the outcome will be better next time.
8. “If you do cool s**t, put it out. Don’t worry about your followers or if you’re getting 10 likes.”
There are so many talented people out there we don’t know about, simply because they’re too afraid to share what they’ve done or what they can do. Don’t be one of them. Whether you get 10 likes or 10,000, put your work out there. You never know who’s watching!
9. “You just can’t be sensitive with your work because everybody is going to have something to say about it, whether it’s good or bad.”
Speaking of which, if you're going to put your work out into the world — music, art, writing, whatever — you can’t take every opinion to heart. People are always gonna have something to say, and it won’t all be praise. Some of it might be unfair, misinformed, or just not your problem.
“It took a few incidents for me to really see that, though,” Lil Yachty said in a chat with Cole Bennett’s Lyrical Lemonade. “I was never the type of person [who] would flip out on the internet or go on Twitter and rant about it, but it was always a private learning process.”
10. “I can never be content and just be comfortable where I am, because it’s so much further I can go.”
Okay, so this may or may not be a quote from Lil Yachty talking about what he’s learned from spending time with his rich friend Drake, but it applies either way. The bigger takeaway is that growth doesn’t stop just because things are “good enough.” Stay curious and always know there's another level to reach.
11. “I done lived my life long enough to know / Everybody not as real as they say.”
Another gem from Teenage Emotions, Lil Yachty’s “All You Had To Say” sees him talking about learning the hard way that not everyone who says they’re genuine actually means it. It goes without saying, but in case you needed a reminder, you can’t take people at face value.
12. “You can never understand a rich man's problems, and the man who's been rich all his life could never, probably would never even try [to] understand a poor man's problems.”
If you’ve never struggled, chances are you won’t fully understand what it feels like. On the flip side, someone who grew up with nothing probably won’t fully relate to all the nuances of wealth. Lil Yachty got a little philosophical on us during a sit-down with Teen Vogue, but he was right: Many of us can’t truly understand each other until we step into one another’s shoes. So, give people grace every once in a while.
13. “Just do what you want to do, and who cares what people think.”
If there’s something you want to try, wear, say, create, or whatever it might be, just go for it. Ironically, the same reason you shouldn’t care about people’s opinions is exactly why they probably aren’t paying attention anyway. Most of the time, they’re too busy worrying about themselves.