Ethan Hofer, Staff Writer

[Geffen Records; 2022]

Rating: 8/10

Key Tracks: “Poppin”, “Rackz got me”, “Rollin”

It is Yeat’s world and everyone else is just living in it. From various lines referring to Osama Bin Laden to coining unusual slang such as “twizzy”, “tonka”, and using umlauts in his song titles, Yeat tends to make his own rules in rap. 2 Alivë is the follow-up to his breakthrough project Up 2 Më that proved himself as a catchy, talented rapper in the trap scene similar to the likes of Young Thug and Playboi Carti. On 2 Alivë, Yeat moves toward a more mainstream sound while maintaining the outlandish sound that he debuted on Alivë, which serves as a prequel to this project.

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The album begins with “Poppin”, a catchy song with a wonky flow about Yeat’s relationship with love and drugs. He doesn’t indulge deep into the topic or deliver any heavy lyrics to a sensitive topic, but rather flexes his situation, having fun over the track instead. Yeat uses lingo that only he could come up with, and puts emphasis on certain syllables that make his sound addictive. “Poppin” is the perfect example of that. 

Since Yeat’s claim to fame, he has gotten co-signs from artists like Drake and The Weeknd, upping his feature game on 2 Alive. He features Young Stoner Life members Young Thug, Gunna, and Yung Kayo. “Rackz got më” featuring Gunna fuses together the mainstream sound that is displayed at times on this album while also preserving Yeat’s signature sound. On the track, both Yeat and Gunna flex their riches, while Yeat’s catchy, repetitive hook suggests that material items like drugs and money could never betray him, but people can. 

Among the many wacky vocal moments, “Rollin” has one of, if not the wackiest, vocal moments on the album. The track is filled with random high-pitched background vocals and ad-libs all over the place. Yeat burbles his mouth at the end of a couple of lines, which surprisingly sounds catchy and goofy at the same time. “Dnt lië” serves similar unique attributes, with a jangly beat, featuring his famous bell sound effect in the background, mixed with another eccentric vocal performance from Yeat.

2 Alivë is addicting, and will cause anyone to have random lyrics stuck in their head from day to night from this album. The hooks are irresistible and there are absolutely no boring moments on this record. There are a few instances within this album where the production seems a bit one-dimensional, and on a typical album, this would lead to it becoming quite dull or dreary. However, Yeat is able to make the best out of these one-dimensional beats with interesting wordplay, various-pitched vocals, and addictive ad-libs. Everything on this album feels so enticing, and although there were songs that sound similar to past Yeat tracks, it was a very fun listen, and will go down as one of the most enjoyable projects of the year.

Listen here: https://open.spotify.com/album/0d1BFY8z15vye3KjtLvF3u