Bad Cameo

“I hope that I’m genuinely breaking down walls and opening doors for kids like me that think they can only do rap,” Lil Yachty tells Apple Music. After the ambitious yet effective psychedelic pivot of *Let’s Start Here*, the artistic possibilities afforded to Yachty grew exponentially like multiversal timelines. Here was someone who could step outside of hip-hop’s comfort zones to credibly deliver a rock odyssey for the 2020s. Evidently, that intrigued singer-songwriter James Blake enough to join forces with the Atlanta-based rapper for a joint album that further blurs the lines of their respective discographies—with captivating and even magnificent results. “Most of the songs started by me playing \[him\] a piece of beatless ambient and then him literally just writing a song in about 20 seconds,” says the British songwriter and producer. At times, *Bad Cameo* can feel like a push-and-pull between the two talents, something to be expected when seemingly disparate artists enter into such a venture together. A flurry of narcotized love and burnt rubber, “Woo” comes closest to the jittery clubwise energy of Yachty’s singles. Meanwhile Blake, a consummate collaborator for everyone from Beyoncé and ROSALÍA to Oneohtrix Point Never and Nico Muhly, seems to have the upper hand on the meditative “Midnight.” And yet, that dynamic also seems a function of the thematic gravity of these shared songs that focus heavily on internal monologues and relationships, with all the inherent messiness and complexity intact. One can detect the fundamental empathy amid the ambient drift and retro breakbeats of “In Grey,” as both Blake and Yachty turn their all-too-human vulnerabilities into open secrets. Propelled by intentionally slippery beat switches, “Transport Me” reveals commonality and camaraderie through their long-distance dramatics and poetic ruminations. “There were no boundaries whatsoever musically,” Blake says. “There was nothing cynical on any level about the process.” By the time the harmonious finale “Red Carpet” arrives, it’s clear how respectively and collectively transformative the process was for them. “When you have two people who come from different worlds, I think at the end of the day it’s all a love for music,” says Lil Yachty.

The duo’s joint project is wistful and occasionally danceable, juxtaposing steely electronica with a stadium-ready take on Yachty’s sing-rap sensibilities. But too often, they play it safe.

With ideas in abundance, terrific variety, and a little indulgence, James Blake and Lil Yachty's collaboration makes perfect sense.

James Blake’s recent attempts to find alternative pathways for musicians in the streaming era have placed huge emphasis on the method of release, but it’s

The rapper and singer are both unafraid to confound fans by taking stylistic chances, but here their soulful ambition doesn’t quite gel