February 18, 2022. This is the release date of one of the most anticipated New Gen albums of the last few months. Noah Oliver Smith, better known as Yeat, finally released 2 Alive. 

Coming in at just over an hour, the twenty-song project was released last night and was over before you knew it. Unlike Alive, 4L, and Up 2 Me this album surprisingly broke Yeat’s pattern of one feature or less. With appearances from YSL Records, Young Thug, Gunna, and Yung Kayo, who all delivered well on their songs.

Young Thug had the best overall feature on the track “Outside”. The cloud-like instrumental makes listeners feel exuberant yet chilled out at the same time.

Gunna’s verse on “Rackz got me” definitely has the potential to start some kind of trend with his infectious flow on the track. Both Gunna and Young Thug definitely sounded foreign to these types of instrumentals but their versatility shone through on this project.

Yung Kayo has been on go since the release of his Album DFTK, and his verse shows that he has no plans of stopping.

Septembersrich is a known regular on Yeat’s projects and definitely held his own on the track “Luh m”. The transition between their verses was seamless; his flow meshed perfectly with Yeats. Sep has been a known associate of Yeat and there’s some kind of narrative that he’s biting off of Yeat, but that just doesn’t make sense when he consistently shows he doesn’t need Yeat for his sound. #SEPTAGENDA

Off of the initial listen, the most disappointing verse had to be Ken Carson. His verse sounded punched in with minimal effort. After further investigation, it was really just his engineering that made his vocals sound off on the beat. His effortless flow mixed with the extraterrestrial instrumental made for a decent verse from the Goomba himself. 

Even with five features, there are another two artists confirmed for the deluxe version of the project. Yeat played a snippet of his and Lil Uzi’s unnamed track on Instagram live and has fans hyped to hear the official release. 

The other feature is supposed to be the six god himself, Drake. Last September, Yeat was photographed with Drake, and since then talks of a Drake feature have been in the works. Then last night, Yeat’s manager confirmed the Drake feature for the deluxe.

This album definitely lived up to the hype but wasn’t what I was necessarily expecting. To be honest, the leaks and snippets made it sound like it was going to be a very energetic album, but it had quite the healthy mix of straight vibes and ragers.

After some heavy listening the last few days, I can say with full confidence that this album is easily the album of the year until he drops another one. The top-tier production, mixed with his innovative flows and creative use of his voice, makes for a project that is meant to be on repeat.

The best songs off of the project definitely have to be all of them. Each song is different in its own way, with layers that can only be peeled back with time. The more and more you listen the harder it is to pick a singular song that is better than the rest. 

In actuality, the better songs on the project have to be Poppin, Outsidë, Doublë, Jump, Rollin, Call Më and Smooktober. Obviously, this list is quite long but that’s because these songs are all different representations of what Yeat can do. He can do whatever he wants on any kind of beat and sound insanely good.

Doublë, Jump, and Smooktobër are perfect examples of him going in on a beat and not letting up. He showcases his abilities to switch from flow to flow on a variety of different instrumentals.

Tracks like Call Më, Jus bëtter, Rollin, and Rëal six show what his voice is really capable of. One of the main attractions of Yeat’s ability is his skill to use his vocals as instruments alongside his impeccable use of autotune. His voice will melt into his beats in a way that makes you forget about what he’s even saying, and allow you to just vibe out.

This album is an answer to his fans by putting all of their favorite snippets and leaks onto a single record. By showing he actually listens to what his fans want, he is just further building his cult-like following. The support behind this album is crazy from the fans to the industry itself, Yeat is on track to being the biggest artist of 2022.

This album is quite experimental, so it can take some time to understand the project. But once you just immerse yourself in the sound and just let it take you wherever you want, you might change your mind about Yeat. This album is a definite recommended listen, and for first-time listeners, here are some suggestions of the album to get you started: Poppin, Doublë, and Outsidë(featuring Young Thug).

Anyway, after the first few listens it sounded like another addition to his discography for Yeat, as I had previously thought with previous projects, but with constant listening the shift in paradigm was astronomical.  The album after the initial listen would’ve gotten an 8.5 out of 10, but after heavy immersion, it is definitely an 11/10. The wild range of production, wonderful vocals and world-class features made for an amazing stepping stone for Yeat into the mainstream. By 2023, 2022 will only be remembered as Yeat Year by the music community.