How Yung Lean Changed Hip Hop Forever

i feel like the basic idea behind yung lean's aesthetic and subsequent success hinged on the idea that there were a lot of kids at that time who didn't have a place kids living in a fundamentally different landscape than their parents or grandparents people who had a void where there used to be community and culture young lean's music doesn't sound like swedish rap it doesn't sound like american rap it's not identifiable with any time or place besides the vague oh yeah this is definitely from the internet that comes when you combine completely mismatched iconography like a bottle of lean and nintendo 64 graphics and while at the time a lot of young lean's work may have seemed simply nihilistic looking back it feels like there was something deeper going on all along in combining nihilistic lyrics and imagery with consumerist themes young lean's music is in fact the soundtrack to an important moment in our recent history young lean has rejected the world of consumerism that made him embracing the idea that the only refuge from capitalism's forces is vulnerability and honesty it just so happens that in expressing such vulnerability through his art he and his friends changed the course of popular music forever this is the story of young lean if you're a more dedicated viewer interested in the extended cut of this video plus the director's commentary where we go into detail about how we made the video from writing to visual design to color grading i highly recommend you check out curiosity stream with nebula at curiositystream.com folks guys for 26 off at just 14.79 cents per year that's curiositystream.com even though young lean grew up in minsk and later stockholm his earliest musical influences included american rappers like gucci mane and 50 cent that he found on the internet early on in his creative journey he teamed up with two local musicians his age young good and young sherman and they recruited a creative manager too emilio fagon this group became the sad boys collective with good and sherman making beats and lean rapping over them in his trademark sad almost catatonic style that was already recognizable from a young age it wasn't long before ginseng strip 2002 blew up on youtube in 2013 completely organically without any label pushing it because at the time lean was in high school he was only 17 years old it's important to note that these songs were unlike anything else back then they're still insanely ahead of their time honestly most of young lean's work still sounds like it could be released today and do just as well because it's that fresh and original yeah some people hated young lena first calling his songs unlistenable droning garbage but at the time there were a lot more people identifying strongly with the nihilistic and rebellious side of his persona than not later in 2013 the sad boys released their first mixtape unknown death 2002 was full of lean's laid-back apathetic rapping over some really excellent production overall it's impossible to put the project into one genre the beats touch on chiptune game soundtrack trap memphis hip-hop and even ambient sounds so there really is no definition for what they were making besides the kind of vague nebulous label of cloud rap which they never really fully fit into anyway facing unexpected success the sad boys took 2014 to play live shows throughout europe during a show in stockholm their own hometown they were noticed by baron matchat the owner of hippos and tanks a u.s record label that specialized in helping avant-garde musicians build careers hippos and tanks had notable clients like winotrix point never and grimes two artists i've discussed on this channel before so baron matchat was a respected figure in the music industry to put it lightly after taking an interest in the sadboy's careers baron matchat became their u.s manager and he would later be an instrumental figure in their careers in helping them travel to the us to tour live and expand their audience even further it was also around this time that the sad boys released unknown memory a sequel mixtape that was a huge improvement on unknown death the production and beats were just as good if not better and it really feels like lean put a lot more effort into the vocals of this project than ever before lean leaned heavily into auto tune and he made it work in really interesting ways even though autotune was far from acceptable in the music community at the time plus the track ghost town has a feature from travis scott which ended up being one of the best songs on the album so with a new album and a tour in america things were looking pretty good for jonathan and the sad boys the collective had become huge in internet culture i mean if you played video games back then you remember how almost every other person identified themselves with the group whatever 2002 2003 sad boys whatever nihilistic catchphrases we could come up with this was a really memorable moment i think young lean was probably the biggest underground rapper in the world at that time his youtube uploads had tens of millions of views and at the same time lean's persona was making a huge impact on fans all over the world plus his producers just kept getting better and better songs like yoshi city ice cold smoke kyoto this wasn't just meme music these tracks hold up to this day young sherm white armor and good were developing a robust creative style they were drawing from tons of different influences all over the music industry while still keeping that unique dreamy detached aesthetic with their beats but during this time as the sad boys traveled from state to state hard drugs became a constant presence in their group dynamic once their us tour was completed in the spring of 2015 lean sherm blade and their managers emilio and barron went to stay in a condo in miami to record their next big project titled warlord as emilia would later say that's when this fantasy or dream turned into a dark reality pretty quickly emilio was later quoted as saying that after some time he got a gut feeling that something was off in miami and what we were doing wasn't right eventually emilio and sherman flew home to sweden but they left lean and blade to do a few more shows sherman later said it felt unnecessary for lien to stay and he couldn't understand why he wanted to still be in the u.s it was only a few days later that things took a truly dark turn you see during their tour through the u.s while they were experiencing unprecedented success lean had developed a dependency on a mixture of weed promethazine xanax and cocaine not a sustainable habit at all he was going without sleep for days at a time for him the lines between reality and fiction were beginning to blur lean would spend every night standing on the balcony of the condo in miami he was writing a horrifying book about childhood nightmares of people turning into rats he began dressing like a nurse in scrubs and carrying around a knife and even talking about seeing ghosts young lean's drug-fueled mental breakdown reached a fever pitch on the night of april 7 2015 when he completely detached from reality he began breaking mirrors and cutting himself and destroying the entire condo blade called 9-1-1 and lean was hospitalized for psychosis and suicidal thoughts while he was at the hospital he became paranoid that he was separated from the music on his hard drive so he called baron and convinced him to drive it to him later that night baron while high on xanax drove his car into a light post at 60 miles per hour while bystanders managed to get his passenger out of the burning wreck baron the man responsible for bringing young lean to the us in the first place died at the scene of the crash [Music] young lien's influence over the music scene in the mid-2010s really can't be overstated read any conversation online about the guy you'll hear the sentiment over and over again a lot of people myself included have been watching that influence grow through the industry since 2013. but why do so many people say this about him there are plenty of other sad rappers who emerged in the early 2010s from goth boy click lil peep lil tracy to bones and team sesh but i think young lean's success is somewhat of a special case he didn't have a major label sign him early on he was just some kid from stockholm all the way across the world from the us which is arguably the center of hip-hop today and i think that was a huge contribution to his relative fame early on he dealt with real he was sad angsty emotional and as a young teenager growing up with his music having that voice understand me was something special and he was able to build an intensely dedicated fan base without ever becoming mainstream young lean's relatively low profile allowed him to stay relatable for years he gained immense popularity but only in a few specific circles it was a niche subculture nothing ever even remotely mainstream and i think it's also important that the sad boy's gimmick the look and vibe that they cultivated with their outfits and music and videos it was actually all real i mean it was a brand but it was coming straight from their real lives lean later said a lot of people told me i was building a character he added i wish i was that smart i don't think young lean ever thought he would go mainstream so to me it's kind of strange to think about just how massive his influence ended up being i mean by the time the cloud rap sad boy style crossed oceans and reached the u.s it had changed a little but i think we can all agree you can find traces of yung lean's rapping in the sad boy's style all over music even to this day years and years after his moment in the global spotlight i'd say it's fair to ask what would massive hits like exo tour life star shopping butterfly effect by travis what would they sound like without young lean what would nav playboy cardi post malone even x sound like without young lean paving the way undoubtedly his haunting apathetic vocals and the sad voice production that vaguely morphs between cozy and lonely they've had a huge ripple effect in the music industry what i'm trying to say is that music wouldn't be the same without young lean and i understand you might disagree with me on that but i really do think it's true young lean disappeared from the outside world after his breakdown and baron matchat's fatal accident his parents brought him back to live in the countryside of sweden for two months until he felt stable enough to move back to stockholm he took the opportunity to slow down he got a job working in a shampoo factory with blade and sherman saying it was nice because you can't always be on the top he also got much closer with his father after realizing they had a lot in common his father being a writer and lean being a musician and honestly it sounds like lean was doing much better even though in some ways baron matchat's father was willing to blame lean for his son's death lean managed to put the past behind him and heal from that experience his next album warlord was finished and released in february 2016 and is filled with cold industrial sounds highway patrol the second track is chilling with sharp synths deep bass and dark lyrics overall warlord is a departure from cloud rap in favor of an almost punk harsh experimental sound which lean has said before he's a big fan of it's dark violent and rough no doubt a reflection of the times they were going through while recording and writing following warlord lean started his own clothing line he modeled for calvin klein and he was even featured twice on frank ocean's blonde he was busy exploring his creativity and getting a lot done later the next year at the end of 2017 lean released stranger in my opinion the best album he's ever made it feels like the culmination of incredible production from good sherman blade combined with the maturity and growth lien experienced in the previous two years it's melodic emotional and atmospheric filled with texture and depth agony is one of his best ever songs and exemplifies the aesthetic of the album it starts with a simple piano loop and lean singing on top but is soon joined by a glittering guitar and children's choir like something out of a radiohead project lean's lyrics make the song though like when i'm afraid i lose my mind and so many lies that i found blood heaven i stick to the ground so many times i realized what i seek for is right in front of my eyes it's beautiful and sad he's rapping about the horrible things he's experienced but it leaves you with a little bit of hope that everything will be okay especially in the comforting familiar sounding piano loop the record's closer yellowman is another all-time great song for me with such powerful crescendos and a sentimental electronic piano melody to me stranger represents a massive change in lien's persona it feels like his first truly personal album much more thoughtful and peaceful than his previous work stranger is a beautiful project and i really love how he dived into his artistic potential as best he could and ended up going really well even though i would barely call a stranger a hip-hop album feels more genuine and less ironic or performative than anything lean and his producers have made before most importantly of all stranger really feels like it ends on maybe not a high note but a note of peace like lean really feels at ease in the world after so many years of struggle stars is his most recent album as young lean and feels quiet and light it doesn't have the same darkness that filled his earlier projects even though i think a lot of critics spoke negatively of stars calling it boring or emotionless saying that young lean didn't try hard enough i do like stranger more but i still think stars is a great album with more than enough storytelling and feeling to go around my favorite songs are acid 711 yayo violence iceheart pikachu white armour's production is absolutely amazing throughout the project a lot of my favorite moments come from the times when young lean seems to almost become one with the instrumental this isn't something you could do with beats you bought off somebody this is something that is only really possible when you've been working with producers for years at a time especially on songs like low and sunset sunrise at the same time though i do understand why people could call young lean's performances detached and how that could turn some critics away but i personally think it's some of young lean's most intimate rapping yet and i've listened to this album dozens of times over falling into the dreamlike instrumentals as young lean calmly explores his darkest moments and continues to process his past with gothic surreal lyrics and meandering vocals the craziest part about young lien's career is that he's only 25 years old everything he went through with his rapid rise to fame the death of his friend his mental breakdown all that happened before he was 20. he and his friends have been through so much i think we should be grateful that we still get new young lean music at all let alone the fact that he just keeps growing and becoming a better and better artist i was reading an article of writing this video and has a quote from young lean back in 2020 where he talks about his philosophy for life he said this is kind of corny but i with it and the quote is i'd rather you hate me for who i am than love me for who i am not he said i believe that the largeness of the spirit should be the only measure of an artist's achievement a lot of people call jungling the original sad rapper and i agree he really did pave the way for the dark depressive wave of hip-hop that nearly went mainstream a few years ago and with all of their emotional vulnerability and darkness they truly do owe him thanks for that but what means the most to me is how we've watched young lean come full circle a lot of artists who he inspired died young or went down a different road but lean kept making music and it really feels like he followed his own story to completion it's a terrible thing to go through what he went through in miami and it changed him forever but continuing through that disaster and coming back with the best music he's ever made is incredible in many ways young lean comes from a small world like i talked about earlier he comes from a generation for whom the world looks very different than it did in the past in many ways for the worse not better but there are only two options for navigating unfamiliar territory you can turn around and hide or you can stand and face the truth the truth is that life is never simple sometimes it's impossible to tell right from wrong or reality from dreams but i believe and i think young lean's art holds true to the idea that if you try your best and walk with honesty and openness there is love in the world there is meaning but it won't come easy you still have to look for it this has been volksgeist thank you for watching if you're a more technical person who's interested in more detailed breakdowns that wouldn't be possible on youtube as well as all my other exclusive content on the platform you'll have to check out this video's sponsor curiosity stream with nebula because that's the only place where you'll be able to watch the exclusive director's commentary of understanding young lean breaking down how we wrote shot edited animated and conceptualized this entire video essay from the beginning to the end nebula is the platform for independent creators with over 400 000 users and thanks to our sponsor curiosity stream you can get a year of curiosity stream and nebula bundled together for just 14.79 that's not per month that's for the entire year nebula is home to creators like polyphonic middle eight fd signifier mkbhd legal eagle wendover productions and over a hundred more we founded the platform for creative freedom away 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Channel: Volksgeist

Views: 146,711

Keywords: volksgeist, Yung Lean, Starz, Agony, Donda 2, Music essay, video essay, hip hop

Id: 35jykCr2a2U

Length: 15min 9sec (909 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 04 2022

Reddit Comments

[u/JasherOfficial]

I could only get through 10 seconds of this before the cringe was too much

[u/RareGods]

Is this the guy from this "bitches come and go bruh, bitch you know I stay" tiktok?