James Blake & Lil Yachty Captivate & Surprise On “Bad Cameo”

Just over four months ago, Lil Yachty shared an interview clip on Instagram talking about James Blake. The key quotables from it were these: “I think James is working with a quite substantial amount of hip-hop artists, but this project is just… so left. For both of us”. “It’s just gonna be like ‘what the f***?! When they do this?!'”. After that fairly vague soundbite, the trailer-like post made things a little clearer. “CMYK PRESENTS ‘BAD CAMEO’ A FULL LENGTH ALBUM BY JAMES BLAKE & LIL YACHTY”. Fans were undoubtedly excited and intrigued, but no one was sure when we would receive it. Thankfully, on June 6, both artists shared the album cover, as well as the release date.

We are happy to say that Bad Cameo is here today, June 28, and it is quite tremendous. That may be a surprise to some, but perhaps why this album works is all thanks to Let’s Start Here. That LP by Yachty opened the versatility floodgates and most likely gave James Blake and the rapper belief that this would be possible. Honestly, though, it does more than just get by it passes with flying colors. Sure, there are some moments where it feels like one artist is in more control than the other. But the number of times that they mesh far outweighs the moments where they clash. In fact, that is so minimal that we would argue the album nearly flawless.

While that might be recency bias kicking in, hear us out. The instrumentals, which are handled by Lil Yachty, James Blake, BNYX, Dom Maker, and SADPONY, are all so unique from each other. Like the beats, the vocals are also extremely captivating and feel futuristic at times. Furthermore, the lyrical content is deep, self-reflective, and emotional, and they almost always complement the moods of the sonics. This is far from a traditional R&B/hip-hop album. Bad Cameo is something truly extraordinary and needs to be explored again and again.