Once upon a time, Lil Yachty proved to be a branding expert, infiltrating the world of hip-hop with his signature red braids and becoming an easy costume for kids to recreate on Halloween. Still, he is one of the most recognizable characters in rap and tonight, he will continue his path with his new album Lil Boat 3

Set to feature Drake, DaBaby, Tyler, The Creator, A$AP Rocky, Tierra Whack, and more, Lil Yachty will close out the trilogy before moving onto new avenues. Already, he has taken a different route with his hair, no longer sporting the colorful beaded braids that we once loved him for. In a new feature with Highsnobiety, the rapper explained his decision and said it’s not as deep as people think.

Some of Lil Boat’s fans theorized that the change in hair colors symbolized a musical switch for the critically-acclaimed superstar but, according to him, that’s simply not the case.

Lil Yachty Explains Why He Ditched His Signature Red Braids
Emma McIntyre/Getty Images

“Honestly, it was hard to maintain,” said the bubbly personality. “The bleach was literally killing my hair. My hair was just dying. It’s growing now. That’s all. It’s just hair. I just kept it red because I loved it. But it kept falling out. It never would grow.”

Now that he has black hair, some of Yachty’s fans assumed that he would be making darker music. Again, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

“I think sometimes people just assume things are a lot more complex. In my world, it’s just not that deep, bro,” he explained. “It’s just music. It’s all fun to me. There’s no strategy behind it, like, ‘oh, his hair was red, it’s black now. [He’s] making evil rap music.’ It’s not like that.”

Lil Yachty previously released the music video for “Split/Whole Time” this week, which serves as the official follow-up to “Oprah’s Bank Account” with Drake and DaBaby.

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