Yung Lean may hail from Sweden, but the young rapper has built up an impressive hip-hop career complete with albums like Stranger and Starz. And while he may be an unconventional figure in the greater hip-hop landscape, Lean has proved himself to be a musically adventurous and quietly influential artist in his own right. Today, he also proved he’s willing to put his money where his mouth is, stepping up for the ongoing fight against police brutality and racism in a major way. 

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“As a kid growing up in Sweden, all my heroes were black American musicians,” he writes. “I have met people all over the world and I learnt that we’re all similar, until I got older and realized we’re not all treated similar. The United States Of America is a fucked up country and it’s built on blood, there is no way around it.”

Lean implores his fans to acknowledge that Black Lives Matter, voicing his disgust with anyone who thinks otherwise. “I know my privilege and anyone who has privilege should use it to help others who don’t, because fuck the system and it’s time to break it.” Maintaining that change will require active effort, Lean pledges to donate the entirety of his streaming and merch royalties to Black Lives Matter and bail funds, for an indefinite period at that. You can check out his full statement below, and we can only hope that others take his example in stepping up for the cause.

At the end of last week, Yung Lean made a return with a new album, Starz. The album only contained one feature from Ariel Pink on the title track, but this could have been different– in an alternate reality, Starz would also contain a feature from the ever elusive Playboi Carti.

The two were first spotted together in the studio, teasing a snippet of a collaboration, back in January, amping up excitement among fans of both outlier rappers. Given each artist’s respective cult-like followings, we could only imagine the type of streaming power these two would amass. Nonetheless, it appears that label politics got in the way– as they often do. Lean shared a message of thanks to his fans post-Starz release, as well as the collaborators and people who helped make the album happen. Among those receiving his appreciation, was Carti. In reference to Carti, he revealed that it was neither his nor Carti’s decision to remove his verse from the album: “It was his label that removed his verse cos politics, not me or him,” he stated in his caption.

He wrote in the full caption, “Yoo I jus wanna say a big thank u to all my fans and Every1 involved in this. I love this album n proud of what we did . Wouldn’t be possible without, Whitearmor my big brother & Sherm my love, Ariel Pink, Carti( It was his label that removed his verse cos politics, not me or him ) All the Studios in Portugal, Sweden(Falun,Gnesta) La , Year0001, all dat , Sadboys forever Xoxo Leandoer.”

We’ll have to see if this collaboration will surface at a later date. 

Though many initially deemed Sweden’s Yung Lean to be a meme rapper, it soon became evident that there was a unique and gifted artist lurking within. Even the skeptics found themselves converted by 2017’s Stranger, a whimsical and occasionally beautiful take on a hallucinogenic fairy tale. And while his follow-up project Poison Ivy wasn’t regarded as highly, Lean has remained an interesting artist to watch, especially given the exciting ways he continues to evolve. 

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Now, the fan-favorite rapper is gearing up to deliver a brand new album called Starz, taking to Instagram to unveil the tracklist, album cover, and release date. Set to arrive on May 15th, Starz is largely a solo showcase, with the sole guest appearance coming from critical darling Ariel Pink. As of now, we’ve already had a chance to hear both “Pikachu” and “Violence,” released as a two-part video; should you be so inclined, check them out right here. 

Where do you stand on Yung Lean — are you excited to see what he has to offer on Starz? Check out the full tracklist below, and look for this one to land in a few weeks. In the interim, go queue up “Red Bottom Sky” for a reminder of what he’s capable of. 

My Agenda⁠
Yayo⁠
Boylife In EU⁠
Violence⁠
Outta My Head⁠
Dance In The Dark⁠
Acid At 7/11⁠
Starz feat. Ariel Pink⁠
Hellraiser⁠
Butterfly Paralyzed⁠
Dogboy⁠
Iceheart⁠
Pikachu⁠
Low⁠
Sunset Sunrise⁠
Put Me In A Spell⁠

The road to Playboi Carti's forthcoming album, Whole Lotta Red, has been longer than expected or hoped. He has provided multiple teasers that have misled us into believing that the project's release was not far away, even though it still hasn't made its way into our hands. Given how many times Carti seemed prepared to drop it, WLR must be sitting on a hard-drive somewhere waiting to receive the green light to be freed. There's not much that we know about the album. Carti's cover story for FADER detailed that he had been working a lot with Metro Boomin and secured guest features from Gunna and Trippie Redd for unreleased songs. However, that story came out at the beginning of last summer and it's very likely that Whole Lotta Red has since evolved into a new permutation. 

This new permutation might include an appearance from the legendary Yung Lean. Footage from IG stories show that Carti and Yung Lean linked up in the studio on Friday night. A snippet was shared of one song they cooked up, but only Lean is heard performing a rapping-singing hybrid on it. Considering that both of these artists have been pioneers of drug rap in their own right and have brought truly distinct styles to the music world, a collaboration between them is bound to be magical.