Yatta Bandz

If you’ve ever been in love, you know how hard it can be. It’s so difficult because it’s worth it—so we put up with the pain.

Yatta Bandz explores these extreme emotions in his music. He’ll confront heartache head-on with a wavy rhyme or embrace loneliness in a balmy and bold melody. By holding nothing back, his music may very well sound exactly how you feel in the moment. With empathy and energy, he has generated hundreds of millions of streams and incited the applause of OnesToWatch and HotNewHipHop, among others.

Now, he opens up like never before and explores love from every angle on his 2023 second full-length offering, TUFF LOVE [EMPIRE].

“For this album, I was just thinking of how there are so many kinds of love I’ve been through in my life,” he states. “You can have love for somebody who’s just a friend or an actual lover. There’s not one specific kind of love, but it’s always beautiful. People think it’s supposed to be all sunshine and rainbows, but there’s a lot of ugliness. The ‘TUFF’ comes with the ‘LOVE’.”

Nevertheless, Yatta always found love in even the roughest of circumstances. He endured a period of homelessness as a young child, holing up in hotels or at the homes of gracious family members for three years. Music offered an escape as he discovered Drake, J. Cole, Juice WRLD, XXXTentacion, and Polo G. He got his first taste of viral success in high school, gaining traction with “Loyalty” and “Somebody.” In 2022, he ignited his debut Perfect Storm. With a bevy of bangers, “Don’t Go” piled up 24 million Spotify streams followed by “Unseen Scars” with 23 million Spotify streams and “Phone Calls” with 16 million Spotify streams.

Throughout 2023, he crafted what would become TUFF LUV, and he focused on upping his game as both a lyricist and a vocalist.

“I definitely tried to show more versatility,” he states. “I tried other melodies, and I found different ways to use my voice, so it doesn’t sound the same. I thought deeper, and I got more in touch with my emotions. I’m taking what I do into other lanes.”

Following “Toxic Inspiration, “Hard Headed,” and “Way Out West,” the single “Find My Way” showcases this evolution. Melancholic guitar wraps around sizzling hi-hats as pure longing emanates through his hummable delivery. During the incisive and infectious hook, he promises, “Even you don’t wanna be found, I will find my way.”

“I wrote it for this one girl I used to have feelings for,” he admits. “There was a point where I knew we weren’t going to fix whatever we had, but I still wanted to see what I could do to make it work. I was just thinking, ‘Is there any way I could find my way back to you?’”

Elsewhere, bright piano underlines an ethereal vocal during “Attached” [feat. 3Breezy]. He locks into a call-and-response with 3Breezy as they grapple with the vulnerability and confusion of a relationship. “It’s a scary feeling,” Yatta notes. “You wonder, ‘How could I be feeling like I really want to be next to this person every day?”

He lyrically reflects over gentle acoustic guitar on the smooth “Fallin’ Again” [feat. Tatiana Manaois], illuminating another dimension of the project. Then, there’s “Time After Time.” Strings buoy uplifting piano, while Yatta gets introspective. “There are so many times where I think everything is going well, then I’ll fuck up,” he sighs. “It’s like I’m stuck in a loop.”

On “Polaroid,” he flips through memories of an ex, hoping to move on. “We don’t talk now, but we used to be so close,” he confesses. “I just wish everything would fade away: the emotions, memories, and shit like that.”

In the end, Yatta delivers a timeless message about everyone’s favorite subject.

“Don’t let the fear of things getting hard stop you from trying to find love or being in love,” he leaves off. “Things are going to get hard, but it’s about how you take it and where you let that take you. Everything that happens when it comes to being in love and being hurt makes you who you are. You can’t let love break you; let it make you.”