Yaya Bey

One Liner:  Outspoken R&B artist making tiny tunes with nastay lyrics.

Wikipedia Genre:  R&B

Home: Brooklyn

Poster Position: 4 (17) 
Weekend One Only.
Saturday.

Thoughts:  No way.  Do y'all remember Grand Daddy I.U.?  I have no clue how, but I had his 1990 album Smooth Assassin on CD when I was in high school and I thought he was smooth as hell.  The cover of the album, with him all pimped out on a staircase (at what I always imagined was the U.S. Capitol building, but I don't actually know that), is super sweet.  If you want to sample his stuff, "Something New" was the jam.  Anyway, this is his daughter!

Strangely, Wikipedia says her debut was 2020's Madison Tapes.  But Spotify has two other earlier albums from 2016 and 2019.  Maybe those were just mix tapes or something.  her 2022 album - Remember Your North Star - seems to be the sweet spot of her music though - Pitchfork called it Best New Music when it was released.  And it is pretty solid - she's got a strong voice that kind of has an Erykah Badu cadence to it.  The top song by a ways is "you up?" with 21.8 million streams.

Too short!  Right when you get into the groove, she giggles and moves on.  And those lyrics are naaaastay for sure.  Second-most streamed is "meet me in brooklyn," 13.1 million streams.

A little reggae-ish flair, and another one that is entirely too short.  Now that I pay attention, most of these are under 2 minutes.  Weird.  But they are pretty fun!

Her Wikipedia is tiny.  But one article I read said that she has been an active activist and protestor, including acting as a street medic in Ferguson to help people being tear-gassed.  Which is kind of hardcore.  She had some wise words about that situation and is definitely outspoken.  I like her more than I normally would enjoy an R&B person - she's got a good voice and picks catchy arrangements.