THE EDUCATION OF YAK GOTTI

 Who are you, Yak Gotti?  What are your interests?  Where are you from, where are you heading?  What's your five year plan?

YAK GOTTI is a great rap name because it twists genre convention.  An absurdist answer to the banality of the YOUNG THUG handle, it suggests an erotic fan-fic scenario in which YO GOTTI impregnates YAK BALLZ.  Though out of left field, the yak appellation makes sense in light of his debt to Thugger's yodel.  The Ricola man probably owned yaks for business and pleasure, and he is the greatest yodeler of his generation.

Yak Gotti has one of the better debut verses in recent memory with his turn on Barter 6's "Dream."  Introducing himself to with the unctuousness of a used-car salesman ("How ya doin?  I'm Yak Gotti"), the smirk quickly turns shit-eating: "I got bodies on bodies."  Yak is Joe Pesci in Goodfellas.  Beneath the gladhanding calm is a timebomb who wants to put an icepick through your eye socket.  He raps like he has a dagger grit between his teeth.  The tension between public faces makes it memorably disturbing.

Unfortunately, none of Yak's other material lives up to the high standard established on "Dream."  He shows glimmers of light occasionally, but it seems he was largely a serial trapist before Thugger turned him into the belle of the ball.  On the bright side, post-Thug bleating has officially taken root.  One of Yak's more recent verses is on an overloaded JOSE GUAPO joint, on which Yak yodels to the spirit of Young Thug for dear delivery from a clowncar of B-list bando bit players.  "Alley Oop" has a spark;  "Dripset" is a cavalcade of whatevers.

Is Yak Gotti NAS on "Live At The BBQ" or the next RBX?  More importantly, is he from Miami or Atlanta?  He got a 305 tat on his chest in the "Stick And Move" video, but the false alarm of JAY 305 taught me to tread lightly.