Traditional hip hop fans might dismiss Lil Yachty’s Minnesota as cheap pop music, but the song contains deeper meaning than its bubbly sound immediately suggests. Released in early 2016, the song became a viral sensation, boosting Lil Yachty to the forefront of popular hip hop, even earning him a spot in a Sprite advertisement. In this exegesis, we will investigate how Minnesota signals an end to the era of “hard” trap music and ushers in a subgenre within trap that champions more positive themes.

The song represents modern trap, stripped back to display the bare minimum instrumentally. Unlike most traditional trap music, Minnesota employs a simplistic piano melody as its primary instrumental driver. Rather than employing aggressive beats and vocals, the song is rather pleasant sounding and melodious. Of course, Minnesota is not a complete departure from trap, as it maintains a constant, high-tempo hi-hat throughout the song. Lil Yachty’s vocals, enhanced by auto-tune, is harmonious and complements the high-pitched piano notes well. The sonics of Minnesota are significant in the context of trap music because the lighthearted nature of the song directly parallels the entire genre’s shift away from melancholy and dangerous themes, and with this shift comes the observation that modern instrumentals are not as gritty or aggressive as before.

Lyrically, Minnesota gives off the impression of being incredibly simplistic. The chorus of Minnesota, admittedly repetitive, is in reality rather bold considering who Yachty’s predecessors are1 because Lil Yachty openly challenges the glorification of drug dealing and gun slinging. Addressing the reader directly, Lil Yachty sings

You need to stay up out them streets if you can’t take the heat
‘Cause it get cold like Minnesota.

The contrast between the “heat” of the streets and the “cold” of Minnesota invokes a sense of discomfort as two extremes of temperature are presented as results of being in the streets. Additionally, the word “heat” could be a reference to firearms, as in the phrase “packing heat,”2 which is, again, a reminder of how dangerous street life can potentially be.

In his first verse, Lil Yachty references issues his own family faces due to involvement with drugs. Lil Yachty croons,

I was juggin’ since a youngin’, free my older cousin Reesey.

Here, the word “juggin’” means dealing drugs on the streets. The first line establishes Lil Yachty himself as an authority on drug dealing, giving him credence in offering advice on drug life. Immediately after, he pleads to have his cousin freed from prison, which demonstrates the fact that drug dealing has had a direct negative effect on his immediate family. The juxtaposition of Lil Yachty’s own history with the placement of his cousin in prison serves as cautionary advice for his listeners.

At the end of this verse, he admits that he

Almost had a lifetime sentence, but I beat it, shout out to Pat!
Pat, that’s my lawyer, he got me off them charges
Eight stacks for that boy.

“Eight stacks” is equivalent to eight thousand dollars, which is no small amount.

Lil Yachty offers a far more personal experience he has had with being involved in crime, citing a “lifetime sentence” that he narrowly avoided. He also includes the dollar cost of his brush with the law, which although is insignificant compared to prison time, is not nothing.

Throughout Minnesota Lil Yachty appeals directly to his listeners. In fact, he reprimands “you”, asking

why the f[**] you in these streets if you scared of them four walls?

Lil Yachty makes this accusation personal, and pressures his listeners to reconsider being in “these streets.” The phrase “four walls” can refer to either the walls of a prison cell or the walls of a tomb or coffin, both of which are presumably highly undesirable.

Minnesota, though upon first listen may seem substandard or insignificant, will prove to be a major milestone in the history of trap’s development and evolution.

  1. T.I., for example, was a real drug dealer and was arrested many times as a teenager. ↩

  2. https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=packing%20heat ↩