City Girls’ raunchy lyrics and persona are all their own, but Lil Yachty helped the Miami duo with their latest hit single, “Act Up.”
Yachty shared details behind his collaboration with the rappers, noting that he penned the song with the exception of J.T.’s second verse on the song. “When it came out, people was so shocked and they didn’t believe it,” he told influencer and DJ Kerwin Frost Thursday (April 18). “I wrote the whole song, except for J.T.’s last verse. But everything that everyone is singing, I wrote the whole thing.”
J.T. (Jatavia Johnson) is credited as a writer on the song, but Caresha “Yung Miami” Brownlee isn’t. This doesn’t take away from Yung Miami’s pen game as she’s noted as a writer on other songs from their album, Girl Code.
Yachty added this was his first time writing a song for another artist. He was inspired to do so by a friend and wanted to embody their raunchy style with the track. “I just thought like them. I know them personally and I know what women like to hear,” he explained. “I was like, ‘What’s some raunchy sh*t?’ So before I went in the booth, I said, ‘No homo y’all.’ Because all my boys was in the room. And I started saying just crazy sh*t. But I came out and I was like, ‘Y’all watch, this is about to blow up.’”
Yachty was right. In addition to the Cardi B-assisted “Twerk,” “Act Up” has been sitting pretty on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. “Act Up” hit the Top 40 recently while “Twerk” reached No. 29 in February. City Girls recently earned their third week at No. 1 on the Emerging Artists chart.
Yachty says the experience has inspired him to write for other artists and engage in writing camps with producers. A few of the songs he’s done will be dropping soon.
“People always try to discredit me. So when I saw it, I realized how I get my credit a different way,” he said. “I write sh*t all the time… I can think like other people. That was a real fun experience for me, and it was most fun when it leaked to the public. I spent a few days just reading people’s responses because I didn’t speak on it, I didn’t say anything.”
Yachty’s knows a thing or two about making hits. The artist has two Top 10 singles and earned a Best Rap/Sung Grammy Nomination for “Broccoli” with D.R.A.M. in 2016.
Stream “Act Up” below.