Yo Gotti On The ‘Messaging’ Behind New Album ‘Untrapped’: It’s About ‘The Things I’ve Been Dealing With’
With a new album about to drop, Yo Gotti talks EXCLUSIVELY with us about the truths behind ‘Untrapped,’ his prison reform efforts, and more.
It’s been three years since Yo Gotti’s album, and fans will find out that it was worth the wait. The “Put A Date On It” rapper drops Untrapped on Jan. 31, a collection of tracks that promises to be as fire as the blazing album art. The first single “H.O.E. (Heaven On Earth)” dropped last week, giving fans a preview of what they can expect on the new record. As to the main difference between 2020 Gotti and the rapper on 2017’s I Still Am, Gotti says it’s simple. “I think, just messaging,” Yo Gotti says in an EXCLUSIVE interview with HollywoodLife. “All my music is the expression of what I’m going through in life.”
“I think a lot of the things I’ve accomplished in the last year, year-and-a-half, and a lot of the experiences, the things I’ve been dealing with, those are the messages on this album,” he tells HollywoodLife. In the EXCLUSIVE video, Gotti also revealed that this new album is packed full of features from some of the hottest names in the game. Untrapped will have his collab with Lil Baby, “Put A Date On It”), and his team-up with Megan Thee Stallion and Lil Uzi Vert (“Pose”), but they’re not the only guests on the album. “I also got a record with A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie that I think is going be a really, really dope record,” he tells us. “I’ve got a record with Rick Ross that’s a dope record. Moneybagg Yo and Blac Youngsta, both dope records on the album. The material is crazy.”
Crazy is also a word that could be used to describe what happened between Gotti and Jay-Z during a Shawn Carter Charity Gala at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in November 2019. The event raised $6 million for charity with the help of a blackjack tournament, and Gotti contributed a huge chunk of that. Gotti famously lost a $500k bet, and the bad break made Hova lose his mind. “To me, that was a five million dollar experience,” Gotti tells HollywoodLife, explaining that as a “kid from Memphis, Tennessee, to be on that platform, playing blackjack with Jay-Z … that’s a blessing within itself.”
Yo Gott and Jay-Z have since used their platform for some good. Jay — through Team ROC, the philanthropic arm of Roc Nation — and Yo Gotti filed a lawsuit against the Mississippi Department of Corrections after five prisoners died violently in the state’s troubled system in January. Gotti spoke about how his team was setting up a rally in Mississippi to shed light on the “inhumane” within the underfunded prisons. “Prison is supposed to be for rehabilitation,” says Gotti. “You’re not supposed to go in there and get killed.”
Since speaking with HollywoodLife, Yo Gotti has announced the 8th Annual Yo Gott & Friends Birthday Bash. Taking place on June 19th at the FedExForum Arena in Memphis, Gotti promises this year’s bash “is going to be the best one yet.” As with the prior years, Gotti’s bash will feature an array of special guests. Past years’ events included appearances by Lil Wayne, Meek Mill, Nicki Minaj, Rick Ross, Trey Songz, and T.I. Tickets are on sale now.