Zachary Schwartz - Yung Lean and the Rise of Euro-Thug lyrics

For those of little fatih, Yung Lean may have been but a lowkey blip on your ever-so-advanced awesome hip-hop stuff detector. For those of you who maintained focus on all things Leant, December 10, 2013 was the day you finally got to rub it in everybody's face how right you were about the rise of Little Lean Doer. Cut to the Kyoto video… This is top-to-bottom perfection. The visual and audible content rolled together can actually take you into a realm which our mere mortal language couldn't possibly describe. Maybe take a time or two to experience this video again. Stunt raps, sword swinging, Nike, Polo, North Face, convenient marts, 4 wheelers, boats; all sh**s that white people love. Yung Lean may be the mastermind behind this miraculous showing of Caucasia flava, but he couldn't have done it alone. Yung Gud jumped into a high-paced trap production style at the end of 2013 and Yung Lean capitalized. Gud's monster 808's and mashed high-hats twisted with Lean's signature style and a revamped approach are to leave you wondering if you were on an international adventure or if you ended up at a Harold's Chicken with Young Chop on the south side of Chiraq. #3hunna This sh** is emotionally cold. “I'm doin me, I'ma make mine,” and I'm pretty sure he's never lied to the people, not one time. Grinding still takes precedence over shining, and if you've ever doubted his artistry (and/or marketing of such), you can catch yung in the club with S-A-D-B-O-Y-S tatted on his chest. An aggressive and energetic approach is something new for this based Swed. Don't fret doe, he knows where the loyal fans came from and the based roots still ring true in metaphors like “I'm War ho, I'm Warhol, I'm Wario when I'm in Mario Kart.” If you know anything about winning, you know Wario reigns supreme on the sticks. The stroke of genius that is “Kyoto” is soon to become a spill of excellence. It is rare, but every once in a while an artist comes along who puts the perfect pieces together and truly influences the ma**es. He may never get accredited for this, but he's single-handedly shown white rappers the path to fashion glory. White rappers tend to gravitate to a style of dress from a culture that really isn't their own. From Vanilla Ice to Eminem, white rappers usually tend to dress like... black rappers. What a surprise, ay? The problem here is that 9 times out of 10, the black rapper is incorporating fashion styles already provided by the culture that he or she has grown up a part of. Now the lane is established, it's easier for the individual to tailor personal preferences around what is essentially an innate building block. That's exactly what Lean did. He took what he knew of his caucasian roots and blasted them into some outer-space, white dad, post-futuristic, mind-blowing parallel universe. Yung Lean's look in this video is likely to become very prominent, be it his doing or that of a global conglomerate. A lot of the fashion influences Lean incorporates in the “Kyoto” video give the athletic street wear vibe, and this is a wave that's just picking up speed. Yung Lean Swagger: Very fresh-out-of-Sweden, very Euro-thug. If anything apparel-related incorporates the word “athletic” into it's essence, there's a good chance you'll find Nike pioneering it. The launch pad: 2012 London Olympics. This is where we found Nike's “next big thing.” That may not appropriately label what it was at the time, because it was really just another Nike running shoe to most. However, the evolution of this shoe and it's incorporated technology could hardly be contained to a summer of silly games. We have fashion statements to make, and style starts from the shoe up. Queue Kanye West wearing the stuff I'm talking about to help boost credibility. The next step laid in the path of the flyknit concept brought the street wear side of things to life. Meet the Flyknit Chukka. In 2013, Nike began and has continued slowly releasing new colorways for the flyknit chukka, and they seem to do nothing but gain popularity with every new drop. From “University Red” to the “Squadron Blue,” these shoes are a year into the game with no ceilings in sight. Nike's next release via flyknit technology takes us back to the athletic side of things and the biggest push this style has made to date. If athletic street wear lives on, it'll be because of this… “With Magista, we've designed a shoe that feels like an extension of the player's body. This isn't a boot that just goes on your foot, it's a boot that works with your foot.” -Phil McCartney, Nike vice president of Sport Performance Footwear 4 years of research later, and voila! SOCCER WILL NEVER BE THE SAME This push isn't going to necessarily change what we've seen from athletic street wear, but it is definitely going to navigate this style to the doorsteps of the not-so-fashionable ma**es. Or maybe you only like APC cashmere sweaters and things that arrive hood by air? This may not be fashion to you. However, soccer IS the world's most popular sport and few play a bigger role in it's fashion than Nike, and they've been working on this roll-out for a long time now. So is Yung Lean the most fashionable dude ever? Yes, and only because one thing is undeniable… he showed the world what Swedish Hip-Hop looks like. Follow Paperham Lincoln @PaperHamLincoln