lil yachty close friends on instagram

Lil Yachty Gives Fans a Rare Look Into New Close Friends Feature on Instagram

L il Yachty’s Instagram followers got a real treat into the new artists inner circle thanks to the apps latest feature. The latest move is in commemoration of a new feature on the platform, which is a new extension of a feature previously related to Stories and Notes. As of this past Tuesday, Instagram users will be able to share feed posts and reels exclusively with those close on their Close...

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Lil Yachty x Nike Air Force 1 Low “Concrete Boys” Revealed

By Luis Torres

Nov 15, 2023

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our  disclosure policy .

Lil Yachty and Nike have something special on the way as the rapper revealed the Lil Yachty x Nike Air Force 1 Low “Concrete Boys” via a Close Friends post on Instagram.

The artist, known for his extensive sneaker collection and knowledge, will be releasing an exclusive Nike Air Force 1 Low . Keeping it simple and calling back to the classic AF1 days, the shoe is designed with a predominantly all-white upper and dark navy hits on the outsole, lining, tongue tag and Concrete Boys logo on the heel counter. A light blue insole with “It’s Us” lettering in white completes the pair. Additionally, the shoe is housed in special co-branded packaging.

The Lil Yachty x Nike Air Force 1 Low “Concrete Boys” is expected to release in limited quantities as the artist asked his fans to DM him their size and addresses for a chance at a pair. A SNKRS and wide release date are not anticipated.

Keep it locked on Nice Kicks on Instagram and the Nike Air Force 1 release dates page to stay on top of the latest news and drops.

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Instagram Now Lets You Share Feed Posts and Reels Exclusively With Your Close Friends

It’s finally time to retire your “finsta.”.

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Instagram has launched an all-new feature that will allow users to share feed posts and Reels exclusively with their Close Friends lists.

The feature, which has been available on Instagram Stories since 2018 and was later extended to Notes, looks to harness the growing number of users that actively utilize their Close Friends list as a “pressure-free space” to connect with people. “We hope this opens up more ways to be your most authentic self on Instagram while having more choices over who sees your content,” Instagram wrote in a release.

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Password reminder, lil yachty – close friends, shortlist / digital & social / use of talent & influencers / 2024.

To launch the revamped Close Friends feature in an unmissable way, we had beloved rap sensation -- Lil Yachty -- shock the world by secretly adding his 11.3M followers to his CF. Then, he flexed all the new ways to create and connect, giving them a raw, unfiltered look into his life. We generated billions of organic impressions, trended on X and TikTok, grew his following by over 700K, and increased Close Friends' social discussion by 191%. Leaning into Gen Z’s most important advertising tenets – authenticity, expression, and accessibility, we broke through in ways no one ever saw coming.

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Lil yachty's instagram stunt proves the power of inclusive campaigns, rooting work in the community is crucial to success, instagram and wieden+kennedy leaders said at social media week.

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Last year, rapper Lil Yachty made the unusual move of adding his 11.3 million Instagram followers to his Close Friends list on the app. 

His fans were confused, wondering why a globally famous figure had invited them into an intimate circle. Lil Yachty posted on Instagram as if only his closest friends were watching, becoming one of the most talked about phenomena on the internet. 

To this day, many of Lil Yachty’s followers haven’t realized that his strange behavior was part of an Instagram campaign promoting the Close Friends feature to Generation Z . 

In an era when marketers are more aware of the importance of reaching diverse audiences, Instagram’s campaign resonated because it was “rooted in the community,” said Arinze Emeagwali, brand marketing lead at Instagram, at ADWEEK’s Social Media Week in New York on Wednesday. 

“A lot of times in marketing, you’re marketing for yourselves… for awards or leadership. But it’s about always rooting it in the community and the consumer. I’m not too good to ask my 12-year-old nephew what he’s into,” Emeagwali said. “It’s not rocket science, but a lot of times we overthink it. I force myself to make it about the work and to fight for the ideas.”

However, that might be easier said than done, as what makes a good piece of creative work is subjective. 

John “JP” Petty, global creative director at Wieden+Kennedy ’s Bodega unit, said to eliminate that subjectivity, his team asks themselves three questions: “Can our people see themselves in this work? Can they make it their own? Does it provide a social currency, if you will?” 

Work like the Lil Yachty stunt, or Nike’s “Yardrunners” program by W+K that celebrates HBCU students, ticks those boxes because it gave the diverse communities for which it was intended for a seat at the table, Petty said. 

Inclusivity may have become a marketing buzzword or fallen down the list of some companies’ priorities, but Petty argued that such campaigns, including “Yardrunners,” continue to see business results. 

Making such inclusive work successful “takes leadership and people in the building willing to advocate for that,” he said. “A commitment to the community is super important. The users remember that—it means everything to them.” 

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Lil Yachty Previews His Nike Air Force 1 ‘Concrete Boys’ Collaboration

Ian Servantes

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Lil Yachty took to his Instagram “Close Friends” list Wednesday to reveal his forthcoming Nike Air Force 1 collaboration. Naturally, the images didn’t remain within his green list for long.

The musician’s Air Force 1 Low is predominately white save for the outsole, sock liner, and branding appearing in navy. A logo for Concrete Boys, the name of Lil Yachty ‘s music label imprint and a song from “2020,” is embroidered onto the lateral heel while the Nike logo has been altered to read “It’s Us” beneath the Swoosh on the tongue tag and insole.

These alterations are only slight but are similar to Fat Joe’s Air Force 1 Low “Terror Squad” releases from earlier this year.

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Lil Yachty first revealed the existence of his own AF1 in a video from the sneaker resale shop Cool Kicks’ YouTube channel. There have been conflicting reports on if the sneaker will actually release to the public, with Complex saying it’ll be a friends and family exclusive and the reliable leak account @Ovrnunder saying it’ll drop in 2024.

The truth could be somewhere in the middle, with this version being F&F only and another variant designated for a wider release. More information should arrive in the coming months, but it wouldn’t be a surprise for Nike to release a Yachty collaboration based on how big of a year he’s had in 2023. He also played a major role in the rollout for Cactus Plant Flea Market’s recently released Nike Air Flea 2.

About the Author:

Ian Servantes is a Senior Trending News Editor for Footwear News specializing in sneaker coverage. He’s previously reported on streetwear and sneakers at Input and Highsnobiety after beginning his career on the pop culture beat. He subscribes to the idea that “ball is life” and doesn’t fuss over his kicks getting dirty.

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Why Fans Think Drake Will Reference "Top Gun" On His Upcoming Project

Drake has been throwing out lots of feelers. The rapper dropped three new songs as part of his "100 Gigs" release. It's obvious that he's got something else coming, though. The 6 God never goes very long without dropping a new project. The going theory among Drake fans is that whatever he has in store for his next album, it will contain a reference to the Top Gun character Iceman. Several people have noticed that Drizzy has been leaving clues relating to the film on his plot twist burner account.

There's a couple reasons why the Iceman theory holds weight. For one, Drake has repeatedly posted pics of the Kimi Räikkönen on his aforementioned burner. Kimi Räikkönen is the most successful Finnish Formula One driver in history, and one of the most revered racers of his generation. His nickname? You guessed it: "Iceman." Drake hammered home the Iceman obsession on August 14, when he posted an actual screenshot from Top Gun . No caption or additional context, just an extreme close up of actor Val KIlmer as Iceman.

Read More: Polo G Declares The Best Song From The Kendrick Lamar And Drake Battle

Drake Keeps Posting Photos Of Iceman On Instagram

Drake has a track record of posting movie scenes on Instagram. He employed this tactic multiple times during the Kendrick Lamar battle. He posted a scene from the romantic comedy 10 Things I Hate About You as a means of clowning Lamar's "Euphoria" diss. The rapper then dropped a scene from the Denzel Washington action film The Equalizer 2 . In the scene, Washington's character discovers that one of his friends has betrayed him. He then announces his plans to "kill each and every one" of his enemies. Not subtle, and unfortunately for Drake, not prophetic either. The point still stands: the boy loves his movies.

The concept of Iceman, a character known for being cool under pressure, is something Drake has been trying to emulate since the Lamar battle. The rapper's frequent collaborator, Gordo, told People that the rapper has been "happy as sh*t" since the battle ended. Lil Yachty echoed the sentiment during a recent appearance on the Flagrant podcast. "I talked to him and that sh*t didn’t bother him," Yachty explained to the hosts. "As it shouldn’t — he’s the f*king guy. If I had $700 million you couldn’t talk to me either." If internet sleuths are right, than the 6 God will use Iceman to initiate a new era.

Read More: Fuerza Regida Rapper Claims That Drake Is Starting A New Record Label

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12 Things We Learned From Drake’s 100 Gigs "For Your Headtop" Archive Dump

Drake has uploaded over 100 gigs of unreleased material spanning much of his career. We took a deep dive and pulled out some of the most interesting material from the drop.

There’s content overload, and then there’s whatever the hell Drake did yesterday. On Tuesday (Aug. 6), the 6ix God took his burner Instagram off private and very casually unveiled the link to 100Gigs.org, a virtual museum showcasing a whole lot of shit he’s done the last 13 or so years. Titled 100 Gigs on Your Headtop , it’s a repository for all things Drizzy; a cross-decade care package that provides a glimpse at the technique, the logistics and the humanity behind one of the most meme-able and most talented artists of the last 20 years.

The data dump begins with new music. There’s the ominous 21 Savage and Young Thug-assisted track “It’s Up;” the vibey Latto-featured “Housekeeping Knows,” a kinetic collab that sees Drizzy tap into his freaky bag once again; and the island-inflected “Blue Green Red.” Beneath the new tracks is a treasure trove of Drizzy history. Ever wondered what Drake was wearing when he made “Hotline Bling”? He’s got you. Want a rare glimpse at studio life during the Certified Loverboy era? Boom, it’s in there. Want a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Honestly, Nevermind ? There’s footage of that. A lot of footage for a lot of stuff. It’s not exactly a documentary. It’s not a new album. It’s not a compilation. It’s 100 Gigs of stuff, and much of it is pretty compelling, especially during a time when everyone’s wondering just how Drake will bounce back following his explosive beef with Kendrick Lamar.

It’s unclear whether this is an answer or just a transitory part of the 6ix God marketing campaign—a stop gap between his new PartyNextDoor joint album and a reminder of what he’s done and why he is who he is. Maybe he would’ve done this without “Not Like Us .” Maybe not. Either way, it’s time to dive in.

Here are 12 things we learned from Drake’s 100 Gigs On Your Headtop.

What inspired “Hotline Bling” and the possibility of Future appearing on the song

It took Drake and Future nearly a decade of collaboration to score their first No. 1 single together. But if the 6ix God had acted on a passing thought he had 7 years prior, it would’ve been a lot sooner. Sifting through his data dump, we found footage of Drizzy working on “Hotline Bling” in the studio, and in one of the clips, he briefly mentions the possibility of putting Hendrix on the track. It’s not exactly hard to see that collab exploding; it’s a jovial sound that would’ve provided a more natural synergy for the rhymers than anything they made during the What a Time to Be Alive era.

Later, he also explains that the song title was inspired by a nickname he’d given a particular hook-up partner. "We used to be in bed together—we just finished fucking and her phone would be blowing up," he said. "So I saved her name in my phone as 'Hotline Bling.' That's always been her name on my phone."

And just like that, Courtney From Peachtree’s got new company.

“Too Good” was about Serena Williams

Who would’ve thought Drake would be bold enough to have his ex sing on a track about another ex? In a super intimate studio sesh, Drizzy tells his mom that "Too Good," which features Rihanna, is actually about Serena Williams, a woman he’s been romantically connected to at various times in the past. (He's also obviously been romantically connected to Rihanna in the past.) The revelation came alongside an intriguing look into his songwriting methodology.

"When I make songs about women, I also make songs for them,” he said. “If I'm gonna talk about them, I'll at least do them the justice of making them a song that they like. I know Serena very well, and I know that she’ll hear it loud and clear, but she’ll also not hate me for it, because it is lighthearted.”

Drake and Cam’ron shared a moment before the Apollo show

After securing Cam’ron’s trusty pink coat for his Apollo performance in 2023 , The Boy ended up on FaceTime with the Harlem vet. Moments after the conversation, Drizzy takes a second to rein in the totality of the whole thing. “I grew up staring at this jacket,” he says. Honestly, Drake is at his most endearing when he's stanning early 2000s rap.

Drake's alt covers go pretty hard

Drake covers haven’t been all that great lately, so it’s a bit surprising to see how dope some of these alternatives are. The images here range from delicate beauty to artfully cartoonish, with each of them being better than the options Drizzy eventually ended up going with. See alternatives for Certified Lover Boy , Her Loss and Dark Lane Demos —originally titled Care Package 2 !—above.

“Trance” was supposed to be on ‘Honestly, Nevermind’

Metro Boomin already explained why Drizzy didn’t end up on the final version of “Trance,” but now we know that Drake was planning to include the track on Honestly, Nevermind . It’s included in the pre-release tracklist for the LP.

It could have slid right in, but glad it ended up on Heroes & Villains, which is a great album, instead.

We’ve been getting “Know Yourself” lyrics wrong for nine years straight

Everybody knows the lyrics to “Know Yourself”—or, at least, we thought we did. In a new in-studio video, we see Drake clarifying the lyrics for the track. It’s not, “You know how that shit go,” it’s “You know how that should go.”

Yeah, total mindfuck. Genius needs to provide an update asap.

'Dark Lane Demos' was originally going to be ' Care Package 2'

Drake released completely new projects at a near-constant rate between 2015 and 2018, so by the time Scorpion dropped, it made sense that he took a small break. But it was more like a work vacation.

In 2019, he tapped into heavy nostalgia vibes when he released Care Package , a compilation of loosies he’d unloaded over the years. For his second pre- Certified Lover Boy release from that period, he unleashed Dark Lane Demos , a compilation that, like its title suggested, included a lot of demos. But according to this image from the Drizzy Data Dump, it was originally going to be a sequel to the original Care Package .

His Jay-Z collaboration “Talk Up” came down to the wire

It turns out that Drake’s 2018 Jay-Z collaboration, “Talk Up,” came together in the 11th hour. In footage, we can see Drizzy and Noah “40” Shebib plotting the logistics of getting Hov’s verse, with Drizzy trying to anticipate the timeline for the moment he receives the bars.

In a comment he posted to Instagram, Jay’s audio engineer, Guru, recalls Hov telling him to set up a studio at the venue Hov and Beyoncé were supposed to be performing at that day.

He’s Got an Unreleased Song Sampling Yasiin Bey

Yasiin Bey might not think much of Drake the rapper, but Drake most certainly appreciates the Brooklyn legend—at least enough to sample him in his music. In a clip from the site, we can see footage of Drake spitting over a track featuring a sample of Bey’s 2004 track, “The Panties.”

To date, the track remains unreleased.

Drake’s view of Lil Yachty’s “Poland”

It’s unclear if anyone appreciates Lil Yachty more than Drake. He’s collaborated with Lil Boat multiple times on high-stakes projects, and based on the recent “SOD” leak , it doesn’t feel like he’ll stop working with him any time soon. You can see another layer of Drake’s Yachty appreciation in the clip above. In it, Drake explains the Atlanta rapper’s whimsical greatness, showcasing a level of admiration that’s honestly kind of heartwarming.

"It's such an incredibly frustrating song for any other artist because nobody’s that free of a thinker,” he says, preaching about the quirky creativity of someone whose swag is obviously worth borrowing from.

“Over My Dead Body” was made inside of a makeshift hotel room studio

By the time Drake was recording Take Care , he’d already solidified his status as a rap superstar. So then, it’s a little surprising to see him making the LP’s opener, “Over My Dead Body,” in a completely unremarkable hotel studio setup, even if we’ve seen ’Ye, Jay-Z and Lil Wayne do it before.

But Drizzy's arrangement is even more bare. If you’ve ever operated a “home studio” you appreciate the particulars here; the condenser mic hanging in the entrance of the closet, the bathroom towels hovering behind it for some makeshift soundproof technology. His friend is laying at the edge of his bed, both of them are hunched over their MacBooks.

Simpler times.

The original “U Wit Me” was very different from the version on ‘Views’

Released on Views , Drake’s “U Wit Me” embodies Toronto’s icy cool. But the OG was all about the soul. In the footage, we see Drizzy smoking hookah as he soaks up the sounds of the Curtis Mayfield-sampling OG mix for the track. Or, at least we think it’s OG. Maybe it’s a remix that never got a release date. Either way, it’s a mesmerizing take that feels more cinematic than the released version—even if it’s not necessarily better. Both versions have their merits.

Interestingly, the beat eventually went to OVO Sound signee DVSN, who used it for the track, “Dear Summer Sixteen.”

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