Yeat

Noah Olivier Smith was born on February 26, 2000, in Irvine, California. His mother, Laura (née Olivier) Smith, is Romanian, and his father, Joshua Smith, is an American of Mexican and British descent. Yeat's paternal grandmother is Mexican and from Tijuana; his paternal grandfather was Anglo-American. Yeat has two younger brothers. His father is also a musician who uses the name Beast Clouds. Yeat spent his early childhood in Fullerton, California, before he and his family moved to Portland, Oregon, where he attended Lakeridge High School in the nearby town of Lake Oswego. After high school, Yeat briefly moved to New York City before returning to the Greater Los Angeles area in pursuit of a music career.

2015–2021: Career beginnings

Yeat began his career in 2015, originally making music under the name Lil Yeat, but these releases have since been deleted from the Internet. On June 30, 2018, Yeat made his first public appearance under his current moniker, premiering a track called "Brink" on Elevator, a YouTube channel. Yeat has said that he created the name Yeat while high and trying to come up with a word that sounded familiar. His stage name has also been described as a combination of "yeet" and "heat". Yeat has said that using LSD helped him pursue his career. He released his first mixtape, Deep Blue Strips on September 20, 2018. On February 21, 2019, the video for his track "Stay Up" premiered on Elevator.

2021–2022: Viral success, Up 2 Me, and 2 Alive

Yeat achieved viral success on platforms such as TikTok in 2021. In Pitchfork, Mano Sundaresan wrote: "Cutting his teeth in the influential online rap collective Slayworld over the last few years, Yeat was always a little stranger than his peers, and consequently cast as a minor figure. But in 2021, his surrealist bent became his superpower." Yeat's music began to gain traction online after his mixtape 4L was released on June 11, 2021. 4L includes "Sorry Bout That" and "Money Twerk".

In August, Yeat released the EP Trendi, which had increased success with "Mad Bout That" and "Fukit". Also in August, a snippet of his song "Get Busy" went viral online, attracting considerable media and fan attention. The song was particularly noted for its line "this song already was turnt but here's a bell", which is immediately followed by the ringing of church bells (which often appear in his songs). Rappers Drake and Lil Yachty referenced the line.

On September 10, Yeat released his debut studio album, Up 2 Me, through a one-album deal with Interscope Records and Foundation Media. The album received generally good reviews from critics. After the limited Interscope and Foundation deal ended, Yeat fulfilled a promise he made to Zack Bia by signing with the latter's Field Trip Recordings, in addition to Conor Ambrose's Listen to the Kids, in a joint venture with Geffen Records and Interscope Records.

On January 22, 2022, Up 2 Me debuted on the Billboard 200, initially at number 183 and peaking at number 58. Later that month, Yeat teased a mid-February release date for his next album, 2 Alivë. His song "U Could Tell" was featured in the Euphoria episode "You Who Cannot See, Think of Those Who Can", which premiered on January 30.

On February 11, the single "Still Countin" was released alongside a Cole Bennett-directed video. On February 18, Yeat released his second studio album, 2 Alive, through Geffen Records, Field Trip Recordings, Listen to the Kids, and Twizzy Rich. It debuted and peaked at number six on the Billboard 200, selling around 36,000 units and becoming his highest-charting project. On April 1, the deluxe version of 2 Alive, 2 Alive (Geek Pack), was released. On April 29, he released "No Handoutz", a collaborative single with Internet Money Records.

On June 28, Yeat released "Rich Minion", a single he was commissioned to create for a Lyrical Lemonade-produced trailer promoting the film Minions: The Rise of Gru. After its release, the song became associated with "GentleMinions", a 2022 meme involving people who dress in formal attire and attend screenings of the film.