Let's Start Here is the fifth studio album by the American rapper Lil Yachty, released on January 27, 2023, through Motown and Quality Control Music. The album was recorded over the course of six months between 2021 and 2022, with sessions primarily taking place at the CRC in Brooklyn. The album is primarily a psychedelic rock, psychedelic soul, and funk record, which is a notable departure from Yachty's signature "bubble-gum trap" sound. Drawing inspiration from a variety of musicians—the most notable being Pink Floyd and their 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon—Lil Yachty sought to create an album that would make people take him seriously as an artist. Lyrically, the album explores themes of lust, ecstasy, overdose, love, suicidal ideation, racism, and heartbreak. Its production was primarily handled by Patrick Wimberly with contributions from Jacob Portrait, SadPony, Justin Raisen, Magdalena Bay, Jam City, Teo Halm, and Lil Yachty himself.

Let's Start Here was preceded by the non-album single "Poland" in October 2022, which received positive reviews from critics. In December 2022, a low quality version of the album was leaked on the Internet under the official name Sonic Ranch; weeks later, his record label accidentally sent the album's preorders early to Amazon, aborting Lil Yachty's plans to use various videos to introduce and contextualize the album. Following its release, Lil Yachty released a music video for "Say Something", embarked on the Field Trip Tour across North America and Europe, and performed at Rolling Loud and on Saturday Night Live.

Let's Start Here debuted at number nine on the US Billboard 200 and at number one on three different Billboard charts, earning 36,000 album-equivalent units in its first week. The use of an AI-generated photograph for the album's artwork was controversial and was criticized by some fans. The album received generally positive reviews from music critics with some praising Lil Yachty's take on the psychedelic rock genre, while others believed it was repetitive and not experimental. It received praise from numerous high-profile musicians following its release. Several publications included it in their year-end lists.

Throughout his career, Lil Yachty has been referred to as a rapper. He originally described his music as "bubble-gum trap", but has since denounced the phrase. His fourth studio album Lil Boat 3 was released in May 2020 to mixed reviews from critics, with some calling it "sloppy and forgettable" and others saying the album saw Lil Yachty "tak[ing] steps backwards". During January 2022, Lil Yachty hinted at his next release being "a non-rap album" and consisting of "all live instrumentation". His 2022 single "Poland" received positive critical reviews and created a "mild international incident", according to Rolling Stone. Lil Yachty said he created the song as a joke. Let's Start Here producer SadPony felt the reception toward "Poland" proved that people would like the album's direction. Lil Yachty decided not to include it on the album because he felt it would not fit: "Just because it's a hit record doesn't mean it makes sense anywhere on this record."

Lil Yachty recorded Let's Start Here over the course of six months; recording sessions began in 2021 and concluded in 2022. Tyler, the Creator motivated Lil Yachty to start creating the album during a phone call with him. After that, Lil Yachty reached out to his friends who served as the album's instrumentalists, who then introduced him to other instrumentalists. The album was mainly produced by Patrick Wimberly, alongside Lil Yachty himself, Jacob Portrait, SadPony, Justin Raisen, Magdalena Bay, Jam City, and Teo Halm. The majority of the album was recorded at the CRC in Brooklyn, with other recording sessions taking place at Blue Room Studios and Hit Gallery Studios in Atlanta, Electric Lady Studios in New York City, Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, Texas, and the Tree House in Los Angeles. The album was the first one Lil Yachty recorded outside of Atlanta. The song "Drive Me Crazy!" was recorded at Mac DeMarco's Jizz Jazz Studios after Lil Yachty's A&R Gelareh Rouzbehani invited him to work with Halm and DeMarco. During the creation of the album, he would play the album for artists such as Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, ASAP Rocky, Drake, and Tyler, the Creator. They all enjoyed the album, which made Lil Yachty feel good. A documentary about the album was recorded but he preferred not to release it as he did not want to give many details about the album's creation process: "I don't really care to talk about it, [because] you give it all away, you pull the curtain back". After finishing recording Let's Start Here, Lil Yachty recorded a hip-hop album. He plans to release the songs from the album separately as singles until his next "non-rap" album is done.

Let's Start Here is a departure from Lil Yachty's signature "bubble-gum trap" sound, as it is primarily rooted in psychedelic rock, psychedelic soul, and funk music. It has also been described as psychedelic pop, experimental rock, alternative rock, jazz, and art pop by select music publications. Robert Christgau conversely argued that the album is not psychedelic rock, and instead aligns with "unusual hip-hop" and R&B. Matthew Ramirez of NPR called the album Lil Yachty's "reinvention" and a "born-again artist's statement". The Guardian's Sasha Mistlin called Lil Yachty a "psychedelic genre-hopper" and that his intent of no longer being a trap artist was clear. Robin Murray of Clash noted its use of samples reminiscent of early Washed Out albums and 1980s references, For Exclaim!, Alex Hudson wrote that the album has a "charmingly naïve quality" to it and contains "golden pop melodies, towering space rock and ambient synth fuckery." Fred Thomas of AllMusic said the album is "more loud guitars than 808s" and Lil Yachty created ways to express himself using any sounds he likes. Thomas further commented that the album isn't "completely void of rapping" and contains "live instrumentation heavy on slick jazzy guitars, big drums, and fantastical synths." Lyndsey Havens from Billboard said the album "plays like one long song". The lyrics of Let's Start Here explores lust, ecstasy, overdose, love, suicidal ideation, racism, and heartbreak. Jeff Ihaza of Rolling Stone viewed maturation as one of the album's central themes. Hudson and Jayson Buford of Stereogum highlighted their exploration of consciousness and the subconscious, whilst Thomas noted their vulnerable, introspective nature.

Let's Start Here was heavily influenced by Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon (1973). Lil Yachty first heard the album in 2017, and credited it with "[altering his] perspective on music". In an interview with Variety, he called Let's Start Here his attempt to make "[his] Black Dark Side of the Moon". He further stated: "I wanted to show the most love to The Dark Side of the Moon without it being The Dark Side of the Moon, 'cos I'm my own person." The album also inspired Lil Yachty's decision to use three female vocalists on Let's Start Here: Fousheé, Justine Skye, and Diana Gordon. Tame Impala's Currents (2015) and Frank Ocean's Blonde (2016) served as additional influences. Lil Yachty was also inspired by Tyler, the Creator's Igor (2019), and asked Tyler, the Creator for advice on creating a "world" for the album because he wanted to make a "pop-funk-psychedelic-rock album cohesive, without it sounding like someone's playlist." Lil Yachty also named Bon Iver, Black Sabbath, and James Brown as references on the album, and mentioned the influences of musicians he heard played by his family, including Coldplay, Radiohead, John Mayer, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Brown, and Pharrell Williams.

While making the album, Lil Yachty would often self-assess and concluded that he was unhappy about where he was musically. He said that the "shit [he] was making did not add up to the shit [he] listened to" and wanted to be remembered, respected, and taken seriously as an artist. Since the release of the album, Lil Yachty has distanced himself from his previous albums, telling Billboard "Fuck any of the albums I dropped before this one". He also has said that he feels fully represented by Let's Start Here. He had planned for his second studio album Lil Boat 2 (2018) to be Let's Start Here, but he was too nervous to experiment and felt insufficiently experienced with alternative music. The album also went through four or five title changes. The title Momentary Bliss was considered because the album is "meant to take you away from reality ... where you're truly listening". 180 Degrees was also considered because the album is "the complete opposite of anything [Lil Yachty has] ever done" but people thought that it was too obvious of a title.