Yelawolf, THE GOAT.

[Rafael]

Yelawolf.

A name that probably does not ring a bell in the regular household. He hasn't had a platinum or even gold certification on anything. Today, most likely, he will barely break the one million likes milestone on Facebook, yet, I'm sure, if you walk up to anyone random anywhere, and ask them "Who is Yelawolf?", very few will be able to give you a proper explanation.

Me, a die-hard fan of over 3 years, cannot even give you a true explanation as of yet. He is not an artist that can be truly explained. Is is truly unlike anything I have ever heard before in my many years of listening to various artforms. When I first heard Trunk Muzik 0-60, I never could have predicated that his artistry is where he is at now. And how his last project, Trunk Muzik Returns, is probably the best hip hop project I have heard this year. And I am sure that he has no intent on letting his next album, Love Story, have any less of that same feeling of awe when it finally drops.

Let me tell you about how I discovered Yelawolf.
My friend bought his debut release on Interscope, Trunk Muzik 0-60, during a black friday sale at Best Buy. He literally grabbed a whole bunch of CDs that were on sale, and placed them in his cart to buy.
Yet, he bought so many albums that day, and to him, this project was the one that he enjoyed the most. He seriously encouraged me to check Yelawolf out. So, I did. I went to iTunes and played a snippet from that album, the only snippet I played, was the song title that caught my attention the most, Marijuana. When I heard the chorus, which I recognized sampled an old Nirvana song, I was struck with an honest WTF. "What? Really?? What is this??" I was shocked. I really was. I thought this guy was a rapper, not punk rock artist. I simply dismissed this as just a strange taste in music that my friend had, completely forgot about him.
Later that same song later that month, my friend played that same Marijuana song, and this time, it had me laughing, the way he yelled out "MARRRRRRRIIIIIIIJUUUUUUAAAAANNNNAAAAAAAAAA" was increasingly hilarious. And quickly grew on me. He also played some other songs off the album and I again shocked.. This guy WAS a rapper. But it was his versatility that impressed me the most. He went from a typical rap song, "Daddy's
Lambo", to a punk rock influenced song, "Marijuana", to a raw hip hop track, "I Wish" featuring hip hop vet, Raekwon.

I honestly had to listen to this album. And I did. It was amazing, probably my most played album of that year. I couldn't get enough, I checked his older mixtapes, like the original Trunk Muzik and Balls of Flames, Stereo, and Arena Rap. I really enjoyed the original Trunk Muzik, but Balls of Flames was not really that impressive to me (still isn't) and Stereo... I was not really feeling Stereo that much either, it was not my cup of tea to be hearing a rapper so over classic rock instumentals. And when I heard Arena Rap.. I was like "AWWH HELL NAW, COUNTRY HILL BILLY RAP?!?!? FUCK NO" so I simply erased them all from my laptop except the original Trunk Muzik and Trunk Muzik 0-60, and I PLAYED THE FUCK OUT OF THOSE TAPES. I enjoyed them so much.

Later the next year, I found out that Yelawolf had inked a deal with my favorite rapper, Eminem. This fucking sealed the deal for me. This guy was going to be the new artist I listened to for the rest of the decade. Pure fucking awesomeness for me. I was so fucking hyped with his debut ON SHADY. My favorite record label. Like a dream come true.

When Radioactive dropped, I honesty did not get any of the hate on this album. I FUCKING LOVED IT. Every single track was amazing to me. I honestly did not see any fault with this album. It did not have a collected or cohesive feel, but I didn't care, it was a collection of tracks from what was becoming my favorite rapper, and I enjoyed every track. I also played the living shit out of that album. Then, followed him for the rest of the year 2012, The Slumdon Bridge, with Ed Sheeran (Fucking loved that one too), Heart of Dixie (kinda of a let down for me) and Psycho White (fucking badass), and I couldn't get enough of Yelawolf.
I. JUST. NEEDED. MORE.
And so, I went back to his older tapes.
When I listened to Stereo for the second time, I honestly can not remember why I didn't enjoy it the first time. It was beautiful to me, I guess it was because I did not understand his artistry at first, but this time around I completely loved it. It was incredible how he could go from something lukewarm like Balls of Flames, to an incredible project like Stereo. Then I listened to Arena Rap for a second time too. And H O L Y S H I T. And the most I listened to how artistic he was, the more Radioactive felt, "Meh.".
His artistry fucking blew me away. I was shocked that I couldn't see why I wasn't feeling those tapes at first. Then it hit me. THIS MAN WAS A TRUE ARTIST UNLIKE ANYTHING BEFORE. He was not another rapper, he was not putting up a gimmick, he was legit. And most likely.. The most underrated artist of out generation. I can place him with the likes of other legends like Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, and Bob Dylan. Truly unique, never has the world has anyone like him in music, EVER!! And his career has barely started, his best work is still ahead of him.

His latest project, Trunk Muzik Returns only solidified that theory. His passion is mind blowing, from the opening flows on Firestarter, to the passionate yelling on Catfish Billy, to the true love song, Tennessee Love, shows me he has no intent of slowing down. His mindset is incredibly high. He is determined that his next album "Love Story" will be a classic, and if he lives up to the potential that I have seen that he has... Then my body is ready.

[cheeseburger]

Great, just great



Completly agree.

[Trimss]

I love you man. I'm glad you stand up for the Yelawolf team on Tr!

I'll post my experience on how I got into Yelawolf too.

[Arrinef]

i have all versions of box chevy on one disc in my van cause its a box chevy



i love me some yela. living in the south, it makes for great drinking music

[Trimss]

The reaaaaaaaal video that got me into Yela.. The video that made me a stan..



is this one. I absolutely loved this performance and thought "wow.. This dude is serious."
I already loved the song, but this took it to another level. From that point, I started bumping Yelawolf like crazy. Little did I know he would become my favorite rapper.

[cheeseburger]

I remember the night I got into Yelawolf so clear.
It was around the time when he got signed. Im swedish so rap news dont really rain over here.
This forum is basically what makes me keep up.
Anyway, I was going through a rough time with losing my apartment, breaking up with my girlfriend, living in a fucking trailer outside of my mum and dads house without any heating etc.
I was sitting alone in my awful trailer scrooling though the net for rapnews and such, when I saw something along "New white rapper signed to Eminems label" or something.
As I got more into it I found this interview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2PAO3X53PM

After watching that and kind of liking his personality (but thought he looked like a wierdo)
I looked up what his music was like.
The first thing I found was his single Daddys Lambo that was flouting around getting loads of buzz.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVcCDRzjtWg

I had to say, I didnt care for it. He looked wierd, fake and sounded forced. (my opinion was kind of forced since Im a hardcore Em fan since Relapse)
Anyway I believe I left it there and continued with my day.

Later that night, I was sitting in my trailer, pissed off for some reason (probably the life issue).
I started drinking some whiskey (had a bottle of Jack Daniels and a handful of beers) and tried listening to some music, but nothing was relate able at the time.
I dont know why or what that got me to open up Trunk Muzik 0-60 in Spotify, but I sure as fuck thank whatever it was for it.
There was something on that album combined with my sadness and drunk state of mind that clicked!
I listened to it front to back and was immediately in love with Yelawolfs rapid mouth, delivery, down to earth lyrics and voice. And the beats! The beats was like something eatable that Yela chewed up, digested, let flow through his bloodlines and then creamed out to a beautiful cake.
Imagine how I felt when Love is Not Enough came on, hammered as fuck off of Whiskey, beer and depressed because of love.
Imagine how I bounced that fucking trailer to Box Chevy.
Imagine how many cigarettes I smoked outside, leaning against a tree peeing while Pop The Trunk was blazing inside the trailer.

I have a hard time remembering how that night ended, but I sure know that I didnt want to sleep.
There was a whole catalog to discover, and bitches to forget.
Needles to say, Ive been a fan ever since.

Thank you Yelawolf, thats all.

[LK5]

He is fucking awesome. So original and versatile artist
BTW I bumped a lot of Yelawolf today. I wonder how people who never heard of him would react to his music.

[Francesco]

Damn... that's some real support homie.
I love Yela but that shit right here is on a whole 'nother level!

[Eedee]

Yelawolf.

A name that probably does not ring a bell in the regular household. He hasn't had a platinum or even gold certification on anything. Today, most likely, he will barely break the one million likes milestone on Facebook, yet, I'm sure, if you walk up to anyone random anywhere, and ask them "Who is Yelawolf?", very few will be able to give you a proper explanation.

Me, a die-hard fan of over 3 years, cannot even give you a true explanation as of yet. He is not an artist that can be truly explained. Is is truly unlike anything I have ever heard before in my many years of listening to various artforms. When I first heard Trunk Muzik 0-60, I never could have predicated that his artistry is where he is at now. And how his last project, Trunk Muzik Returns, is probably the best hip hop project I have heard this year. And I am sure that he has no intent on letting his next album, Love Story, have any less of that same feeling of awe when it finally drops.

Let me tell you about how I discovered Yelawolf.
My friend bought his debut release on Interscope, Trunk Muzik 0-60, during a black friday sale at Best Buy. He literally grabbed a whole bunch of CDs that were on sale, and placed them in his cart to buy.
Yet, he bought so many albums that day, and to him, this project was the one that he enjoyed the most. He seriously encouraged me to check Yelawolf out. So, I did. I went to iTunes and played a snippet from that album, the only snippet I played, was the song title that caught my attention the most, Marijuana. When I heard the chorus, which I recognized sampled an old Nirvana song, I was struck with an honest WTF. "What? Really?? What is this??" I was shocked. I really was. I thought this guy was a rapper, not punk rock artist. I simply dismissed this as just a strange taste in music that my friend had, completely forgot about him.
Later that same song later that month, my friend played that same Marijuana song, and this time, it had me laughing, the way he yelled out "MARRRRRRRIIIIIIIJUUUUUUAAAAANNNNAAAAAAAAAA" was increasingly hilarious. And quickly grew on me. He also played some other songs off the album and I again shocked.. This guy WAS a rapper. But it was his versatility that impressed me the most. He went from a typical rap song, "Daddy's
Lambo", to a punk rock influenced song, "Marijuana", to a raw hip hop track, "I Wish" featuring hip hop vet, Raekwon.

I honestly had to listen to this album. And I did. It was amazing, probably my most played album of that year. I couldn't get enough, I checked his older mixtapes, like the original Trunk Muzik and Balls of Flames, Stereo, and Arena Rap. I really enjoyed the original Trunk Muzik, but Balls of Flames was not really that impressive to me (still isn't) and Stereo... I was not really feeling Stereo that much either, it was not my cup of tea to be hearing a rapper so over classic rock instumentals. And when I heard Arena Rap.. I was like "AWWH HELL NAW, COUNTRY HILL BILLY RAP?!?!? FUCK NO" so I simply erased them all from my laptop except the original Trunk Muzik and Trunk Muzik 0-60, and I PLAYED THE FUCK OUT OF THOSE TAPES. I enjoyed them so much.

Later the next year, I found out that Yelawolf had inked a deal with my favorite rapper, Eminem. This fucking sealed the deal for me. This guy was going to be the new artist I listened to for the rest of the decade. Pure fucking awesomeness for me. I was so fucking hyped with his debut ON SHADY. My favorite record label. Like a dream come true.

When Radioactive dropped, I honesty did not get any of the hate on this album. I FUCKING LOVED IT. Every single track was amazing to me. I honestly did not see any fault with this album. It did not have a collected or cohesive feel, but I didn't care, it was a collection of tracks from what was becoming my favorite rapper, and I enjoyed every track. I also played the living shit out of that album. Then, followed him for the rest of the year 2012, The Slumdon Bridge, with Ed Sheeran (Fucking loved that one too), Heart of Dixie (kinda of a let down for me) and Psycho White (fucking badass), and I couldn't get enough of Yelawolf.
I. JUST. NEEDED. MORE.
And so, I went back to his older tapes.
When I listened to Stereo for the second time, I honestly can not remember why I didn't enjoy it the first time. It was beautiful to me, I guess it was because I did not understand his artistry at first, but this time around I completely loved it. It was incredible how he could go from something lukewarm like Balls of Flames, to an incredible project like Stereo. Then I listened to Arena Rap for a second time too. And H O L Y S H I T. And the most I listened to how artistic he was, the more Radioactive felt, "Meh.".
His artistry fucking blew me away. I was shocked that I couldn't see why I wasn't feeling those tapes at first. Then it hit me. THIS MAN WAS A TRUE ARTIST UNLIKE ANYTHING BEFORE. He was not another rapper, he was not putting up a gimmick, he was legit. And most likely.. The most underrated artist of out generation. I can place him with the likes of other legends like Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, and Bob Dylan. Truly unique, never has the world has anyone like him in music, EVER!! And his career has barely started, his best work is still ahead of him.

His latest project, Trunk Muzik Returns only solidified that theory. His passion is mind blowing, from the opening flows on Firestarter, to the passionate yelling on Catfish Billy, to the true love song, Tennessee Love, shows me he has no intent of slowing down. His mindset is incredibly high. He is determined that his next album "Love Story" will be a classic, and if he lives up to the potential that I have seen that he has... Then my body is ready.

[Mike1]

I noticed that you guys tend to name just about anything GOAT. Is this some kind of inside joke or something?
Anyways, I think Yelawolf is a talented lyricist, and hate the fact that no one gives him much credit.

[Trimss]

I noticed that you guys tend to name just about anything GOAT. Is this some kind of inside joke or something?
Anyways, I think Yelawolf is a talented lyricist, and hate the fact that no one gives him much credit.

Yeah, GOAT is an over used term in TR. When most of us use it, we probably don't even mean like "greatest of all time" we just say it to say it's very dope.

However, Yelawolf really is one of my favorite of all time.

[J.R.]

So this thread got my eye and I wanted to share my Yela' experiences, so, here I am, bros.

Trunk Muzik I never really liked as much as everyone else, and Radioactive was okay. Both had their tracks, but where I felt Yela truly shined was Arena Rap & Trunk Muzik Returns. I remember hearing "Bitch Ima Firestarter..Hot DAMN!" That voice, was truly the most amazing thing I had heard all year to that point. The way he said it truly immerses you in the track 100%. I loved it.

TMR is a classic to me. Radioactive has it's classics, and people over-hate on it to me. TM is okay, and 0-60 is better, never really got into them (just...tracks like "That's what we on now" kinda throw me off a bit, album-flow wise, but I still love individual tracks.)

So yeah, that's my Yela story.

Edit: My favorite three songs (Literally can't pick) "Catfish Billy", "Box Chevy Part 4", "The Last Song"

[Trey]

I agree with this thread. I've grown to really enjoy Yelawolf. I hope Em has a feature with him on MMLP 2. I've been bumping the hell out of Trunk Muzik Returns and Arena Rap.

[HG-3]

Aye fellas, names Hunter.

I've been a stan of Em since as long as I can remember, but I'll save that story for a thread about Eminem I spose.

I don't know how you TR boys are about newbies, but I stumbled across this thread and this thread is what sparked me to make an account on TR so I can share my Yelawolf stories with yall here and share my addiction to Eminem and the SHADY EMPIRE.

Anyways a few years ago, early 2011 I believe it was, my boy James and I was chillin and he asked me if I've ever heard of Yelawolf (we're both huge hip-hop heads) and I said "yelawhaaaaat"??? He then pulls up the music video to Pop the Trunk and we started watching. My first reaction was....who in the fuck is this skinny tatted hill billy with a fucked up haircut think he is. After a few seconds of watching the video, my attention was lost (cause i didn't really care at the time) and I shunned Yelawolf off and my buddy and I went on with our night. I don't know how, but weeks later I stumbled across the music video for Box Chevy pt. 2 and watched it. I thought it was hilarious and I thought Yelawolf was the biggest joke ever, the video was seriously so funny to me at the time and Yelawolf was just..that weird dude. I don't know how else to describe my thoughts. I watched it over and over again it was that funny. Finally, I remembered my boy showed me something from Yela and I couldn't remember what it was so I searched youtube and the first thing that popped up was Pop the Trunk. The light bulb went off cause I knew I had found what I was looking for. I watched it, actually watched it this time and I was BLOWN THE FUCK AWAY. This dude murdered that song, the story, the visuals, everything. I then downloaded both Trunk Muzik releases and listened and sat there mesmerized as each second played. Back on youtube, I stumbled across some interviews and what not and damn, he goes a Yelawolf stan in the making. I fell in love with his voice, his personality, his down to earthness, I thought he was fucking awesome. No homo. And Yela's boy Rittz, god damn..Rittz is fuckin sick and I'm guilty of being a Rittz stan aswell..LOL. Anyways, like I said I've been an Em stan for as long as I can remember and ever since I discovered Yelawolf, my "stanliness" has been skewed away from Em and towards Yela. Then Eminem signs him and my world was officially completed. That felt like a divine present from Eminem to me, seriously. With MMLP2 and Love Story on the horizon, I am in full Stan mode and I can't fucking wait. I would really love to see these two dudes interact more on songs so I'm hoping with both of these records, that they pair up at some point and murder it. Eminem is forever a legend in my eyes and I don't even list with with my favorites because it is implied. Yelawolf is my favorite rapper of this generation by far and I hope he keeps on bringin it to the table. Rittz is right up there with him. SLUMERICAN!

HG-3 out.

[Jimmy Conway]

I've yet to hear a song by him I like.