In a time when it’s becoming increasingly difficult to be original, it only feels like a handful of artists are really bringing a fresh perspective to the game; and as a 31 year old skate-boarder from Alabama, arms adorned with tattoos of Western movie legends who he takes his government name from, and citing rock-and-roll as much of an influence as the Southern rap he grew up on, Yelawolf is definitely bringing a fresh perspective!
Kicking back and playing some XBox on his tour bus before preparing to support Wiz Khalifa on their third tour together, Yelawolf has come a long way. In the past year he has been named XXL freshman, announced his new record deal with Eminem’s Shady Records (recently getting a lot of coverage for his verse in Shady’s B.E.T Cypher) and is now preparing to release his first album on the label, Radioactive.
Talking to Yelawolf about his music is very interesting, just like in his lyrics, he draws in elements of culture from all around him; the things he’s seen, people who have inspired him and the things he has done. Unfortunately due to an error with an Ipad app, the recordings of the interview were deleted, so I was forced to take to the notepad app and scribble down as much of what he was saying as possible. Therefore, what you get here is not a direct transcription of the conversation, but as close to what he said as I could manage from memory. Nonetheless the content here is all accurate, and suggests that we have an excellent record to look forward to in two weeks time, from an inspiring artist who will be a mainstay in hip-hop for many years to come…
You’ve been touring for quite some time now. What’s your favourite place that you’ve been to?
For partying I’d say Liverpool! Me and the homies went to this place, The Cavern, and stayed there for like, 8 hours man, just listening to Beatles cover bands and drinking! As far as gigs go we just played to one of the biggest crowds I’ve ever played to in Birmingham yesterday, that was crazy. But I think it’s between London, Paris or Norway (as far as places go.)
What should people expect from a live Yelawolf show? Who inspired the live performance?
I’m not sure what people should expect. It depends on the gig I guess. If it’s my own gig (that I’m headlining) then expect people going crazy and moshpits and stuff. With Wiz (Khalifa’s) crowd, they’re a cool crowd and they are excited to be there, but they (usually) won’t start moshing and going crazy. This is my third tour now with Wiz, I did the ‘Waken Baken’ tour, the ‘Kush and OJ’ tour and now we’re on the ‘Rolling Papers’ tour.
As far as influences go for my live performance, hip-hop wise I’m inspired by, of course, Redman, Triple Six Mafia, their live shows, Mystikal. I also watch a lot of old festival footage from like Rage Against the Machine and Primus, the real energy (masters) and take a lot of influence from them. Going on the ‘Warped tour’ really helped me develop my live show too. I think the fans are evolving now too. The stuff they do is almost cult-like, have you seen like when they form two lines? The fucking wall of death! Or when they run around in a big circle. Seeing ‘A Day To Remember’ command that every night was incredible. I’d love to MC one of those man. (In a high pitched ‘screamo-esque’ voice) “Right! Everybody, I want you to form two lines! And when you hear the beat drop! I want you to go fucking crazy!”
How would you attribute all of your influences (i.e. skating, rock, hip-hop, lyricism, club music, cars) to your music? A lot of them seem like they might clash a little, but somehow you are managing to get just the right balance in the mixing pot.
I don’t know if I’ve really found that balance, and I think that’s kind of what works (with my music.) I think the awkwardness of it is what makes it succesful. Like, I was lucky enough to grow up where my mom had an eclectic taste. On Radioactive I have a lot of different styles, from (club tracks) like ‘Hard White’, then I have this song on their called ‘Growing Up In The Gutter’ and it’s probably the darkest song I’ve ever made man, it talks about like drug-abuse and child molestation and stuff. Then you have tracks like ‘Let’s Roll’, so I think that whatever you like, theres something on there for you.
I’ve read a lot of things that talk about how you’re just as influenced by rock as you are hip-hop. And on your Stereo mixtape theres a skit that talks about your lack of radio-play and how you’re too hip-hop for rock radio but too rock for hip-hop radio. Is this something you’ve consciously had to work on? Finding the balance?
I think that’s something that I’ve always struggled with and probably always will, but (I think that’s working for me now.) I forgot about that skit actually. (I don’t think it’s as much of an issue now though because) people are into everything these days, these 16 and 17 year old kids, growing up with the internet! Nowadays they listen to everything.
I think that the Stereo project was successful in what it set out to do. Nothing will ever replace those original records, and nothing will ever sound as good as those originals. But there was a lot of rock production and rock hooks at the time and they were pretty corny, so I wanted to do something cool with it; taking those classic rock tracks and making them into hip-hop.
I’ve noticed that where a lot of artists are highly concerned with social networking and online avenues to stay accessible to the fans, you haven’t particularly bought into this. Was this a conscious decision?
I’m pretty disconnected. I don’t even have a Twitter or Facebook app on my phone. I think that for some people Twitter is a great tool for marketing and promotion. I’m on there but I found myself always bickering with ghosts. I could get 1000 positive comments and one negative and that would stick with me; that’s just my character. If people are being ill or disrespectful towards me I will address it, if I was on there. So I just let the homies run my Twitter, and if I ever feel like saying something then I’ll tell them, “Post this up.” I (personally) don’t like the accessibility. It works for some people but I want to keep some of the mystery. I don’t want to tell people every time I take a shit!
You’ve described your style as something you’ve pulled from a range of different artists, how do you think you were influenced by or what did you learn from the following…
Redman?
I got into Redman through skateboarding, from the homies making mixtapes. But it was the live show that really made me a fan, the energy I saw him when he performed at Lollapalooza I loved the live show and then got into the music off of that.
Three Six Mafia?
I got into Triple Six Mafia when I was living in Tennessee through the homie Nate Smith, he was ahead of his time, like skating in Jordans and listening to hip-hop back in 92, he was ahead of the time for this whole hip-hop skateboarding thing.
Andre 3000?
With Outkast I moved to Atlanta and Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik came out. I loved the way Andre 3000 rapped and the things he said, I was only young and didnt really understand the brilliance of him until later. But he really grew up on that album. He’s just one of my favourites. Even like the clothes he wears, and with the way I look, he just takes everything thats not supposed to be hip-hop and makes it so cool. He literally was an outcast and we were outcasts, (white skate rat kids), so we could relate to him. Nobody can do it the way he can, you can spit an Andre 3000 verse but you’ll never sound as cool as him doing it.
The remix to the lead single from Radioactive , ‘Hard White’, came out the other day with with T.I. and Slaughterhouse on it. I know T.I. has a relationship with Ghet-O-Vision and Slaughterhouse, of course, with Shady, but how did that record come about?
KP (of Ghet-O-Vision) is the guy who signed T.I., so they have a good relationship. I’ve always been a fan of TIP so I was excited when I heard he was going to do a verse on my remix. This is the first remix I’ve had where I’ve had other artists featured on my remix, and I’ve done so many for other people, so that was exciting for me. With TIP and the Slaughterhouse guys getting on the record I know people would have expected me to do a crazy fast verse and try to out-rap them all, but I recorded my verse last and decided that instead of going where everyone expected me to go, I’d go left and give people a glimpse of what Radioactive is going to be like, so I penned a little story. I’m comfortable enough now to do that without feeling like I need to prove myself, and I knew that the record would get a lot of attention due to having all those guys on it, I’m just blessed to have good relationships with the Slaughterhouse guys and TIP.
What should people be expecting to hear from Radioactive?
It’s a feel good album for the most part, there are some darker songs. I’ve been aiming at really good song writing on this album. It’s very patriotic, but I’ve also taken influence from a lot of international stuff musically. With features I’ve picked people that make sense on the record. Everyone on there is (featured) for a reason, rather than doing what I could’ve done (and what a lot of people do) and got all the hottest rappers out right now on there to (build a buzz.) I’ve done a lot of mixtapes now so I felt like it was time to grow up and start making albums. I think that this is an album that will do me well and for a long time, I want it to hopefully get a lot of people interested in me who’ve never heard of me or my music before.
What would you say is your favorite record from the LP?
It changes everyday, sometimes it’s ‘(Growing Up In The) Gutter’, ‘Throw It Up’, sometimes it’s ‘Hard White’, it’s been ‘Let’s Roll’ a lot recently. I think theres a lot of different styles on the album, so it really depends on your mood and what kind of person you are.
How did you approach Radioactive in comparison to your previous mixtape work?
I think it’s interesting in hip-hop how we put less effort into our mixtapes. Like, in no other genre do they do projects where they put in less effort!
Some people might consider my mixtapes (to be) albums, but they just aren’t. And that’s coming from me. The mixtapes are there for a specific reason; to make a noise and create a (buzz.) Aside from everything else there wont be any (makes airhorn noises) and “Burn One!” (echoes the name out.) Like no DJ drops or anything!
With all of the touring and promotion for your upcoming release you are obviously very occupied with a lot of positive stuff and an exciting future. In moments when you are catching a flight or riding around in the tour bus, do you ever get a moment to reflect on how far you’ve come?
A lot of the US dates have brought back memories of places I’ve been in the streets of or as a kid or of the hustle. Especially in Seattle, you know when I was out there on the streets. Or Berkeley or Oakland, Tennessee, San Fansisco its all a reminder, a reminder of my story everyday. I’ve been through (a lot of stuff, experienced a lot of negative stuff, struggled,) and going back through these streets that I ran in as a kid and growing up brings all that back. (But you know,) every rose has its thorn.
Yelawolf’s Radioactive drops November 21st, on Shady Records/ Ghet-O-Vision
