Yelawolf: Trunk Muzik/ TM 0-60 / Radioactive

Obviously we've discussed Yelawolf here and there on ILM, but dude needs his own thread. Debut album's out now. Can't speak to the whole thing yet, but everything I've heard has been fantastic. Anyway... C/D, S/D, whatever, have at it guys.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/512rLyh79TL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

out now? wow there was a lack of hype over this.

no kidding!

It's really fucking good, although many of the best tracks were on the Trunk Muzik mixtape.

The first five tracks are all fantastic, I tend to lose interest after that. I like that there's a sense of underlying sadness beneath the bluster, and the production is excellent and quite original.

out now? wow there was a lack of hype over this.

― wheezy f baby (a hoy hoy), Tuesday, November 23, 2010 9:22 AM (24 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

no kidding!

― in a merzbow world, how is kanye ambitious?? (ilxor), Tuesday, November 23, 2010 9:23 AM (22 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

? it was discussed in fruity swag thread

Had no idea this was out! I get pretty overwhelmed by the swag thread though.

I don't think the fruity swag thread constitutes "hype" dudes.

the 'lack of hype' is mainly because this is one of those "EP/mixtape/sampler" things labels are doing with new rappers a lot these days where they just throw something out there to see if it sticks before going all out with a proper debut album of all new material. kind of like the EP version of the Drake mixtape that they released before Thank Me Later, although he obviously already had a higher commercial profile.

the 'lack of hype' also has to do w/ the fact that this dude isnt 'famous' & so far is known to most ppl as 'that dude who rapped fast & opened for wiz khalifa when i saw him'. his fame until that point was primarily blog-oriented

I find the swag thread hard to keep up with at times deej, what with the 3 new youtubes and 4 new whiney-deej beefs a day.

I don't think the fruity swag thread constitutes "hype" dudes.

― Matt DC, Tuesday, November 23, 2010 9:54 AM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark

for rappers being mentioned on ilx who arent big boi ?

I find the swag thread hard to keep up with at times deej, what with the 3 new youtubes and 4 new whiney-deej beefs a day.

― wheezy f baby (a hoy hoy), Tuesday, November 23, 2010 10:01 AM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

lol, zings

anyway i like 'pop the trunk' but still think this dude is mad overrated

Yeah, but you also defended a Chris Rock skit in 2010, so, grain of salt and all.

(insert your preferred emoticon to express friendly jokiness implied)

yeah the new songs aren't very good

I just assumed trunk muzik was the album

anyway, loved that and will get this

kind of wish he'd put "f.u.", "lick the cat" and "stage lights" on the album proper, maybe instead of "i wish" - i guess i see why "mixin' up the medicine" couldn't be on it, even though that was my favourite on the mixtape. still, a great album, i think all six new tracks are must-haves - as well as being prob my fav hip-hop album of the year, it's also my favourite rock album in years.

this overlooked yelawolf verse from earlier in the year is u&k:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igRzAANOpeM

the only good jim jonsin beat in years tbh

no stage lights? grumble grumble

fantasia - falling in love tonight
lloyd - night & day
lloyd ft. bun b - like me
young dro - on fire
soulja boy - kiss me thru the phone
beyoncé - sweet dreams

^^will rep for these 08-10 jim jonsin productions too

only one of those is really a rap song which is what i was thinking of

the sb song is basically just an R&B chorus imo

Vaguely relieved by the album cover after the look he's been rocking in recent interview pics and the "Drop The Trunk" video clip (which is awesome btw).

im in a weird place w/ this dude, because i dont really like him that much, but i cant really articulate why yet, & so far anything i say wd sound mad contrarian & a bit ridiculous, especially considering how basically everyone around here is into his stuff -- i mean, tim f, noz, lex, j0rdan, rev, all u need is an rtc cosign & im alone :O

theres some covert falseness i cant identify. something that sounds forced or ... idk. put on. i can work it out

I suspect rtc wouldn't be into yelawolf if it's any consolation...

keep it real deej, we can't be listening to anyone who is not "themselves" after all can we

I suspect rtc wouldn't be into yelawolf if it's any consolation...

― Tim F, Tuesday, November 23, 2010 12:33 PM (21 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

haha this actually makes me feel more alone tbh

upon reflection

"in a kanye world, how is yelawolf ambitious??"

i think the second song on this, in which yela sweet-talks a cali girl so he can get to her dad's awesome car, will always endear him to me

"in a kanye world, how is yelawolf ambitious??"

― in a merzbow world, how is kanye ambitious?? (ilxor), Tuesday, 23 November 2010 18:57 (19 minutes ago) Permalink

zings need work son.

haha this actually makes me feel more alone tbh

ha ha yeah that occurred to me too.

Not surprisingly the google image search for "contraristan" throws up some very ilx images.

im in a weird place w/ this dude, because i dont really like him that much, but i cant really articulate why yet, & so far anything i say wd sound mad contrarian & a bit ridiculous, especially considering how basically everyone around here is into his stuff -- i mean, tim f, noz, lex, j0rdan, rev, all u need is an rtc cosign & im alone :O

― challop and a muff (deej), Tuesday, November 23, 2010 1:29 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

theres some covert falseness i cant identify. something that sounds forced or ... idk. put on. i can work it out

― challop and a muff (deej), Tuesday, November 23, 2010 1:30 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yeah i mean i like the mixtape a lot and am checking for dude, but i can't say i'm totally sold, it's more just something i enjoy than i'm really arguing for his greatness or promise or anything. i just like doubletime raps and think the production is dope, all the neo-Kid Rock "check out how mindblowing my white trash rap culture clash is!" schtick is whatever.

yeah tbh that stuff is almost too distracting for me somehow. like i cant help but feel like ppl are latching onto that as a big part of his worth & if anything i think his rapping style doesnt sound v. country at all

sd otm

which is why i was kinda bummed with these new joints b/c the production was subpar imo

i guess its like, his 'persona' visually feels put-on & try-hard, like, his personality as a rapper is strong but doesnt really reflect his style or something. when i try to envision what dude looks like i dont even remember his face, just a trucker hat, some tats & country props (cheap beer or camo pants??)

his hair hides his face half the time

something to hide

his schtick reminds me a little of the drive-by truckers, that kind of revisionist white southern life thing that just ends up feeling fake cause he/they rides it so hard. hes a good rapper tho.

yeah i mean bubba sparxx was a much better bubba sparxx idg why he needed that persona -- even from a marketing standpoint it feels redundent

― challop and a muff (deej), Tuesday, November 23, 2010 3:29 PM (0 seconds ago) Bookmark

i feel like you guys are being kind of cynical -- of course the white trash thing is a good marketing tool & since he grew up poor (as far as we know) & not like asher roth there's no real card checking going on, but what is the guy supposed to do? act like he's not white trash from alabama? what 'persona' do you want him to 'assume' deej?

i mean there's definitely a double standard here -- like, no one is grading (ahem) various black gangster rappers on the curve of 'redundant personas', so i'm not sure why yelawolf is getting this intense scrutiny & skepticism?

no one is grading (ahem) various black gangster rappers on the curve of 'redundant personas'

i should definitely clarify that i can see where rappers we DON'T like would get criticized for being redundant -- thinking of mad nyc rappers & drake being a knock off of wayne and now people being knock offs of drake -- but i mean certainly we were praising waka, for instance, for reviving a persona

idk how real yelawolf's "persona" is but on record he convinces - he evokes that persona and that environment really well in the language he uses and his voice; it doesn't become a cliché in his hands, he comes at it from varying angles; and he doesn't limit himself to it, either.

He feels pretty different to Bubba to me. Bubba constructs and then fake-hides-behind his down home ignance to a much greater degree - i.e. Bubba and Kid Rock are closer to each other than Yelawolf is to either I reckon (obv this schtick works really well for Bubba; I feel rather more ambivalent re Kid Rock).

In his actual rapping Yelawolf doesn't seem to be flaunting his white southernness topically or stylistically to nearly the same extent. To the extent it bleeds through on tunes like "Pop The Trunk" or "I Wish" or "Love Is Not Enough" the "set up" feels pretty minimal, if only because he almost always strains the issue through descriptive storytelling.

Like, after seeing the "Pop The Trunk" clip I can see how the track plays the old white dad's violence of the first verse against the violence of his mostly black friendship circle in the second, but it would never have occurred to me think that or to go "YES I SEE WHAT YOU'RE DOING".

TBH if there's a "character" I associate Yelawolf with it's the younger partner-in-crime in Breaking Bad.

i feel like you guys are being kind of cynical -- of course the white trash thing is a good marketing tool & since he grew up poor (as far as we know) & not like asher roth there's no real card checking going on, but what is the guy supposed to do? act like he's not white trash from alabama? what 'persona' do you want him to 'assume' deej?

i mean there's definitely a double standard here -- like, no one is grading (ahem) various black gangster rappers on the curve of 'redundant personas', so i'm not sure why yelawolf is getting this intense scrutiny & skepticism?

― J0rdan S., Tuesday, November 23, 2010 3:34 PM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark

we totally grade black rappers this way too! we hate drake remember? i like waka because he does feel unique

i think yela is getting it bcuz of the video/clothing/projected image not matching the rapping style...not saying its fair i just cant help but feel like fans are latching onto some projected country-ness/real-ness that doesnt exist. i liked yela a lot more when he was anonymous white dude from the g-side album! bcuz, like, it was all about his rapping. the theatricality of rap is v important imo

also i really like 'pop the trunk' so i cant really say its the 'problem' here

also some personas, like anono-thug from queensbridge, play themselves better as archetypal things than others do. i dunno, i feel like lee harvey from lapdance sold this better even if he was 6000x worse rapper.

yela is, like, to adept for the image his projecting. it still feels contradictory

i would like to note i observed early on my argument itt would be somewhat weird & challopy

yela is, like, too adept for the image hes projecting.

Was kinda surprised by the emergent great white hope of country-ness angle because initially I thought yela's visual style was more of a straight skater thing, which seems pretty solidly suburban to me. At any rate his actual look seems to project "trenchcoat dude listening to linkin park" rather than "country-ness" to me.

idk i don't think it works as a 'joke' at all. it sounds just angry, not funny. he seems tone-deaf in his humor

i don't think em is the one being tone deaf in humor right now

i guess eminem yelling angrily would code as hilarious to you

lol that one was kinda teed up xp

lol deej

his "anger" on something like this or on "roman's revenge" is so obv a joke, also

― yo zuccotti (J0rdan S.), Saturday, 19 November 2011 19:50 (2 hours ago) Bookmark

MTV writer: Soulja Boy is a performance artist and none of us are in on the joke (seriously)

why are you all still talking about eminem and his one afterthought verse on this album?

thank god we can pick up this discussion again.

or not.

I kind of feel like the cure for the 2012 Nicki/Yela/Waka idea of half an awesome rap record and half record label people clearly flailing for pop crossover hits is like release a WHOLE awesome rap record that people will champion as a piece of art/5-mic classic (it's certainly not hurting Killer Mike/Big Boi/Kanye/Danny Brown) and then release tons of sell-out pop jams as MP3s until one sticks

we bought 3 copies of killer mike's LP at the record store i work at & two remain on the shelves

which is cool for me b/c it means we can keep playing (select jams) in the store, but nicki's still outselling those dudes & so is like lupe fiasco right?

I'm just saying that if people wanna sell records AND make non shitty records; because the majority of records that sell now are shitty

the funny thing about chasing the pop money is, those songs don't sell albums. "Starships" isn't moving copies of Nicki's album like all the urban radio hits on the first one (including "Super Bass") did, Flo Rida has platinum singles out the ass but can't get an album to go gold.

only thing sadder than that is guys that try and fail to sell out like Yela. how the fuck did he go from having the best career prospects of a semi-well known white rapper to the worst in the space of a year.

I am a rap fan. I care about how many copies of my favorite artists CDs are sold.

it's like following politics and keeping track of who gets the most votes in an election. sure, it's not really about the value of the work they're doing, but it kind of has a big bearing on whether the guy you like or the guy you don't like will actually get to do the job next year.

kinda lol but mostly sad

http://www.vladtv.com/video/109153/yelawolf-its-insulting-being-asked-to-sign-a-mgk-autograph/

aw

dude ruptured his spleen stagediving huh
this is a weird interview

lol "i mean the album was called RADIOACTIVE like to be ACTIVE on the RADIO you know... anyway, back to trunk muzik..."

heh "you ever been eatin a bowl of chili and get a shotgun pellet stuck in your teeth"
i have had this experience
"the smell of white trash is like vinyl siding warmed up with kerosene heaters, cigarettes, dusty carpets and fried bologna" <- this is kinda true; i don't think i've talked about my trailer park summer on here but some stories there

heard this on sons of anarchy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgdpLjdcWR0

it's surprisingly impressive, that new one

yeah good track

i loved Trunk Muzik and spun Radioactive approximately .5 times. which i'm sure is not unique.

i have zero idea what to expect from his new album. for some reason i'm feeling optimistic. dig that song up there.

chart experts and rap brainiacs: i really didn't pay attention at all, is it fair to say that Radioactive was a flop?

Honestly he should just go all out for the Jesse Pinkman thing with added country and rock elements seeping in at the edges. It's impossible for me to believe that a record label wouldn't be able to market an artist like that in 2014.

oh yeah total flop

I am on my way to accompany my friend to a Yelawolf concert! I have never rly listened to Yelawolf nor have I ever been to a rap show. I am kind of excited.

actually that's not true I saw Ghostface at my college nvm

holy shit this is amazing

i loved Trunk Muzik and spun Radioactive approximately .5 times. which i'm sure is not unique.

Same. Radioactive struck me as total bare-faced commercial whoring.

he will never reach Trunk Muzik heights again, but Love Story seems ok to me. am i the only one?

yeah, i like it. it could stand to be, like, half as long, but it's good.

truthbomb. 18 tracks or w/e? i never understood why rap albums tend to go to 15, 18, 20 tracks. give us yr 10 best and get out.

god he is so bad now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaRRwOz4uEo

yr arms are to short to box with bubba sparxxx

this has been watched 2 million times in 5 days!

Giorgi Merabishvili1 day ago
This is new genre: Country Hip Hop! RESPECT!
82 likes

guess that guy never saw the opening credits for Justified

hah

obviously he's gotten worse, this new shit is sub-Everlast, but he was always pretty gross imo

Anybody still willing to ride for this guy?

Nope

did he do something ?

no, he just tanked real fast after his mixtapes.

oh yeah, thought maybe something beyond that. i liked the 'Til Its Gone' but thats the only thing ive even heard since radioactive and thats cos it was used on a tv show i was watching.

This thread is such a surreal archive. So many people fanning so hard for this vile rapper feigning like they had no understanding of how somebody could find him objectionable

EVERYBODY GET THE FUCK UP

xpost what was so "vile" about him in the early days?

seems like a weird word to use given, y'know, all the other rappers out there. has Yelawolf ever even had legal trouble? i can't recall any.

slumerican shitizen

^this is seriously never going to stop making me lol

― the 500 gats of bartholomew thuggins (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, November 17, 2011 7:10 PM bookmarkflaglink