The Making of Yelawolf's "Radioactive"

We get down with Catfish Billy, WillPower, and just about everyone else on the album to get the stories behind Yela's debut album.

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Image via Complex Original
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TKTK

As told to Insanul Ahmed (@Incilin) & Keenan Higgins (

Intro

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Radioactive (Introduction)

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“Radioactive (Introduction)”

Produced by: WillPower

Yelawolf: “We had recorded most of the album and I knew I wanted to have an intro for the project. I recorded [this song] when I was gonna do a mixtape for [the album]. We ended up panning the mixtape because we started doing records that we felt like should be on the album.

“The first thing I cut ended up being the intro on the album. We found some ill-ass samples and then pulled my girl Nikkiya in to do vocals. It was a ill vibe to start off the project. It’s kind of a spit-through style with no hook—just kind of opening it up.

“I got a real dark vibe to making records. WillPower can go any direction, but he usually has a darker vibe to his beats. We’ve been working together a long time, so he knows [how to produce for me]. I can hum a melody or explain the style of a beat that I’m looking for, and we’ll work through it in the studio until it’s where we want it.”

WillPower: “I met Yelawolf back in 2000. When I met Yelawolf, he asked me, ‘What do you do?’ I said, ‘I'm a producer,’ and I was like ‘What do you do?’ He was like, ‘I'm a rapper.’ About an hour later we went and cut a record and we've been homies ever since.


 

That was really the biggest ups and downs for us because we never could get a breakthrough financially doing what we was doing. I'm talking about this guy would drive from Alabama to South Carolina and barely have gas money to do it. He'd get there and we'd have to scrounge up money to feed each other. We were really broke man. - WillPower


 

“After I left New York right around 9/11, I went back to South Carolina. At the time, Wolf was about to have his first child. He waited until a week after he had his first child and he and his family got on the bus to South Carolina and we started working. We went through so much like being broke and trying to feed our families and still do music.

“That was really the biggest ups and downs for us because we never could get a breakthrough financially doing what we was doing. I'm talking about this guy would drive from Alabama to South Carolina and barely have gas money to do it. He'd get there and we'd have to scrounge up money to feed each other. We were really broke man. [Laughs.]

“In 2007, I got a phone call from him after I hadn't seen him in maybe a year. He said he got signed to Columbia Records. He called me up to NY, I drove up to there, and he got me on the project. I would say maybe a month later before the album came out, he got dropped. Naturally, we all got bummed out and everybody went their separate ways for a while.

“Yelawolf wanted to be what he is now for so long. He’s one of those guys that won't give up. I just kept seeing Wolf working, kept seeing him doing shows. I saw him go explore a few different ways of working his craft. He kind of went into some rock music and all kinds of stuff.

“One day I was chilling at the crib and he stopped by and we reconnected. He had this idea to go do Trunk Muzik 0-60. He wanted me to pick my studio up out of my house and go down to Alabama with him because he had a week off.

“I packed up my studio and we drove all the way to Alabama from Atlanta. We spent a week working on Trunk Muzik. Trunk Musicbasically happened in the basement of his house. From there everything started to pick up. We dropped the project in January and he got signed to Interscope around March, the deal happened shortly after SXSW. It's just been crazy ever since.


 

We came up with the title Radioactive which has several meanings to it, but one of the meanings is that we can become more active on radio. So we went in with the whole idea of taking this thing global.


 

“The biggest thing that we want to accomplish [with the album] was creating something for the masses. Trunk Muzik was more of a regional vibe, it was more of where we're from and what we hear out here. We always knew that Wolf was capable of doing so much more. When we went into this project as a group, we wanted to make it something that more people could get a hold of.

“We came up with the title Radioactive which has several meanings to it, but one of the meanings is that we can become more active on radio. So we went in with the whole idea of taking this thing global.

“We did a good 85-90% of the album in January. We went there and basically we did two weeks in Vegas and we just killed it. We hooked up with The Audibles and we hooked up with Pooh Bear. And we just went in and locked ourselves in for two weeks.

“With ‘Radioactive Introduction’ we wanted to really catch people’s attentions at the top of the album. With the title being radioactive we were thinking about things like the fall-out and the type of energy that would be in the air if something nuclear were to happen. We wanted to make people feel that intensity and kind of scare them a little. It was really Wolf's idea to come up with something that was just real movie-like. Then he put one of the illest verses on there.”

Get Away

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“Get Away” f/ Shawty Fatt & Mystikal

Produced by: Phonix Beats

Yelawolf: “That record is reminiscent of Trunk Muzik in a way. I recorded ‘Get Away’ when I was doing records for Trunk Muzik: 0 - 60.. My manager Courtney ‘Big Bear’ Sills flew Shawty Fatt out when we were working on Radioactive in Vegas.

“One morning, after being out there for like a week, I hear Shawty Fatt playing that record. I had forgotten completely about it. I thought it was amazing. Sometimes you don’t know what you’ve recorded, and then pull records back out like, ‘Man, that shit was dope!’ We pulled that record back out.


 

My uncle has always been a main character in my life. He’s just that hardcore country motherfucker—just the realest. He always drank really heavy. When he gets in his zone, he’s the funniest motherfucker ever. He can keep a whole party entertained with his banter. - Yelawolf


 

“I really wanted to get Shawty Fatt on my project. I love his style. If there were two sides of hip-hop that could be represented out of Gadsden [Alabama], he’s definitely that other side of Alabama. I love his perspective, his story, and his voice. That was the perfect record to get him on the project.

“The idea of getting Mystikal on there came from vibing out in the studio. Mystikal’s a legend. We thought he would fit perfect on the project and that song. We were lucky to get him and he killed it.

“[On the verse when I say ‘Who can tell a story like my uncle when he’s drinking?’ I’m talking about], my Uncle Critter. My uncle has always been a main character in my life. He’s just that hardcore country motherfucker—just the realest.

“He always drank really heavy. When he gets in his zone, he’s the funniest motherfucker ever. He can keep a whole party entertained with his banter. I was referring to his ability to freestyle jokes and be super quick with it somehow. The drunken monk. [Laughs.]”

Mystikal: “I got a call that Yelawolf wanted me to be featured on there. I was more than excited to jump on it because my manager at the time had turned me onto Yela on YouTube. When I got down there [to the studio in Atlanta] and actually heard the song it was like a freestyle fight. Them motherfuckers were rapping on there! I was like, ‘Damn. That’s what I’m talking about.’


 

When I got out the time machine for doing my little time, I was like, ‘Shit. I see a lot of things have changed.’ I’ve been laying back because I was waiting on this deal to manifest. Anything else would have been me talking about, ‘Can you listen to my demo?’ I can’t do that. - Mystikal


 

“Yelawolf wasn’t there in the studio but his verse was on there. That’s what was inspiring my verse. The fucking rapid fire he was busting had me like, ‘Shit.’

“When I got out the time machine for doing my little time, I was like, ‘Shit. I see a lot of things have changed.’ I’ve been laying back because I was waiting on this deal to manifest. Anything else would have been me talking about, ‘Can you listen to my demo?’ I can’t do that.

“I’ve got too much to offer the game to do it like that. That would have been disrespectful to my fans and everybody on the whole, including my-damn-self. So this is what I was waiting for, right here.”

Phonix Beats: “My buddy Brock [Korsan] over at Diamond Supply has a great relationship with Yelawolf’s people. He got the track, got it over there, and then I got the phone call that they liked it. The rest was history.

“Most people know me for doing a lot of hardcore or hip-hop stuff. This is definitely hip-hop, but it’s more melodic and on the R&B side. It’s a lot slower than the records that will be featured on his album.”

Let’s Roll

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“Let’s Roll” f/ Kid Rock

Produced by: The Audibles & Mr. Pyro

Co-produced by: Eminem

Yelawolf: “When they played [the beat] in the studio, I said, ‘The only way I’m gonna do this is if we can get Kid Rock on it.’ Within ten minutes of listening to the record—even before the lyrics were recorded—the goal was [to get Kid Rock]. I looked up to Kid Rock forever and was fortunate enough to have him on my project.

“People would always ask me how they could place my music and I always said Kid Rock, Outkast, and Beastie Boys. I put him in the world of my inspirations. Having him on the project was an honor. He’s the O.G.

“There’s nothing new under the sun about my concepts. I have a different spin and perspective, but all of what Kid Rock has done, I’m doing. I just got my own perspective, style, and cadence. My flow is entirely different, but my approach is in the same world. He’s got a Run-DMC flow, where I take more of a Andre 3000 approach.


 

There’s nothing new under the sun about my concepts. I have a different spin and perspective, but all of what Kid Rock has done, I’m doing. I just got my own perspective, style, and cadence. My flow is entirely different, but my approach is in the same world. He’s got a Run-DMC flow, where I take more of a Andre 3000 approach. - Yelawolf


 

“I played the record for Marshall and I told him I wanted to get Kid Rock on there. He was like, ‘Oh my God! That would be crazy!’ They made their calls. A month or so later me, Kawan Prather, Paul Rosenberg, and Marshall drove out to Kid Rock’s house and we met with him.

“Marshall introduced me to Bob [Kid Rock] and we hung out for the night. I played him some of my music. I played ‘Pop The Trunk,’ ‘Daddy’s Lambo,’ ‘Billy Crystal Meth’ and let him get familiar with my sound.

“We cracked some Jim Bean, drank some Red Stags, and played some basketball. Then we went to his warehouse and checked out all his whips and collectors cars. We just hung out as homies.

“When we played him the record, he was really into it, like, ‘Of course I’ll do it.’ I didn’t expect him to say that. By the second time the hook was playing, he was singing along. He got right into it like, ‘I’ll do it. Let’s ROLL!’ He hopped right in there.

“Me, Bob, and Marshall sitting at the table [at Kid Rock’s house] was a pretty crazy scene. Paul Rosenberg was like, ‘You know how much white rap is in this room right now?’ [Laughs.]

“We went to The Bronx and shot a video for it. DJ Kool Herc came out. That’s exactly what I wanted to get across—that respect. Having me and Kid Rock in The Bronx, the birthplace of hip-hop, and then Kool Herc come out, the creator of it all, made it a real special record. It’s gonna kill on the radio.”

Hard White (Up In The Club)

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“Hard White (Up In The Club)” f/ Lil Jon

Produced by: Tha Hydrox

Yelawolf: “This was the last song that we cut for the project. When you’re cutting records, you always just need that one. That frustrates the shit out of me because I don’t fuck with the clubs like that. I never have. It’s just not my zone. I’d rather go to a dive bar.

“They were like, ‘We need that one club joint,’ and I was like, ‘You know what? Play me the fucking beat!’ The first thing that came out was, ‘Up in the club/Don’t give a fuck’—just being kind of sarcastic about it, but there’s times when I enjoyed being out. If I go there, I’m trying to rage. I don’t want to just sit around and throw money. I want to throw alcohol and get wild and crazy!


 

I don’t fuck with the clubs like that. If I go there, I’m trying to rage. I don’t want to just sit around and throw money. I want to throw alcohol and get wild and crazy! - Yelawolf


 

“When I recorded it, I went back out to Atlanta, listened to the mix, and to my surprise Lil Jon was on it. KP made that feature happen. I had no idea. KP was like, ‘Yo, check this out.’ I heard his voice and was like, ‘Oh shit!’ Really, who is better to have to be a part of that world?

“[On the line ‘I don’t break it down for you motherfuckers out there waiting around for some rap savior’ comes from] people always searching for that next. I was just a MC saying ‘Here I am goddammit.’ You better look up at what it is that you’re facing now. There’s no need to search for what’s going on next, because I am. That’s just MC’ing. Full ego trip. [Laughs]”

Lil Jon: KP gave me a call. He said, ‘Me and Yela have this track and we think it’d be dope if you jump on it and hype it up a little bit.’ I came in the studio, I think Yela was on the road, but I knocked my stuff out in like 20 minutes. That was it.

“I’ve known KP forever. He was A&Ring at La Face, and I was A&Ring at So So Def. Back in the ‘90s, Atlanta was a tight-knit musical family. Everybody hung out with each other.

“The first time I met Yela we were at Maloof Money Cup in New York years ago. Later on, we got together in Atlanta and hung out in my studio and worked on some stuff. We never really finished it. After that, this came up, and I got to be a part of the project.


 

I haven’t had a big urban record in a while. I’ve been on all kinds of big crossover records but not a big urban look like that. - Lil Jon


 

“I haven’t had a big urban record in a while. I’ve been on all kinds of big crossover records but not a big urban look like that.”

Trey “Tre” Holla of Tha Hydrox: “It’s a beat that we did almost a year ago. The beat started when one of our members, Ace [Lex Cartanya], came up with the original context, but we didn’t quite know what to do with it. A few months later, Mike Jaxx [one of our other members] and I took another look at the [beat] and we started tweaking a few things. We changed the bass line, changed the drums, and then realized that we might have a hit on our hands.

“Our manager Jeremy Jones—who goes by J. Dot—got the record to Yelawolf. He’s one of Yelawolf’s managers, none of this would have been possible without him. After Yelawolf recorded the song, he set up the feature with Lil Jon. Within an hour it was done.”

Growin’ Up In The Gutter

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“Growin’ Up In The Gutter” f/ Rittz

Produced by: WillPower

Yelawolf: “When WillPower was playing this beat, it started off with that [imitates beat]. I was like, ‘Oh my God! This is some fucking Nine Inch Nails shit!’ It was like Marilyn Manson [meets] 808s [& Heartbreak]. I’ve never heard such mean drums and basslines. You could put somebody in a pitch black room, crank that shit up, and they’d go crazy.

“The music drove me to start thinking about Ouija boards, child abuse, and all the scary shit I went through when I was younger. That’s what that record turned into. It started with the verses and then the hook just poured out of me. I didn’t write that. I just went in there and let loose.


 

The music drove me to start thinking about Ouija boards, child abuse, and all the scary shit I went through when I was younger. That’s what that record turned into. It started with the verses and then the hook just poured out of me. I didn’t write that. I just went in there and let loose. - Yelawolf


 

“The point of the record became [a message that] it doesn’t matter if you’re in a $20 million mansion, if there’s fucked-up shit going on in your house as a child you might as well be living in the projects. The gutter comes from people’s hearts. Any place in the world can turn into a very dark place for a child. Someone’s upraising isn’t always what it seems, and that goes vice-versa.

“Some people that live at the bottom financially are really happy because they have good parents. You go to the suburbs and meet a kid like Rittz, which is why he’s on that record. He’s the perfect example of that song. He’s from Gwinnett County, the suburbs, and he’s a fucking basket case. His lifestyle, shit he got into, and the shit that happens in Gwinnett County is just like... I know exactly what that is.

“When I first met Rittz, someone hit him up to come and open for me when I was doing shows at this spot called Lenny’s Bar. I watched his set, and I was just blown away. Other than myself, I hadn’t heard anybody out at the moment who was chopping like that. I knew a lot of people before me and people who were already on, but I had never heard of this dude.

“I started hollering at him when his team that he was working with fell apart. When he didn’t have any more support, I told him if I ever got a deal I would help him out. This was before I had a deal with Interscope. After I got my deal with Interscope, I started putting him on as much as I could. I got him a mixtape recorded, put him down with my Slumerican crew, brought him on tour and put him on my album.”


 

Ouija board sessions with my mother, ghosts in my grandparents house, waking up with my uncle screaming in the basement because he’s seeing shit, and cow mutilations. In Franklin, Tennessee there were Satanists that would come and kill cattle and have fucking seances in the woods. - Yelawolf


 

“There was a lot of my childhood that was very scary, like Exorcist scary. My mom hallucinated on mushrooms and thought people were crawling all over her in the other room while I’m in a house that has no lights.

“Ouija board sessions with my mother, ghosts in my grandparents house, waking up with my uncle screaming in the basement because he’s seeing shit, and cow mutilations. In Franklin, Tennessee there were Satanists that would come and kill cattle and have fucking seances in the woods.

”There were suicidal instances, not with myself but with people that were close to me. A lot of fucking really weird shit goes down in the Bible Belt. Because of the religious stronghold, there’s a lot of backlash. When kids want to revolt in the South around the Bible Belt, they usually do it religiously. They’ll get into dark shit [like] black magic. You don’t really believe that shit until you see some shit fly across the room when you’re a child. That shit is real as fuck.

“Other than the spiritual shit, [there was] child abuse, molestation—I was having sex when I was 7 years old with babysitters. [She was] like 16. It’s funny now, but it’s fucked up. It’s fully fucked up. Teenage girls are sexual predators. I don’t give a fuck what anybody says. I grew up watching them and fucking with them—fucking them!

“All of my sexual encounters were all women [like] my mom’s friends when I was young. You got to watch out. I don’t know why I was always a target, but I was. Most people were like ‘What the fuck,’ but I have talked to dudes who were like, ‘Yeah man, me too.’ I’m not the only one.


 

I was having sex when I was 7 years old with babysitters. [She was] like 16. It’s funny now, but it’s fucked up. It’s fully fucked up. Teenage girls are sexual predators. I don’t give a fuck what anybody says. I grew up watching them and fucking with them—fucking them! - Yelawolf


 

“It’s probably only funny because I’m a male. If it was a 16-year-old boy fucking a 7 year old girl, could you imagine? For us, it’s like, ‘Ha! Hell yeah, dog,’ but honestly it’s really sick. There’s no two ways about it. It’s a sickness. That’s that fucking white trash, glue-huffing, gutter shit.

WillPower: “‘Growing up in the Gutter’ is my favorite record. We did it prior to going to Las Vegas in January. It's our extension of what we did on Trunk Muzik, except on steroids. The intensity on the record and the message is totally Yelawolf.

“That record definitely expresses the hunger of what we've been through. You can really hear the pain in that record because Yelawolf is really talking about things that he's actually experienced. And it's really scary and really eerie to listen to. If I had to give it a definition, I'd say that's our Nine Inch Nails [type] record on the album.”

Throw It Up

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“Throw It Up” f/ Gangsta Boo & Eminem

Produced by: WillPower

Co-produced by: Eminem

Yelawolf: “Will Power gave me that beat in full as an eight-bar loop. I took the beat, I tracked it out, and I made that arrangement so the hook would be over the pianos.

“I told Gangsta Boo, who I had called out for a session, ‘This is the record.’ When the hook came up she was like, ‘What the fuck? There’s no drums. It just loses its bop.’ She actually recorded the hook over the drum loop. Then I just arranged the music up under it.


 

It was kind of like taking 8 Mile and putting it with Hustle & Flow. If I got that feature from Marshall, I wanted to bring him into my zone, my culture. And he fucking murdered it. - Yelawolf


 

“The whole point was to create a juxtaposition with her and I. I wanted the music to be pretty, but I wanted it to be darker on the verses. I wanted her to come crazy hard because the music’s got a beautiful melody. After we recorded it, I knew it was another super-banger.

“I was like, ‘Damn, man. If I could get Marshall on this? Ooh.’ I knew that if I could get a feature from him, this was the one I wanted. I knew that it wasn’t the expected record and I knew you’ve never heard Marshall on a record that’s sweaty-ass, holding the wall, Southern club.

“It was kind of like taking 8 Mile and putting it with Hustle & Flow. If I got that feature from Marshall, I wanted to bring him into my zone, my culture. And he fucking murdered it. It’s one of those records that, to me, as far as hip-hop and culturally on this project, is one of the most important records because of what it says about us as a team at Shady.

“Us three on the same record is a mindfuck. It’s almost like it shouldn’t be, but it is and it’s dope. That’s the whole point of this album. The album really has this balance of dark and light. Some songs feel good, some are dark, and some are in-between, but they all have a vibe of their own. They’re really specific in the vibes of the records.

“I’m around OG’s like Kawan Prather who brought acts like Outkast, Youngbloodz, and T.I. into the game. He was a part of the Dungeon Family movement and he was a part of the first hip-hop group out of Atlanta to get a situation with Parental Advisory. My other manager Brother Bear was touring with Biggie.


 

Nobody’s got balls. They’re all fucking Fisher-Price-ass features. It’s cookie-cutter bullshit like, ‘Lets put all the stars on one record.’ I’m like, ‘You can get that at every Footlocker. I fuck with it, but is it special? No.’ - Yelawolf


 

“I’m really lucky to have the industry execs that I have around me because they encourage me to keep it 100% real. You’ve got to imagine that when I’m like, ‘Can we get Gangsta Boo on this record with me and Marshall?’ [other industry execs would be] like, ‘Gangsta Boo? With you and Marshall? On your only Eminem record?’ Instead, my team is like, ‘Fuck yeah. Gangsta Boo, that’s sick.’

“Nobody is really doing it, at all, especially for a debut album. Nobody’s got balls. They’re all fucking Fisher-Price-ass features. It’s cookie-cutter bullshit like, ‘Lets put all the stars on one record.’ I’m like, ‘You can get that at every Footlocker. I fuck with it, but is it special? No.’ It’s just about what artists want to be.”

Gangsta Boo: "Yela has [said he’s a Three 6 Mafia fan] in numerous interviews that he’s done. He grew up listening to our music. So naturally he wants to pay homage and show respect just as much as I wanted to show respect when I saw him from watching his videos on YouTube. I was like, ‘He’s a dope white boy. I’m with this.’ But Three Six Mafia—we influenced a lot of Southern artists, not just Yelawolf.

“Back in the day, if something was fucked-up we used to say, ‘Man, hokiewag.’ I knew people wouldn’t know what it meant because it’s totally a Memphis term. I first heard the term from this guy named Lil Buck who used to be with DJ Paul. It wasn’t a big word in the south. It was just some Three Six shit. We had our own language we used to speak.


 

All my friends that know me, they know I call myself Crazy Lady. One minute I’ve got an extreme high, next minute I’m snapping on people. I have a quick switch and I might throw a drink on you. I’m trying to change my attitude. They say Nicki’s got the bipolar flow and I’m like, ‘I feel you, but I’m worser, because I’ll actually hurt you.’ - Gangsta Boo


 

“[The reason I say I’m bipolar is because] all my friends that know me, they know I call myself Crazy Lady. One minute I’ve got an extreme high, next minute I’m snapping on people. I have a quick switch and I might throw a drink on you. I’m trying to change my attitude. They say Nicki’s got the bipolar flow and I’m like, ‘I feel you, but I’m worser, because I’ll actually hurt you.’

“I throw drinks on dudes. If I’m in the club, I’ve got a nice butt on me, so you may have a guy and there’s ten of them in a group, and one might touch my butt, and I look back and don’t know which one did it, so the drink is going on everybody. I’m sure that’s [happened] recently. I’m sure it was this year, if not this month. [Laughs.]

“It’s not something I’m trying to promote or continue to do, but I am known for doing it. But I’m a sweetheart too. That’s where the whole split-personality thing comes in at. It’s all in good faith. It definitely wasn’t a diss to Nicki Minaj.”

Kawan “KP” Prather: “Eminem's verse sounded great. He has a degree of difficulty that is the shit. It's acrobatic shit, the way he'll connect the third word in the fifth bar to the six line somewhere in the record and it all makes sense when you hear it. After he did that, Wolf went back and rewrote his verse like, ‘Shiiit.’”

Good Girl

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“Good Girl” f/ Pooh Bear

Produced by: The Audibles

Co-produced by: Pooh Bear

Yelawolf: “I fucking did not want to do this record. I was totally against the song. All artists have one or two of these records in their career that they’ll record and be like, ‘I don’t know about this shit.’ Then their whole team will be like, ‘Dog, I’m telling you.’ So I was like, ‘I’m totally against this shit. You better not play this shit for Marshall because if he likes it, I’m fucked.’

“So I’m in the middle of a session in Detroit, and Marshall’s like, ‘Yo, that ‘Good Girl’ record? Fucking crazy.’ I turned around really slow and I looked at KP like, ‘You motherfucker. Fucking dickhead.’ [Laughs.]


 

I fucking did not want to do this record. I was totally against the song. All artists have one or two of these records in their career that they’ll record and be like, ‘I don’t know about this shit.’ Then their whole team will be like, ‘Dog, I’m telling you.’ - Yelawolf


 

“I’m like, ‘Really, man?’ and Marshall’s like, ‘I’m telling you, it’s crazy. You can do this. You can do this song.’ I’ve never done something so simple directed towards girls and I’m a little afraid of that shit, especially on a debut album. But he turned around like, ‘Yo man, you can do this shit.’

“When I went back to Detroit, I was like, ‘Hey man, I need a skit or some shit. Tell everybody in the world that you made me do this shit. [Laughs.] We need to open this shit up. I need this shit to be cooler somehow.’ We laughed so fucking hard making that skit.

“Then the record grew on me. I became more comfortable with the record once I heard the entire album as a whole. It’s just one of those songs on the album that I actually trusted my team with. That’s the honest-to-God truth.

“It’s not one of my personal favorites, but it’s definitely a record that everyone else was enjoying. I don’t make music just for me. I make music for the world. If there was a jam on there that more people are feeling than I am, then I think it’s worth the opportunity for people to hear.

“[Laughs.] [Em calls me] White Dawg, Cracker Nuts, Yelasheep, Beige Sheep. He’ll just rattle off whatever comes to his fucking head. It kind of just lets people know that we don’t really give a fuck. There’s always the white-boy stigma, especially with him signing me and the comparisons and shit. I guess that’s just kind of a way for us to crush the way that we feel about that shit. I do that with all my white homies, fuck with people’s whiteness.


 

[Em calls me] White Dawg, Cracker Nuts, Yelasheep, Beige Sheep. He’ll just rattle off whatever comes to his fucking head. It kind of just lets people know that we don’t really give a fuck. I do that with all my white homies, fuck with people’s whiteness. - Yelawolf


 

“[As a] white rapper, on stage, I’ve faced crowds of thousands of booing Wiz Khalifa fans. Some crowds don’t fuck with me because I’m a fucking crazy motherfucker. That’s hard to accept at some points. But I’m a fucking white rapper from Alabama with a fucking mullet-hawk, talking crazy country shit, admittedly saying that my uncles are rednecks. There’s certain things that are going to come with that and I accept it. I know that I’m an artist that you love or hate.

“I was in Europe opening up for Wu-Tang in Birmingham and there was a fucking crew of hecklers. So when I did ‘Pop The Trunk,’ I jumped in the crowd. I delivered the whole record right in the pit of all of them. When I was done, I handed them the mic, and I said, ‘Here, you take the mic motherfucker. You can have it. Now I’m finished.’

“I walked up on stage, and this motherfucker says, ‘Fuck you, you fucking redneck motherfucker.’ I turned around and I smiled at him like, ‘Yeah? That’s what you got from my performance? Thank you. I win.’ If you’re fucking with me, we’re going to have a good time. And if y’all are fucking with me, I’m just going to have a good time. [Laughs.]

“That energy adds on to being a white boy. I just have an energy that’s aggressive and demanding when I’m on the mic. You either accept it or not but I’m respectful of this culture, respectful of black culture and of the elders in this game. As far as me and Marshall, we just kind of fuck with people in that sense.”

Made In The USA

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“Made In The USA” f/ Priscilla Renea

Produced by: Emanuel Kiriakou

Co-produced by: BLAQSMURPH

Yelawolf: “That’s my pride and joy record. As I get older, I’m becoming more patriotic of the working class and the hustlers. I’ve started to realize that my people are the thread of this country. I don’t mean my people like white people. [Laughs.] I mean the working class. That’s the thread—laying the bricks, laying the roads down, building the houses, working the factories, hustling, selling the weed, whatever.


 

Everybody makes up the thread of this country. My papa retired from Goodyear. My grandmother retired from a bakery and a grocery store. My mom retired as a bartender. And I never could keep a job. - Yelawolf


 

“Made in the USA? How do you make it over here? It isn’t easy. You’ve got to work fucking hard. The American dream is not fucking handed to anybody. It doesn’t matter if you went to school for fucking 10 years at Harvard, or you were an apprentice to a brick mason for 10 years and now you run a construction site, it takes a lot of fucking work to be successful.

“Everybody makes up the thread of this country. My papa retired from Goodyear. My grandmother retired from a bakery and a grocery store. My mom retired as a bartender. And I never could keep a job. So there it is. It’s life, that’s all there is right there.

“[The American Dream] seems to be disappearing. I’m not politically savvy—I don’t know exactly what’s going on—but logically, I know what’s going on. There’s just a lot of greed up top. Some of those people who worked their ass off to get to the top forgot about how they got there and the people who are making those companies work. They’re replacing them with computers and fucking robots and just taking all the bread.

“Major companies are moving into small towns and fucking crushing local jobs, hiring cheap labor, laying off employees that have been with the company for fucking 15 years for cheap labor. All of that has obviously affected people to the point where they’re standing up and they’re saying ‘Fuck this shit.’


 

[The American Dream] seems to be disappearing. I’m not politically savvy—I don’t know exactly what’s going on—but logically, I know what’s going on. There’s just a lot of greed up top. - Yelawolf


 

“The country goes through ups and downs. It’s good to see people come together though. It’ll make a difference. You can’t stop energy. It’s like water, it’s going to find its way, and it will all make sense, as long as enough people come together with the energy of, ‘Man, this has to change.’ When enough people are focused on something—whether it’s doing something positive or starting a war—if they want to do it, it’s going to happen.

“I think we’re shifting at this point. People are waking up. It’s a good thing, man. It’s causing a lot of drama, but we should be happy as a people that they’re standing up and they’re doing something.

“Shit, my papa’s been laid off. I’ve seen my papa get out in front of Goodyear with all his employees and go on strike a bunch of times. It works. There might be somebody out there pushing buttons, but who’s going to turn that screwdriver and fix that machine? [Laughs.] You don’t know how to do that. I’ll come in here and fix this machine, but ain’t no tires getting made unless y’all fix this shit.”

Animal

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“Animal” f/ FeFe Dobson

Produced by: Diplo & Borgore

Yelawolf: “This is another fun party record. It’s produced by Diplo and featuring Fefe Dobson, again, it’s me bringing in unlikely collabos altogether. When Diplo sent me this beat, I was just like, ‘Oh my God.’ I didn’t write this record, I did this record in the booth. I didn’t go to the pen for this one. I just kind of went bar for bar. I just let out whatever was flowing.

“‘Animal’ is the freedom of emceeing. Sometimes you just want to word play and chop up, for the sake of poetry and rhyme. Rhyme, no reason, just fucking having fun. It’s a lyrical record, having fun, chopping it up, Fefe rocking the hook, Diplo on the beat. It’s one of my favorite jams.


 

[When I say] ‘If you want to compare me, compare me to a legend, don’t compare me to a young fool’ [that line was not about Machine Gun Kelly]. [Laughs.] Yeah, right. Why would I give that fool that kind of attention? - Yelawolf


 

“I can’t wait to do that shit live, man. I haven’t done any of these records live. The only record I’ve done live is ‘Hard White.’ So this next year is going to be fun. I get to do all of these records live. That’s one of the records I’m looking forward to performing live.

“[When I say] ‘If you want to compare me, compare me to a legend, don’t compare me to a young fool’ [that line was not about Machine Gun Kelly]. [Laughs.] Yeah, right. Why would I give that fool that kind of attention?

“I can imagine [why someone would think that] but nah. I’ve got to give dude credit for people even thinking that I was even talking about him. Obviously, he’s doing something. But no, not at all, man.

“I didn’t even hear a record from him until after I saw some dude was like, ‘Hey man, you need to check this out. This dude was saying some shit.’ And I went and checked it out, and the record that was playing after his speech about being the first to do this and that shit, that’s the only song I’ve ever heard. That’s the God’s-honest truth.

“I know he’s doing stuff, but honestly I’m just really not that interested. [Laughs.] That’s just being real. There’s no hate, there’s a lot of artists I haven’t taken the time out to listen to yet.


 

That goes for any young fool. Don’t compare me to nobody. If they think it’s Machine Gun Kelly, so be it. It could be anybody. It’s definitely not about anyone specific, just give me the respect of comparing me to someone great. Shut the fuck up, I’m not a rookie. - Yelawolf


 

“But that goes for any young fool. Don’t compare me to nobody. If they think it’s him, so be it. It could be anybody. It’s definitely not about anyone specific, just give me the respect of comparing me to someone great. Shut the fuck up, I’m not a rookie.”

Diplo: “[Yelawolf and I] had a show almost two years ago at SXSW. My label, Mad Decent, had a big showcase. Last minute, our main artist Rusko couldn’t make the show. Instead Yelawolf, since he just started getting his buzz on and people started noticing him, did it. My manager was like, ‘Yo can you come through and do the show?’ He came through and ripped the show.

“I had never seen him perform before, but all the kids knew his record. The black kids, the hipster kids, the kids with the beards and beanies all were in front row. I was like, ‘Where the hell is this kid coming from?’ Then he stayed to watch my show. He saw the [Major] Lazer show and said, ‘Damn, I’ve never seen a show like that.’ We traded numbers, and later I started texting him like, ‘Yo I got some beats for you guys.’

“We never worked in the studio together. I sent him a group of beats, and for [one of the beats, ‘Animal’] he just jumped on the original demo of it. This was almost a year and a half ago, so he just sat on it. I went back in production to do more work on it, and we just mixed it down about two months ago.

“For me, when you just do dubstep and rap music it’s a bit boring. A lot of mashups that people give I do use in my DJ’ing live, but a lot of stuff is too aggressive for people. A lot of times it just doesn’t work with the swag of rap music. I can see how a lot of kids get into it because a lot of crunk and southern hip-hop has the same tempo as dubstep. I always thought there was gonna be a way to make these work together.


 

For me, when you just do dubstep and rap music it’s a bit boring. A lot of mashups that people give I do use in my DJ’ing live, but a lot of stuff is too aggressive for people. A lot of times it just doesn’t work with the swag of rap music. - Diplo


 

“This kid that I work with a lot [who co-produced the song], his name is Borgore, is one of the best as far as production. A lot of these young dubstep producers just want to get the loudest and most obnoxious noises, but some of these guys are really good musicians. To channel that, and get the musicality out of those sounds and productions, is what I think we did with this track.

“The sounds are obviously dubstep with heavy synths, but it’s not aggressive or jarring. It’s very melodic, but it has that heaviness and base that dubstep is built on. It’s the right balance for the record. It’s not crazy jaw-breaking and scares people away. It’s a sexy record still.

“For me, the dubstep producers like Borgore, Rusko, and Skrillex, are the best producers out.To get someone who works with a vocal in a commercial sense is very difficult. They don’t give a fuck about it at all. All they care about is going out at night, stage-diving, and breaking shit at their shows.

“I worked separately on the hook with different writers and we worked separately on the beat in different ways. I wasn’t sure it was gonna make the album. I didn’t know how far along the song was. When I first gave him the record, one version of the album I feel kind of had already been done. Then, they held on and then he moved to Shady Records and all the other things happened. It just ended up working out in the end.

“I kept it how I wanted it. I tried to make it more hip-hop, and felt like it should sound more like the rest of the album, but they were happy with the way it ended up sounding.”

The Hardest Love Song In The World

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“The Hardest Love Song In The World”

Produced by: WillPower

Yelawolf: “When I was in Vegas, I was inspired to write this record based somone really close who’s an amazing woman. She inspired me to write this shit.


 

When I was in Vegas, I was inspired to write this record based on someone really close who’s an amazing woman. She inspired me to write this shit. - Yelawolf


 

“She loves dark shit, like she loves horror films and things that are dark and scary. So I made the hardest love song in the world. Metaphorically, I used everything that’s dark and rock 'n' roll.

“It started with the hook. Pooh Bear had the hook laid and the music was already there. I just fell in love with it. Lyrics came out and that song was written in fucking 30 minutes. That’s probably one of my top three favorite records on the album.”

WillPower: “It was really dope because on that record I brought in a live bass and live guitar player. For Yelawolf's fans, that's going to be something new for them. They never really get to see that swaggy soulful Wolf. I hate to use the word "swag," but that's all I could find. And Pooh Bear is the genius writer on the hook of that record. It's just a bananas record.”

Write Your Name

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“Write Your Name” f/ Mona Moua

Produced by: J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League

Yelawolf: “‘Write Your Name’ is about the unsung hero. Just giving a voice from the outside perspective. Looking at someone else and giving them a story. Old man sitting on a porch, what his story might have been.

"You see a girl pushing a baby in a stroller, and she’s not older than 17, what her story might be. I’m giving them props for being who they are, for surviving. The record is about, if I had a chance, I’d write your name across the sky.

“Mona Moua doesn’t have a career. She doesn’t even want to be an artist. She’s a teacher. So that’s what that record’s about, the unsung heroes.”


 

There’s a crazy story behind [Mona Moua’s feature]. Mona wrote a song about her trying to get into a club where Yelawolf was performing, but she couldn’t actually get in. She posted it on the Internet and KP found it. She actually sung really well, so he came up with the idea like, ‘Why don’t we get her on this song?’ - Kevin “Corlione” Crowe


 

Kevin “Corlione” Crowe of J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League: “Yelawolf’s really the homie. We work over at Tree Sound Studios in Atlanta and he records a lot over there.That track was the first song we ever did with Yelawolf. We came in on the end of the project.”

“[That beat] started like every beat we make. We’re three individual producers, so each one of us may come up with an idea. We did a hook to the track, and Yelawolf’s manager came in and loved it. He took the track back to Yelawolf. Yelawolf came up with the idea for the track, and after that we all came together and finished the music.”

Kenny “Barto” Bartolomei of J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League: “They ended up flying [Mona Moua] to Atlanta to revise the hook and complete the record. The record went through a few stages. First being, we did the record with Yelawolf, then they had the singer come in and just make it crazy.”

Kevin “Corlione” Crowe of J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League: “There’s actually a crazy story behind [Mona Moua’s feature]. Mona wrote a song about her trying to get into a club where Yelawolf was performing, but she couldn’t actually get in. She posted it on the Internet and KP found it.

“She actually sung really well, so he came up with the idea like, ‘Why don’t we get her on this song?’ He flew her out to Atlanta to record the hook with us at Patchwerk Studios. She’s on the song. I think she’s gonna be in the video, so she’s got a good start [at a possible record deal].

“Yelawolf is an outstanding artist. He can just deliver. His album is gonna be a classic. He’s one of the best up-and-coming rappers coming from the bottom up right now. He’s really gonna prove to a lot of people that he deserves to be in hip-hop and the music industry.”

Everything I Love The Most

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“Everything I Love The Most”

Produced by: WillPower

Co-produced by: Eminem

Yelawolf: “That record is pretty self-explanatory. It’s about the faults of being a man. Most shit that we love to do is fucked up. It’s just admitting to all the dumb, relentless shit that we do that gets us in trouble. The shit that we love the most is wrong. We shouldn’t, but we do.

“I’ve had my share of drugs, but I’ve been off drugs for a long time man. A really long time. I drink, so I’m not sober by any means. But as far as any other drugs, I don’t fuck with anything anymore. I’ve been clean for a really long time as far as that goes. But alcohol is a pretty fucking serious drug, so I don’t know. I definitely have a drinking problem.”

WillPower: “[That beat is] an interpretation of a Billy Joel record called ‘Moving Out.’ Billy Joel is one of my favorite writers. We put most of the track together and then we sent it over to Eminem, and Eminem did the polishing on it and pulled in some more music for it.”

Radio

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“Radio”

Produced by: Jim Jonsin

Yelawolf:  “We ended up recording in Miami months ago and had that record. I’m sitting on five or six Jim Jonsin records and I felt that was the one. It feels good to finally get one with my big bro. We wanted to get a proper placement on an album for a long time and I’ll always work with him and do records. So it’s more to come, but I’m psyched that we got one on this project. It’s one of my favorite songs on the album.

“It’s my take on radio as it is today. I can’t even listen to hip-hop or urban radio. That is annoying. Top 40 is a little cooler, I think because it’s multiple genres. Other than that, I listen to the classic rock stations or college stations, satellite radio, Shade45, shit like that, DJ’s who are still DJ’s.


 

I can’t even listen to hip-hop or urban radio. That is annoying. Top 40 is a little cooler, I think because it’s multiple genres. Other than that, I listen to the classic rock stations or college stations, satellite radio, Shade45, shit like that, DJ’s who are still DJ’s. - Yelawolf


 

“I’ve never had a radio record, but I know how important it is to tap into that world. There’s so many people driving around, it’s car culture. Everybody’s got a car, and people listen to radio. So to be a part of that is important. It’s just like, ‘How do I do it? How do I crack into that world?’ That was part of the goal on this album, to break on the radio.”

Jim Jonsin: “We did [‘Radio’] so long ago at Circle House Studios in Miami. We came up with this idea for something southern rockish with a hip-hop twist. I helped Wolf with a few melodies there, but he came up with the concept. It took about an hour to finish for the demo idea. Then we worked on the production of it after.

”This song sounds like it’s own thing. It doesn’t sound anything like the other stuff [I’ve produced in the past]. It’s a little similar to the song ‘Space Bound’ with Eminem. It’s got that guitar vibe with similar drums.”

Slumerican Shitizen

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“Slumerican Shitizen” f/ Killer Mike

Produced by: WillPower

Yelawolf: “I got Slumerican Shitizen tattooed on the back of my leg years ago. The word Slumerican became descriptive of my lifestyle. That’s my take on patriotism. That record’s just about being the underdog.

“Killer Mike loves being really blunt. He’s super intelligent. He knows so much about damn near everything. When we became friends, we would always have discussions how, in some sense, we are from the same world financially, just in a different way. It’s the most rock n roll record on the project.”


 

I got Slumerican Shitizen tattooed on the back of my leg years ago. The word Slumerican became descriptive of my lifestyle. That’s my take on patriotism. - Yelawolf


 

Killer Mike: “Anybody familiar with the Atlanta or New York scene knows that for the past five years I’ve been rocking with Yelawolf. I met him when he was a rookie that KP Kawan Prather introduced me to.

“I was familiar with his crew [Dixie Mafia] when they were working the Atlanta underground scene. I was in New York recording for one of my records when I heard him. I told KP that I think he’s dope. He only had a couple of tattoos and long black hair, but he had the look and the passion.

“Over the years I was always supportive of him. KP’s a dear friend of mine and [Yelawolf’s manager] Courtney Sills was doing the day-to-day thing with him, and I just really liked him. We hung out in New York together and he took me out to Dobbin Block in Brooklyn, where I hung out with all the skateboarders. I started looking at him like a little bro. Over the years we played each other’s music and loved it.

“Maybe a year ago, I recorded the record and smashed it. He called me back and was like, ‘I need you to rerecord the verse.’ I did it again, but he had me do it one more time after they changed the beat up to make it even bigger.


 

[The sound of the record] is Ice Cube meets [heavy metal band] Anthrax. This is Lynard Skynard and the Geto Boys. Lyrically, we are going! There’s no overdoing it or comparisons. This shit is N.W.A. - Killer Mike


 

“[The sound of the record] is Ice Cube meets [heavy metal band] Anthrax. This is Lynard Skynard and the Geto Boys. Lyrically, we are going! There’s no overdoing it or comparisons. This shit is N.W.A.

“Most people outside of the South view [the title ‘Slumerican Shitizen’] with black and white racial undertones. Part of Yelawolf’s message and image is about haves and have-nots. When you’re dirt poor and from where his and my family’s originally from, no matter what color you are, you ain’t shit! ‘Slumerican Shitizen’ applies to all of that.

“Whether you’re in poor ass Alabama, Brooklyn, or Albuquerque, all of us are Slumericans. We’re all the people at the bottom. I applaud Wolf for being wise enough in his youth to understand that. It ain’t about him being the next white rapper. It’s about him repping for all people on the bottom.

“Hearing Yelawolf with me is like when Bun B started giving out those unlikely features that people didn’t look for. In my catalogue, this is one of those features that people might not have looked for. I think [this song is] the best song on the album. It’s a five mic album in my mind, so I’m comfortable saying it’s the best song.”


 

One thing I love about that record is the cadence that Killer Mike used. I think that was the cadence that Killer Mike [used on Outkast’s ‘The Whole World’ that] made Mike famous. - WillPower


 

WillPower: “We reproduced that record for the album. We originally did that record in 2007 and it was myself, Yelawolf, and Brian Parks. Basically, Wolf walked up to the studio one night and he had just gotten these tattoos on the back of his legs and one said ‘Slumaerican’ and the other said ‘Shitizen.’

“Killer Mike put a banger verse on that shit. At the time, Mike was being managed by Brother Bear who is Yelawolf's manager. Anytime Yelawolf calls on Killer Mike he's always there and vice versa. So Killer Mike was down.

“One thing I love about that record is the cadence that Killer Mike used. I think that was the cadence that Killer Mike [used on Outkast’s ‘The Whole World’ that] made Mike famous.”

The Last Song

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“The Last Song”

Produced by: WillPower

Yelawolf: “I was in the A room at Tree Sound. Elton John has recorded in there, Whitney Houston, and there’s a big grand piano in there. It’s a huge room. I went into the booth not knowing what I was going to do.

“I had that room because Boo and Molly from Tree Sound are my friends and they let me get in there. If it’s open and I want to come rock, they’ll just throw me in the A room and let me do whatever I want.

“I’m in the A room, just me and the engineer, and I just went into the booth like, ‘Well, I’m just going to start with a beatbox.’ I was beatboxing and I came up with that drum pattern. It just got me into a really thought provoking zone, and WillPower just showed up like, ‘What you got going on?’ I was like, ‘I’ve just got this drum pattern. Go hop on the grand piano.’


 

I'm rapping about my father—not my dad—but my sperm donor. I’ve made a lot of effort [to get to know him]. Every time I’ve reached out, I’ve reached out from my end to try to have a conversation with him. So I figured I would just write my last of it. The last time that I would try to [talk to him]. He’s a basket-case. I called it ‘The Last Song’ because it’s the last song that I’ll write that I’ll include him. - Yelawolf


 

“So we mic’d up the grand piano in the A room, and that’s what came out of WillPower when he heard the drums. I was like, ‘Whoa.’ So the first thing that came to me was the melody and then the words came around for the hook.

“I started rapping the lyrics around the hook and started rapping about my father—not my dad—but my sperm donor. I’ve made a lot of effort [to get to know him]. Every time I’ve reached out, I’ve reached out from my end to try to have a conversation with him. So I figured I this was the last time that I would try to [talk to him].

“I didn’t meet him until I was 16 and just once. Then when I got my first deal with Columbia, he came back around and started trying to date my mom and shit. He’s a basket-case. I called it ‘The Last Song’ because it’s the last song that I’ll write that I’ll include him and that’s it. I said it all in that record.”

WillPower: “That's probably the most heartfelt song on the album. That record is going to be one of the records that shows where Yelawolf will go eventually. You’ll see more song writing on that level from him.

“His relationship with his mother is really good. His mom has always been a great person. I've never met his father, and from conversations I've had with him, he has a certain level of respect for him, but he ain't been in his life, so he doesn’t spend too much time trying to cultivate a relationship with him. But in turn he's a great father, he’s really good with his own kids.”

Whip It

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“Whip It”

Produced by: The Audibles

Yelawolf: “‘Whip It’ is my jam. Those are records that I really tried to fight to get on the original, so I’m glad they made it to the bonus. ‘Whip It’ is another song we did in Vegas. Whip-it’s are legal in Vegas. You can go to a head shop and get packets of whip-it’s. It’s fucked up. You can get completely whipped out. It’s CO-2, nitrous oxide. They’re in little canisters that make Whip Cream or they put them in air pistols and pellet guns and shit.


 

I don’t do whip-it’s. I actually haven’t done them since then because I had so many, I got scared and had an anxiety attack. After I was doing those whip-it’s I just freaked out. I went to like a mental tunnel. [Laughs.] That shit fucks you up man.


 

“Basically, you just pop the top off of them. Usually you fill up balloons with them, and you inhale the balloon. They’ve taken it to the next level now, they’re crackers, little fucking canisters made just to inhale them.

“So anyway, we got a fucking bunch of them and went to the studio and just got hammered. The first day they came, the beat was playing, and I was hitting whip-it’s. It just kind of came out. So I wrote a song about doing whip-it’s.

“I don’t do whip-it’s. I actually haven’t done them since then because I had so many, I got scared and had an anxiety attack. After I was doing those whip-it’s I just freaked out. I went to like a mental tunnel. [Laughs.] That shit fucks you up man. Do five or six whip-it’s in a row and see how that treats you. Shit ain’t no joke.”

I See You

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“I See You”

Produced by: WillPower

Co-produced by: The Audibles & Sasha Sirota

Yelawolf: “I really wanted this on the original version. This is one of my favorite records and it’s all me. This is one of the few records where I’m fully singing the hook. This record has a lot of maturity and the selflessness of it, just talking about other people.

“In the first verse, [I rap about] what my grandmother told me and it was true. I remember specifically we were at the Gadsden Mall. I had cornrows and I was getting my hair braided a lot back then. I was rocking braids and I fully into hip-hop. I would literally look in the mirror and be like, ‘This is me. This is how I’m going to be forever.’


 

[I rap about] what my grandmother told me and it was true. I remember specifically we were at the Gadsden Mall. I had cornrows and I was getting my hair braided a lot back then. I was rocking braids and I fully into hip-hop. I would literally look in the mirror and be like, ‘This is me. This is how I’m going to be forever.’ My grandma goes, ‘You’re going to change. You’re just going through it.’ - Yelawolf


 

“I was 17 years old and I would always get shit from people, and I’d be like, ‘Man, why do people always give me shit about everything?’ So my grandma goes, ‘You’re going to change. You’re just going through it.’ I’m like, ‘Man, I’m not going to change. Change is wack. I want to be this forever.’

“Not just the way that I dressed, but the way I was thinking. She told me, ‘You will,’ and she was right. I changed. I grew up. I evolved. But if I wouldn’t have listened, there’s no telling where I would be right now.

“She wasn’t trying to disrespect me. She wasn’t trying to say, ‘You’re not legit. You’re not real.’ She was just saying, ‘You’ll change.’ I took it as, ‘Change? I ain’t got to change for nobody.’ That’s how I took it. What she was really trying to say is that, ‘You’re so far beyond your full potential, you don’t even know it yet. You think you’re hot, but you’re too cool.’

“That’s what the hook is about. Yeah, you’re hot but you’re too cool. You ain’t going to make it with that. She saw me. ‘I see you. I see the person inside of you. I know what you want to be, but you got to get a grip.’

“The second verse is about a girl who’s got dreams of being an actress but she just won’t bite the bullet and go fro broke. She won’t leave her small town or leave wherever she’s at and go out to Hollywood and give it a shot. You never know until you try. I know you don’t want to work at this grocery store. What are you doing? Fuck this grocery store. So that’s just one of my favorite records.

“It means a lot to me. Lyrically it’s special because I tapped into a subject that I haven’t really hit on before. The goal is to always do that—to never repeat yourself—but it’s really hard. It’s almost impossible to always create new ideas and new concepts.”


 

That’s what the hook is about. Yeah, you’re hot but you’re too cool. You ain’t going to make it with that. She saw me. ‘I see you. I see the person inside of you. I know what you want to be, but you got to get a grip.’ - Yelawolf


 

WillPower: “That was the first record we did when we got to Vegas at Future Music Recording Studios. We have a homie out there named Mally Marl [Ed. note—not the famous rap producer] who owns a studio out in the desert. We got out here and it was dope, we were on his property and he had exotic animals. This guy had cheetahs, he had wolves, and he had a shark tank.

“He has two studios in there, one studio was there for pre-production and the main room. We occupied both rooms for two weeks for about 24 hours a day. Someone was always working on the album. We would produce a record and then go into the next room and try to lay the record. The crew would go back to the house we were staying in and overnight we would mix the record.

“It wan amazing piece of teamwork involved with that. Everybody was there, Brother Bear was there, J. Dot was there. KP was there overseeing it. [Shady A&R] Riggs Morales came out and hung out with us, just kept it live man. Mally Mal did a great job making sure we had every thing we needed. It was crazy when I got off the airport, I got picked up in a Bentley. I've never seen one of them shits man. [Laughs.]”

In This World

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“In This World”

Produced by: WillPower

Co-produced by: Eminem

Yelawolf: “‘In This World’ was the first record I recorded when I went to Detroit with Marshall. It was the first time we got in there and vibed. It was supposed to be the first record that came out. It would have been basically ‘Hard White.’ This was early on in the making of Radioactive, before we did ‘Hard White.’

“Basically, when we came to Marshall we had 12 solid records. He was like, ‘Okay, shit. This is an album. Lets wrap this up. Lets do this.’ So we just made some time to go to Detroit to vibe and get a record.


 

Marshall was like, ‘Write something that’s going to bring people into your world. Really shut these motherfuckers up.’ He was like, ‘Bring them into your zone. Let them know what time it is.’ Basically he gave me the, ‘Go get’em champ. You got this. Kick that shit.’ - Yelawolf


 

“We took Pooh Bear up there and WillPower laid down the beat. Then Pooh Bear did the hook. Pooh Bear’s got this real gift to become someone, to know what they’re going through and be able to make that make sense. Of course, I was inspired since it was my first time recording in Detroit. And Marshall was there, so I wanted to snap lyrically.

“Marshall was like, ‘Write something that’s going to bring people into your world. Really shut these motherfuckers up.’ He was like, ‘Bring them into your zone. Let them know what time it is.’ Basically he gave me the, ‘Go get’em champ. You got this. Kick that shit.’

“So I just snapped and went on some trailer park emcee fucking Okie Taylor meets the Golden Child. By the way, I’m copyrighting that Okie Taylor meets the Golden Child line. Don’t even try to steal that. That was a good one.

“I remember my voice was totally gone. I had to drink tons of ginger, lemon, and honey because I could barely talk. I was whispering all day, so that I could save my voice for that. You can kind of hear it in the vocals. I had to wait to do that hook. After I recorded that, my voice was out entirely and I couldn’t utter a sound.


 

The first day you’re in Detroit? No voice? Can you imagine? It’s like, ‘Sorry, I just flew all the way to Detroit for my first session with Marshall but uhh...I can’t rap.’ [Laughs.]


 

“It was really scary being up in there working. It’s the last thing you want to happen. The first day you’re in Detroit? No voice? Can you imagine? It’s like, ‘Sorry, I just flew all the way to Detroit for my first session with Marshall but uhh...I can’t rap.’ [Laughs.] So it became a real blessing that my voice came back just in time and then I lost it right after we finished the record.”

WillPower: “All the hip-hop heads are going to fuck with that record because me and Eminem went in on that together and really made something incredible. Riggs Morales gave me this sample, Eminem went and put the touches on it. That record is going to be one of the sleepers man where it just creeps up on you.”

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