Yelawolf is again in Nashville, Tennessee not lengthy after performing a sold-out present with rapper-turned-country star Jelly Roll in Denver, Colorado. Wolf’s explosive set was a lesson in how all artists ought to command a stage—he was energetic, partaking, and a bit of bit enigmatic. Sporting a pair of flier sun shades, a black beret, and a leather-based jacket, the Alabama-born artist doesn’t appear to be the typical MC. The tattoos, leather-based cuts, and patches make him look extra like a Hell’s Angel than a former Shady Data signee. However that’s partly what makes Yelawolf so intriguing. To not point out his musical versatility is nearly otherworldly.
Born Michael Wayne Atha in a small city in Alabama, Yelawolf jumped round as a child however spent the majority of his childhood in Antioch, Tennessee. He naturally gravitated towards the rebelliousness of skateboarding, punk rock, rock, and hip-hop, which inadvertently formed Wolf’s future. His total catalog is an amalgamation of these influences—from 2008’s Stereo: A Hip Hop Tribute to Traditional Rock and 2015’s Love Story to 2019’s Trunk Muzik III and his newer venture with Shooter Jennings, 2022’s Generally Y. Translated stay, it’s clear he was born for the stage.
“I’ve by no means had stage fright,” he tells Excessive Occasions. “However I used to be positively raised round a unique kind of stay efficiency. I grew up going to underground hip-hop and punk rock exhibits in Atlanta. My first gangster rap present was Three 6 Mafia and Mystikal, and that was rowdy. I like rowdy. So after we first began doing exhibits in Atlanta, we had children that will put on helmets to our exhibits; it was that loopy. We simply type of made it our factor, a minimum of I did—head-banging, crowd browsing. Then I utilized that vitality to hip-hop as a result of once I noticed Methodology Man and Redman once I was a child, I crowd surfed within the pit. Or Beastie Boys, .”
Armed with that very same ethos, Michael Wayne Atha was reworked into Yelawolf in his late teenagers. His first present was on the 231 Membership in Jackson, Alabama, though it was extra of an look. He shared the stage with 10 different guys and solely obtained to spit just a few bars, however that’s the place the journey started. For some, the mere considered performing in entrance of a crowd is terrifying, however Yelawolf by no means struggled with that.
“I used to be type of born with this fearlessness,” he says. “I obtained on stage once I was 5 years outdated and sang with my uncle. He held me as much as the mic. And my mother raised me round artists. She was relationship dudes who have been on the street, so being on stage and round buses and artists was type of regular. However ego supersedes expertise. It’ll practice you to get higher when you simply have the balls to go up there and be persistent. Falling down in entrance of individuals—I believe that’s the important thing—like actually falling off stage or forgetting a verse or simply plain getting booed.”
Getting booed isn’t one thing Yelawolf experiences as of late. If something, his viewers is salivating for extra by the point his set is over. However for him, it’s off to the subsequent factor, the subsequent metropolis, the subsequent present. Wolf’s punk rock ethos has remained intact since he was a younger wolf pup, however the “intercourse, medication, and rock ‘n’ roll” life-style that so typically comes together with a profession in music can change into cumbersome. Yelawolf has definitely weathered some storms, however he at all times appears to land on his toes. Nonetheless, his experiences with medication and alcohol have altered the way in which he strikes. Though he has the utmost respect for the medicinal advantages hashish can present, he can not use it. It was solely 4 years in the past when he was involuntarily placed on a 72-hour psychiatric maintain in San Diego or, what he known as, “5150’ed.”
“They despatched me to a padded room and shit, for actual,” he remembers. “It was like that Inexperienced Day video [‘Basket Case’]. They stored me in there for 3 days after which I needed to go to rehab for some time. I like weed. I want I might smoke it. I like the scent of it and I like the concept of it, however the therapist I used to be speaking to mentioned I used to be principally clinically allergic. They mentioned I might smoke a bunch of various strains, however by the point I discovered one which will or might not match me, I might be again in the identical scenario.”
Experiencing such a traumatic incident would scare anybody into sobriety—a minimum of for some time. Yelawolf has intervals the place he doesn’t use something, however then he’ll drink whiskey or different forms of alcohol. However to him, that’s far more manageable.
“You simply gotta know your self,” he says. “You need to actually fucking belief your intestine. Shit doesn’t have an effect on all people the identical, and that’s a reality. Attending to know your self…I wouldn’t counsel anyone leaning on medicine for what may very well be a psychological well being or non secular well being subject that you simply simply have to go determine some shit out by your self. In order that’s what I did. Consuming is one thing I can measure. I can measure my buzz. I can comply with it, and I can take it so far as I need to or not. It’s safer for me than the choice.”
Yelawolf is presently centered on releasing his subsequent rap document, a double album and 180-degree pivot from the venture he did with Shooter Jennings. A few components contributed to his resolution to leap again in.
“After the rock ‘n’ roll document with Shooter, it was so bittersweet to have such, what we thought of, a very wonderful venture with important acclaim and shit,” he says. “But it surely was additionally changing into like a paperweight for me. We needed to take away one thing that was holding it down, however we couldn’t put our finger on it. It turned one factor after one other. We couldn’t do a present as a result of Shooter isn’t accessible, or this man’s doing this or that man is doing that. I didn’t need to get one other band as a result of I already branded them.
“That type of pushed me into doing one other document. The opposite half was like a artistic voice. I used to be itching for hip-hop badly once more and albeit, I used to be impressed, like Kendrick Lamar is doing wonderful work proper now. I used to be additionally impressed by the wack shit. I’m not gonna say names, however I used to be impressed by the rubbish that was popping out. And I used to be like, ‘Man, I need to put my foot again within the recreation.’ Then, in fact, there have been the individuals who mentioned, ‘Oh, he give up rapping.’ I by no means mentioned that.”
Together with his starvation for rap at a ravenous stage once more, Yelawolf hit up his longtime collaborator James Ryan Ho, higher often called Grammy Award-winning producer Malay, and fellow producer WLPWR to get to work. However fairly than doing one venture, Wolf did one with every producer, therefore the double LP.
“I went and did an album with WLPWR, and I went and did a document with Malay. They have been totally different however vibe smart, they have been simply so good. We needed to place them out as a double album as an alternative of stretching it out and dangling the carrot so to talk. We got here up with the title Conflict Story as a result of it’s reverse of Love Story.”
Yelawolf hasn’t set a launch date but, however the venture will stay below the Slumerican umbrella.
“The album I did with WLPWR known as Trunk Musik Perpetually after which the opposite album known as Michael Wayne that I did with Malay, however they’ll be below one bundle. Michael Wayne is probably the most sincere I’ve ever been. Trunk Musik Perpetually has some actually private shit, however it’s not a downer. It’s obtained some actually enjoyable information.”
This text was initially Up to date within the December 2023 subject of Excessive Occasions Journal.