Yelawolf – Trunk Muzik 0-60 | REVIEW

November 30, 2010 7 comments


Yelawolf – Lick the Cat (ft. Diamond)
Yelawolf – Pop The Trunk
Yelawolf – Good To Go (ft. Bun B)
Yelawolf – Love Is Not Enough
Yelawolf – I Wish (ft. Raekwon)

When it comes to Yelawolf, it’s difficult to avoid noting his appearance. Outside of Marshall Mathers, rap music and culture is quick to reject those of the fairer complexion. With his lanky frame, vast assortment of tattoos and domesticated mullet he resembles Denver Nuggets Power Forward Chris “Birdman” Anderson if he picked up rapping after being banned from the NBA for violating their substance abuse policy.

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In fact, Yelawolf & Birdman would probably get along handsomely. On Yelawolf’s debut LP Trunk Muzik 0-60 he raps that he is “trashed off the glue you built airplane models with…in the gutter like a PBR bottle is.” His lyrics of substance abuse continue to highlight his predilection for down-south mainstays like moonshine, methamphetamines and cannabis. And that’s only scraping the surface.

Though a relatively new name in the game, his big break coming on the Andre 3000-produced Big Boi single You Ain’t No DJ last year, Yelawolf has already lived a couple of lives. He was born in deep south Alabama, but has lived in Atlanta, Alaska, California, New York, Louisiana and Tennessee. Before giving rap a go, he was a professional skateboarder and even a commercial fisherman.

At 30 years old, it’s experiences like being in 12 different schools through elementary school and running drugs that have shaped his wholly original rap style. Yelawolf is to redneck south as NWA was to Compton; as Eminem was to 8 mile. Think Confederate flags, Nascar racing, and meth labs.

Yelawolf is no Eminem, though both are signed to Interscope. While Yela’s rapid fire multi-syllabic flow is indebted to Midwestern hiphop legends like Twista, he sports a truly individual southern twang that has thus far not been represented in hip hop.

Trunk Muzik 0-60 – his first offering from Interscope seems more like a vehicle to keep Yela’s hype machine rolling. With 6 of the 12 tracks from his Trunk Muzik mixtape released earlier this year. In fact, a second LP is already slated for March with collaborations with Jim Jonsin, Diplo and more. Trunk Muzik 0-60 however serves as a solid introduction of Yelawolf to the mainstream.

The recurring themes here are cars, drugs and partying. On Daddy’s Lambo, produced by skateboarder/”Fantasy Factory” star Rob Dyrdek’s cousin Drama, Yelawolf flexes his down-south “Slick Ricky Bobby” swagger. On the excellent Raekwon-assisted I Wish he takes us to his world where hicks with Confederate flags on their pick-ups play Beanie Siegel because they can relate to the hustler mentality more than they can to any Lynyrd Skynyrd song.

Yelawolf’s very existence is a testament to the outer-reaches of hip hop music in today’s society. All walks of life are freestyling to instrumentals for fun. If Eminem opened the door for white emcees, Yelawolf built a retractable garage door with muscle cars and a meth lab inside.

On Love Is Not Enough, Yelawolf shows a little versatility and vulnerability over the same sample from Three 6 Mafia’s “Da Summer” and interpolating Devin The Dude’s classic “Anythang.” He tells a story of a ‘punk ass college graduate Abercrombie-wearing motherfucker’ who broke his heart, and how his only resort was speeding blindly down I-20 with Jack Daniels in his cup.

Trunk Muzik 0-60 is a perfect introduction to this new artist who promises to be a force to be reckoned with for years to come. Replete with first-rate co-signs from Gucci Mane, Bun B, and Raekwon, it should wet the people’s appetite for March when he drops “Radioactive.”

4/5 cheeseburgerphones