Yelawolf on Leaving Eminem's Shady Records (Part 12)

Okay, so you left the litmus test in 2017 at Shady Inter Scope. uh, it debuts at number 42 on Billboard. You know it's not what Love Story did, but it's a solid outing. How do you feel about the fire of the Alum trio? I probably think that's the most. greatest country hip-hop album ever made and you know what I mean, like we're way ahead of the curve with some of those overly advanced ideas and, um, but it's probably next to Love Story, uh, creatively, it's probably the second most important. I have made the most important album I have made so far.

I mean, you're kidding. No, Jude. I mean, come on, man, like there are

records

on trial by fire that, in my opinion, set the standard for whether you're going to mix your hips. -hop in country, that's how you do it and um, you know, I went through hell making that record and then I had to go live it and you know, like uh daylight, that single off of daylight is like in that Shadows video Joshua Headley right after. I did Shadows with Joshua Headley. Joshua Hedley signed Jack White, you know, there was a paradigm shift in Nashville with that record and, I didn't expect it to go anywhere, so number 42 is quiet because I knew it when I put it on. that record I was like this is this is for me this is for me and my fans this is like setting the record straight about how I would do this because all this country rap was buzzing in Nashville and I felt like doing it I was being so disrespected and done without , I don't know, no, uh, no respect for hip-hop, no respect for country, it was like there was no one to set the standard and um, I felt like that was it.

At my job, it was literally like I was the only one who could do this. I'm the only one who can do this correctly in Nashville, Tennessee, safely, without being a fool, without being a wannabe. You know what I mean, buddy, uh. Yeah, so I think it's an important record, an important record, definitely an important record in my career, but you know, I think if you're diving into what country and what country Hip Hop could be in, you know, there it is, it you know and then you know, the other one, the king, you know what I mean, in my opinion, he fought Jennings, you know, he took the reins, man, and he, you know, he's going crazy, but yeah, I appreciate that you ask me about Tri.

Fireman I appreciate him, he's fine and then in 2019 he released Trunk Music 3 and this is Shady's final project. Is there a reason you went independent after this instead of staying in the Shady Inner Scope Arena? No, we kept our agreement, you know? like we didn't like it, uh, it's not like we paid our dues, man, I paid my dues there, you know, and I gave them great albums, good music and it's natural, it's a natural progression, you know, going out and you know . become my own boss um, that's how it is, you know what I mean, that's how it happens to most artists, you know, you just grow your wings, man, and you know it's time to fly, basically , and you know I had built a lean African to be a brand for all those years and I knew we had a solid foundation to build it on, you know, and uh, we did it and we will continue to do it, you know, and I wanted my last record, I thought which is just true, if I walked in with Trump's music, I'll walk out with Trump's music, that's why we chose to release the ending music of Trump 3 with Shady, well, yeah, and that day it went to number 28, so actually worked better than Tri by fire, well yes it's a hip-hop project naturally you know what I mean you know it will always be under the Shady umbrella especially you know hip-hop and also the problem that Marshall and MGK just had, people wanted to spy and hear what he was doing.

What to say about that and um, overall, it's a great hip-hop project, you know, there's some hits on there and, um, yeah, yeah, I'm proud of that, proud of that project, well, and then, that same year, Dro, ghetto cowboy independently. and that peaked at number 76 on Billboard, which is for a pretty impressive indie project. I've never heard these numbers before, you know? Okay, you know that's the kind of artist I am. I don't give a damn. Out, no, I don't release music to follow the numbers, you know what I'm saying, in fact, my my manager, Jay do Jones, surprised me with a love story plaque.

I got plates for a lot of things I don't do. You don't know what I'm saying, so I mean I appreciate the business side and the number side, but I don't mind hearing this by the way, like oh, that's cool, that's cool. great, I just want you to know everything. I had no idea, but go ahead, independent number 76, yeah, for the ghetto cowboy, yeah, yeah, nice, what does that mean? What is the number 76? What does it mean? What is equivalent to numbers? How many do you like? sells or whatever or conveys well how many you sell based on everything else, but I want to say what it really means, I think the most important thing is that there are literally tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of musical projects coming out in the United States , you know, every week independently. important in anything else and to be in the top 200 of everything that comes out, I think it's impressive, it just shows where your fan base is and shows that people support you even if you don't have a big marketing push and you don't .

You don't have the major label behind you and you know how to pull all the strings and stuff, yeah I mean the major labels have a lot of power man you know a major label has a lot of power and believe me I knew the difference and I saw and I felt the difference in launch, you know what I mean, how it was launched, what kind of push there was, what kind of support there was, what kind of support there wasn't, you know, and it was a new game, a new game to discover . But we know we're successful because we've handled it, you know, and we keep getting better and better at knowing how to do this, and that was in terms of structuring a team to launch that, that was difficult. man, you know, because I actually, for the first time, I had to dive into that side and choose, you know, help select each person, so, um, but you know, it's like putting it, you know, so far, it's as if we had, we had.

We've put those people through that process through a sieve, you know what I mean and what's good stays, what doesn't fall through the holes basically, sometimes I forget about these albums, ghetto cowboy man like me Wow, that's a monster, it's really good. Record the last album you released in 2021, Boca de Mud, you said that this would be your last rap album and that you are going to move on to rock music, yes, that is still the case. I didn't say it would be my last rap album. I said it would be my last hip-hop project for a while.

I'll concentrate on rock and roll. So, that's what I did. You know, I got my mouth out of clay. I went out and filmed a movie in Mexico City during By the way, hustlers, uh, and that movie is coming out next year, hopefully, it'll take us to hand-drawn animation throughout the movie, kind of like Roger Rabbit, literally drawn by hand, so it's going to take us more than a year to do those two years, um. So, and it's also epic, man, it's all filmed in Mexico and outside of Mexico City and inside the city, and it's about an acid trip, you know, spiritual life, life and death, like that. which is pretty sick, but it's incredibly amazing. visually, you know, we took it there with major cinematic stunts and like crazy, but um, but yeah, after the mud mouth, you know, me and I had already planted the seed with Shooter Jennings to do a rock and roll project , you know, you know we didn't.

We knew what it was going to sound like, but we knew we wanted a rock and roll album and how to do it. We had no idea, but he sent me an acoustic guitar track, just a loop, and I wrote and recorded some bass. I actually went downstairs and sent it back to him and he was blown away and I was surprised by how surprised he was, but he said : "My God, friend, if this is the first thing we do, we don't say what we're going to do." At that point we booked studio time at Sunset Sound and the and uh, I just realigned my focus to do a rock and roll project, you know, and I owe it to me personally, all the way back to classic stereo hip-hop , a tribute. to classic hip-hop uh A hip-hop tribute to classic rock to the stereo I needed I needed that creativity I needed to hear myself in that world and prove to myself that I could, that I could do it and do it. okay and um man we did the damn thing for sure well the yellow werewolf is an amazing story that started from the bottom and I remember doing the interviews with you when you first signed and while you were trying to figure it out. out of your way and so on, but the one thing that's exactly the same now as it was in the conversations we had 13 or 14 years ago was that you were going to stay true to your art all the time, you weren't going to deviate. you weren't going to follow the trends you weren't going to change your appearance you were GNA you made the kind of music you wanted to make I remember you even said something because I remember this always caught my attention you said like me I know I'll eventually be successful because all the other artists understand what I'm doing, eventually the fans will get it too and I'm not worried about that, I'll just keep doing what I do and eventually I'll get it.

I caught up and finally caught up because I think Love Story hadn't come out yet and so on, so you didn't have any platinum songs or you know any great albums at the time, but you stayed true to who you are. and here we are in 2024, a lot of people are trying to do what you've been doing now, so artistically man, I really congratulate you for what you've accomplished because not many artists do that. artists will go with whatever's hot at the time, okay, if it's snap music, I'm going to make snap music, okay, if it's country music, okay, I guess I'll try to make country music, but you've always done the same and when you look at your style of music now, it's very similar to what you started with, so listen, congratulations for going through what you went through, starting at the bottom, being homeless, trying to figure it out, from multiple record deals to have a solid fan base. making it work independently and continually doing projects all the time and with more projects on the way, yeah man, I appreciate it, thank you, I appreciate you, of course, man and I got to see it, you know, I got to see it almost from the beginning and uh you know, I appreciate you sitting down with me, man, and you know I'm looking forward to what's coming next, yeah.

War Story War Story is the answer to Love Story. I have the same producers. We did some Trump music. I got a double album, a hip-hop double album, Trump Music Forever, which is the fourth Trump Music and then the Micha Wayne album, the Trump music record that I did with Willp Power, the same producer that I did with Trump's original music and Malay, um, those two producers that created. love story with me and um yeah man I could say get ready you better get ready for me Vlad 'cause you know when it comes to hip-hop man like you know looking back it's been cool when I looked back after that rock. and roll album what I did was shooter, it pushed me, it pushed me I missed hip-hop I miss rapping, you know what I mean, and we did really well with that record, we went out and opened for Leonard Skinnard, we played the, we played the Grammy, Grammy.

Museum got all this critical praise, you know, all the stuff that came with that record has been beautiful, you know, and I and I felt like I let off steam about it, but it made me hungry to rap again and and um, this is definitely, my best hip-hop record to date to date, so we've been releasing singles. I think we're on the third one right now, we have two more singles coming out, three and three more, we sing three more single albums and the third one after the. album, a single with a trailer for Jelly Roll in the sky, another single was um lantern and finally the last single that will come out with the album is called Legend or this is how a legend is made, all the great music videos and all the Indy Man America 1 RPM.

That's what it is man, congratulations on your success and thank you man, really, the determination and hard work that got you to this point, man, I know you have a lot of dope ahead of you, I can't wait to see it, I give it to you I appreciate it, brother, until next time. yes sir peace later