Friday, August 06, 2010

"I Treat Music Like Fat People Treat Shoes When They're Joggin', I Make Souls Bounce Off the Concrete"

There are a few underrated things I'd like to bring to your attention about ya homie Yelawolf, who, if you haven't noticed has been frequently spotlighted of late. The first is that he calls himself Catfish Billy, which might just be the most unapologetically country and legit nickname I've heard in quite sometime. Second, you have to respect the mullet, especially when he goes high and tight on the sides. There's nothing that says I don't care what you think of me than a decently kept, but aggressive mullet. Third, he is big into the skateboard culture, an angle that has yet to have been fully brought into Hip Hop despite the attempts of Pharrell and Lupe. If he can pull off the skater crowd, that's a widely untapped demographic that has never fully accepted Hip Hop and would be a huge asset to his success. Lastly, after listening to the track below, Lookin' For Alien Love, I'm going to start referring to him as the illegetimate third member of Outkast. Stylistically he's Andre 3000 the way he comes outta the left field bleachers with subject matter and is able to tell stories in a way that always sounds abstract, but consistently deliver a deeper message.

Case in point, the way he goes on a three stage journey on one track in search of his Alien Love. The first act he comes off like a wise professor, dropping an abstract view of love in between a sped up, high pitched harmony that comes off sounding alien-like, giving credibility to the song's title. From that he transitions to his Catfish Billy persona as act two starts with an alarmingly low bass drop. He uses the soft keyboard background and occasional booming bass as the pulpit for his sermon where he drops quoteables like:
"I give you a cd, you eat free, that's a whole chicken, Don't be so cot damn easily impressed, in '93 you had to rap, what the f*** ever happened to that"

"But you can't eat corn flakes if your music is born fake, so...Cheerio Jack!, here's some Lucky Charms good luck!"

"Behold the Catfish again, I swim 8 miles on the bottom of Lake Michigan" (Em reference?)

"Cause I play with Rap music like driftwood in an otters paw, Now thats some country sh** to say bro, Not as country as working construction and doin' a show in the same clothes"
The final act finishes in an intense fury of drum and bass, giving it a grand finale sort of feel as the song's energy peaks before the chopped up instrumental ride out. Put it this way, @Yelawolf makes abstract look normal when you try and wrap your mind around some of the crazy, other-worldly stuff he says. Kind cool Eminem is openly endorsing his record label Interscope signing Yelawolf too, similar to when he endorsed Asher Roth last year. Not gonna lie the fact that superproducer Jim Jonsin brought them together and called dibbs on the first track they will be doing together is something to get legitimately excited about. I like how in the video below Yela quotes Em's advice he gave him about how to answer the comparison questions and even going a step further to say that Yela not only sounds nothing like him, but nothing like anything he's ever heard.

Future Eminem collaboration aside, another cool thing is that when he plays live he has a fiddle player, how country is that?? Not gonna lie he sounds like Zack De La Rocha of RATM on stage too, give it a look...

Along with Big K.R.I.T., this Joe Dirt look alike is swiftly ascending up the freshman ranks. I really hope he wasn't BS-ing when he said his debut album from Interscope titled Trunk Muzik 0-60 would be out on September 4th.

With major label endorsement to go along with veteran Hip Hop stars co-signing him, it's not a matter of if he'll blow up...just when...

Sometimes different and weird becomes legendary, so don't be too hasty in dismissing the track below...#justsayin...

Yelawolf - Lookin' For Alien Love (prod by Grade A Muzik)
| Download

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