Yelawolf is enjoying quite the buzz right now that seemingly kicked off after a scene-stealing cipher session at the 2010 BET Music Awards, a well-received Trunk Muzik mixtape series and his signing to Eminem’s Shady Records imprint along with battle rap favorites Slaughterhouse. Yelawolf can now add to his growing list of spoils the release date of his Shady Records debut Radioactive, which according to the MC will be unleashed to the public on September 27.
Fresh off of a blistering 2011 Roots Picnic performance stateside and then rocking his first show across the pond on Wednesday (June
, the 31-year old Alabama native spoke with The Hip Hop Chronicle UK about the upcoming release of his Radioactive LP, how long it took the silver-tongued rapper to complete the record and also what inspired the title.
After talking up a Benadryl-fueled sleeping session on the eight hour plane ride, a rested Yelawolf went into the impetus of the album’s name. “My manager came up with that title for a song originally that we were doing with Big Boi (of Outkast fame),” said Yela. “That was going to be going to be the song title name but the concept for “Ain’t No DJ” and the words radioactive was just stuck in my head. I just thought it would be a really good name for an album.”
In the game since 2005, Yelawolf aka Catfish Billy isn’t exactly a rookie and he approaches the joint venture of his own Ghet-O-Vision Entertainment label, Interscope and Shady Records as a perfect opportunity of getting “active on the radio” – in the rapper’s own words.
Yelawolf, obviously a fast worker, revealed that he finished the record in two weeks in Las Vegas. “We did the album in two weeks in Vegas. We also went to Detroit for a few days to work with Marshall (Mathers aka Eminem) and got some great records done up there.” Yela did warn that the final track listing may change and that he has some surprises in store for fans awaiting the album.
No word yet if the prolific rapper intends to release a primer mixtape in the meantime to stave off his anticipatory fan base awaiting the early fall release.
