I’m not going to lie. I was not aware of Yelawolf until it was announced that he signed with Shady Records back in March 2011. After hearing that news I looked more into Yelawolf’s career. Turns out he’s been in the music industry since 2005 and had released 1 album titled Creek Water (2005) and 1 major mixtape titled Trunk Muzik 0 – 60 (2010). I became a HUGE fan of Trunk Muzik 0 – 60 so when I heard that he would be releasing Radioactive in 2011, I was PUMPED.
I really enjoyed tracks from Trunk Muzik like Get the Fuck up, Good To Go, Daddy’s Lambo and Billy Crystal. After he released Hard White I assumed the entire album would be nothing be a kick ass, hardcore hip-hop album mixed with southern slang and stories centralized around the slum living lifestyle of Alabama.
While all the tracks have awesome lyrics and wild stories, the beats are not traditional hip-hop beats. The beats are very well produced and sound very clean but not what I was expecting after hearing Hard White. I was expecting nothing but bass pounding bangers and that is not the case. A lot of the tracks have a slower pace and are more of a hip-hop/rock & roll hyrid with a country chromosome or two.
That being said, the songs are very good. Yelawolf’s lyrics paints the most righteous visuals in your imagination. Standout tracks me to are Growin Up In The Gutter, Let’s Roll, Radio, Hard White, Animal, Throw It Up and the album’s intro track. While the whole album is listenable, these are my favorites.
My Conclusion: All together the album is good. It’s definitely something different. I believe a lot of hip-hop fans may not dig it. You won’t find any gangster rap type songs here. People who enjoy real, original music will enjoy it. The album becomes very enjoyable upon re-listening to it. At first I was like “Needs more hip-hop” but then I listened to it again and thought it was really good. I definitely recommend it but I can understand if its not your cup of tea. If I had to give a score, I’d say a solid 8/10.
random residue by this author:
- The Lonely Island – Turtleneck & Chain Review
- Interview with Stony Blyden from Steff Comedy
- Snooki’s New Years Ball Drop
- BangBoomCrash – Long Trip
- 2010 Time Magazine’s Person of the Year Runner Ups
needs more hiphop but album is pretty solid!
we should not blame him for not blowin his chances to get popular and Big by releasing an underground-type album!
he must make a fanbase right now and 4,5 years later he can go back to his roots (that are NOT missing in this album)
BTW sry for bad ENG
Can’t believe this is on Shady Records! I dig it though. Some hardcore Southern shhh