Gadsden, AL · hip-hop · southern-rap · country-rap

Yelawolf

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Alabama rapper who kept drifting toward country and rockabilly without ever losing the double-time flow — Slumerican to the bone.

Michael Wayne Atha was born in Gadsden, Alabama, but moved often as a child and was largely raised in Antioch, Tennessee, attending a middle school near the Edgehill Homes projects in Nashville. He has said the stage name Yelawolf combines 'Yela,' which he takes to be a Cherokee word for sun, from his father's side, with 'wolf,' meant to capture a split between an intellectual side and a more aggressive one.

His recording career started in 2005 with a run on the reality show The Road to Stardom with Missy Elliott, from which he was the third contestant eliminated, followed by the independent album Creekwater and the mixtape Pissin' in a Barrel of Beez. A deal with Columbia Records produced the single 'Kickin'' but no finished album before he was dropped; two more mixtapes and a Ghet-O-Vision Entertainment EP, Arena Rap, followed before his breakthrough.

Working with producer WLPWR, he built Trunk Muzik in 2010, a mixtape that drew enough attention to bring an Interscope deal and a major-label reworking, Trunk Muzik 0-60. A joint venture with Eminem's Shady Records produced Radioactive in 2011, which reached number 27 on the Billboard 200.

Love Story followed in 2015, peaking at number three and producing the platinum single 'Till It's Gone.' Trial by Fire and Trunk Muzik 3 came with moderate sales and strong reviews, and after leaving his major label he released Ghetto Cowboy independently in 2019.

Across these records his delivery stayed rapid and tightly syllabic, carried in a thick Southern accent over production that mixes trap with country, rockabilly and Southern rock. He built out that same world through the Slumdon Bridge EP with Ed Sheeran, Psycho White with Travis Barker, and Slumerican, the label and clothing line he runs around it.

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hip-hopsouthern-rapcountry-rap