Yelawolf - Radioactive Review

Posted by Bill Wannop on 11.22.2011

Yelawolf drops his debut Shady Records album today!. Does he live up to the hype and capitalize on his recent buzz, or should his debut album be properly disposed of?

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Yelawolf has quietly entered the hip hop world making a name for himself after a rocky start in the music industry. He first tried to make it on the Missy Elliot’s reality “The Road To Stardom” but was third contestant eliminated in 2005. Yelawolf would not be discouraged however as he continued his grind releasing mixtapes and street albums before he signed to Shady records in 2010. While some artists in recent years have had difficulty getting albums out when signing to the major labels, Yelawolf with the help of the success of his mixtapes began to increase his buzz. With the recent Shady 2.0 Boys songs and BET Cypher where he more then held his own with fellow label mates Slaughterhouse and Eminem, Yelawolf’s popularity is at an all time high. Was he able to capitalize on this this high with his debut studio album “Radioactive”, or should his debut album be properly disposed of?

Tracklisting
1. "Radioactive" (Intro) produced by WillPower
2. "Get Away" (featuring Shawty Fatt and Mystikal) produced by Phonix Beats
3. "Let's Roll" (featuring Kid Rock) produced by The Audibles, Mr. Pyro, Eminem
4. "Hard White (Up in the Club)" (featuring Lil Jon) produced by Tha Hydrox
5. "Growin' Up in the Gutter" (featuring Rittz) produced by WillPower
6. "Throw It Up" (featuring Eminem and Gangsta Boo) produced by WillPower
7. "Good Girl" (featuring Pooh Bear) produced by The Audibles
8. "Made in the U.S.A" (featuring Priscilla Renea) produced by Emanuel Kiriakou, Blaqsmurph (co.)
9. "Animal" (featuring Fefe Dobson) produced by Diplo, Borgore
10. "The Hardest Love Song in the World" produced by WillPower
11. "Write Your Name" (featuring Mona Moua) produced by J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League
12. "Everything I Love the Most" produced by WillPower
13. "Radio" produced by Jim Jonsin
14. "Slumerican Shitizen" (featuring Killer Mike) produced by WillPower
15. "The Last Song" produced by WillPower

The Album starts off with a great intro about a radioactive accident and moves right into a good rap from Yela over a relatively simple beat. Yelawolf has always had a somewhat original flow and voice and this is never more present then on the second track “Get Away” which has Yelawolf providing his rapid fire flow, spitting lines ‘Huh, what a son of a bitch my momma raised into a rapper to tell story like my uncle when he’s drinking/Product of a working environment, f-ck is y’all thinking?/Meaning I’m working-working harder than any artist can ever do it simply cause I’m made that way/I build a house around your ass before you could realize, that you were in the neighborhood that Yelawolf made/So call me a redneck and tell your boys about it, tell’em I’m an Alabama wanna-be, I be that/ I’ll just take it to the studio and drop a bomb on you from a motherf-cking beanbag, I need that/’. While the rhyme structure is quite simple, the flow of Yelawolf is excellent which makes the verse that much more impressive.



The album is a good mixture of talents for his major label debut. Yelawolf kept the guest appearance to a minimum, and when he does have guests they are mostly present to provide the hook work which works very well. “Let’s Roll” which has Kid Rock providing the hook has hit single written all over it, as it is a mixture between Yelawolfs’ quick flow and Kid Rock country hook. “Animal” is a somewhat average track that is brought to a higher level due to the great hook work provided by Fefe Dobon, as well “Write Your Name” is a concept track that works with Yelawolf having a much slower flow and focussing on the lyrics while Mona Mona provides another great hookThe first single “Hard White (Up In The Club)” is a nice club single that seems to be getting some good airplay featuring Lil Jon doing what he does best on the chorus.



Yelawolf also shows some shining solo moments. The track “Radio” is a song that many fans will not recognize as a Yelawolf track, with it being a much slower, somewhat ‘pop’ sound, with Yelawolf singing on the hook about the changes in radio over the years providing lyrics such as “You'll never hear Black Star cause the program director is mostly deaf/And you'll never hear triple six cause we live in the midst of the Bible Belt/But that's when the light is filled, so let it shine/Let em' rhyme, let em' hustle, let em grind/Let em' roam with the truth sometimes/Sometimes, the truth is dark but the darkness sparks the truest art/And you didn't even know you a window till a tornado blew it apart/If Eric Clapton could sing about cocaine, then there's no harm/Then I can write about guns, I can rap about girls/I can sing about money and cars.” As well the last track “The Last Song” has Yelawolf speaking to his family hoping they are proud of his success. Yelawolf has learned very early on in his career how to get personal and show his emotions on tracks, which is usually very difficult for new artists.

Where the album fails is mostly in the choice of some of the production. Tracks such as “Growing Up in the Gutter” and “Slumerican Shitizen” are very odd choices for the album, with odd sounding beats, the later having a guitar heavy punk vibe to it, complete with Yelawolf yelling for the chorus. Additionally some of the girl type tracks just do not work. “Good Girl” and “Hardest Love Song in the World” will likely get skipped by most listeners. Similarly the track with “Throw It Up” which features the high profile pairing of Gangsta Boo and Eminem unfortunately falls flat. While Gangsta Boo provides a great verse, Eminem delivers a somewhat weak verse with Yelawolf not far behind.

The album overall is enjoyable, but fans of Yelawolf’s previous works and mixtapes will likely have their reservations. This is his major label debut, and as such his sound has somewhat changed, moving in the direction of more ‘pop’ hip hop. Long-time fans will likely gravitate to the first half of the album, where Yelawolf seems more familiar providing similar tracks to those in the past, while the latter half of the album is more geared towards pop radio.

The 411: Yelawolf created an album that truly has a mixture of everything. Long-time fans will likely gravitate to the first half of the album, where Yelawolf seems more familiar providing similar tracks to those in the past, while the latter half of the album is more geared towards pop radio. While some of the tracks are disappointments (Throw It Up) and others just don't work (Slumerican Shitizen), Yelawolf kept enough of his signature sound to garner a successful debut.

Final Score:  7.5   [ Good ]