YelaWolf is an of-the-moment type of dude. He's supposed to be talking about the influence his Gadsden, Ala., roots have had on his music, but after a couple of minutes of storytelling, with the last anecdote recalling the days he spent as a fisherman in Alaska, he pauses. "Wait, what the hell did you even ask me?"
The rapper's sporadic tendencies are no doubt a result of his nomadic upbringing. Born in small-town Alabama, he bounced between Baton Rouge, Nashville and Atlanta as a kid, attending 15 schools before finally dropping out in the 10th grade. Even now, he has to give each of his releases a theme to keep from jumping all over the place.
"Going from living with straight rednecks in the woods, to going to school in the projects in Nashville, to the 'burbs in Marietta and being a skateboarder brings a whole world of culture," says Wolf, who is half Native American.
His off-the-beaten-path experiences are woven throughout his latest mixtape with DJ Ideal, Stereo, a follow-up to 2007's Slick Ricky Bobby. Actually, adaptability is his best weapon. On stage he unleashes it, as a torrent of words slips from his lips, hitting a mixed crowd of energetic skateboarders, rednecks, dancing girls and hip-hop heads.
"Because of my life and where I've been and what I've done, it's been really hard to focus on a particular sound," says Wolf, who is currently signed to Ghet-O-Vision/Redd Klay Entertainment. "With every track it seems like a different story comes out."
Recorded over a two-month period in Miami, Stereo is a melodic mesh of classic rock, hip-hop breaks and Wolf's clever, borderline philosophical lyricism. On "Rich Like Me" he claims to be a billionaire because he has "one billion words setting in the air," while on the crowd-hyping "Gone," he says he'll "learn to balance somewhere between commercial dreams and music that is valid."
"I'm very of-the-moment," he acknowledges. "You can almost hear progression per song. Hopefully you'll always be able to hear that because that will allow me to make music forever."
To hear a song from YelaWolf, click here.
