The title is literally radio active.įour years would go by before Yelawolf followed up Radioactive with a sophomore album. Listening to the album, it’s hard to disagree with him. According to him, there was too much label influence from Interscope which made the album feel forced and commercial. Years later, Yelawolf looks at the processes went into creating the album with contempt. XXL gave the album 4/5 and ranked it the tenth best album of 2011. It received a 4.5/5 from The Source and was hailed as being a “near classic”.
However, many notable critics gave it positive reviews. Fans were disappointed with the release, and Yelawolf himself has said that he considers the album to be a failure. The response Radioactive received is something of an enigma. Perhaps that’s why it took less than a year for their team to get Yelawolf’s debut, Radioactive, off the ground.
After Eminem’s hiatus from music led to something of an implosion, he was ready and eager to get the label back on the map.
Shady 2.0 was something of a reboot for Shady Records, a label that was long past it’s prime. The cover of Yelawolf’s Shady Records debut album What we can be sure of is that on the March 2011 issue of XXL, Yelawolf debuted as one of the latest signees to what Eminem and co. While we have no way to be sure, it’s been said that “Pop The Trunk” is the song that Shady Records co-founder Paul Rosenberg played for Eminem and inspired him to give Yelawolf a record deal. Armed with what was now becoming something of a cult following and with a proper major label release under his belt, Yelawolf was gearing up to release his first studio album Shady Records was willing to provide the platform. So, Yelawolf and WillPower reworked their Trunk Muzik mixtape into an extended play, added a few new tracks, and retitled it Trunk Muzik: 0-60. Yelawolf and his team at Interscope wanted to quickly put something out on the shelves in order to get his name out among these hip-hop juggernauts. Several notable artists had major releases in 2010 including Eminem, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, and Drake. Later that year, Yelawolf signed his first major label deal with Interscope Records. The mixtape elevated Yelawolf’s status among other underground rappers and eventually created a respectably sized online following. The song “Pop The Trunk”, which is widely considered to be one of Yelawolf’s best, and a surprise feature from Raekwon on the track “I Wish” were enough to turn some heads. In early January, 2010 they independently released Trunk Muzik. In 2009 Yelawolf started working with the man who eventually become his go-to producer, WillPower. However, if you’re just getting into Yelawolf the best place to start would be by listening to his breakthrough mixtape, Trunk Muzik. His first mixtapes include 2005’s Pissin’ in a Barrel of Beez and 2008’s Stereo. Only the most dedicated Yelawolf fans have the conviction to go back and listen to his early work. We’re now at a time where we can look back and decide whether or not Eminem’s oddest signee is one of his best. Four years later, Yelawolf has now released two proper albums under the Shady Records banner and a plethora of mixtapes and other side projects. He was, and still remains, the only white rapper ever to be signed to Eminem’s label (which has housed acts such as 50 Cent and Obie Trice). At that point, he had yet to release a studio album and had only garnered a mild underground following. Yelawolf was by far the more surprising signee. Signing them to Shady Records seemed like a no brainer. Slaughterhouse is composed of four well established rappers who have made names for themselves purely based on their lyrical abilities. The two acts that appeared with him were hip hop super-group, Slaughterhouse and Alabama native, Yelawolf. In 2011 Eminem appeared on the cover of XXL to announce the latest Shady Records signees.
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