Yelawolf “Slums Up” the Blue Note: Show Recap

No, Yelawolf was not crucified in front of the audience.

“Me and Marshall Mathers both have an album coming out later this year,” Yelawolf said in the middle of the show Saturday night. “We’re like y’all; we don’t quit.”

After initially hearing this I thought, “Yela and Shady are going to do an album together?!” But upon further reflection, I’m pretty sure he meant separate. Although, Yelawolf and Big K.R.I.T. are supposedly still working on the joint album, Country Cousins, so I’m hoping that’ll still drop. I trust K.R.I.T. (I also understand the locking-oneself-in work ethic described below. That’s exactly how I’m writing this).

Show reviews are often chided in the industry as being damn near useless (it’s over, who gives a shit?), but it’s a revelation like this one that, to me at least, make them worth it.

It got me all excited, musically of course.

Watch Yelawolf’s live performance of “Trunk Muzik” at The Blue Note below:

The evening got off to a somewhat slow start. I still have absolutely no idea who the first opening rap group was. But I do remember that they were loud, although I couldn’t make out a single word they said.

The second group, Red Shirt Freshmen, rapped about being “red shirt famous,” although I’d never actually heard of them before. They also evidently wanted to fuck my girlfriend. To paraphrase: “Your girl say she got a boyfriend/I say that shit don’t matter.” This was news to me, and admittedly had me somewhat on the defensive since, ignorant of this core knowledge, I had unwittingly brought her with me. “If I’d had only known!” I thought to myself. But they did have a giant red Tellytubby dance on stage. So all is well that ends with a giant, red tellytubby dancing on stage. (Edit: I just learned what a red shirt freshman is, so to their credit, perhaps I’m not their target demographic).

Po, in the flesh. Tinky-Winky, Dipsy and Laa-Laa were not in attendance.

When Yelawolf finally hit the stage, rapping out from under a cowboy hat and glasses, his level of talent was rather obvious. He spit out lines rapid fire in his characteristic, Alabama machine-gun-syncopated flow. And some of the songs had concepts beyond getting money, getting famous, and fucking my girlfriend.

“Catfish Billy,” off his 2013 mixtape, Trunk Muzik Returns, was an early, energetic number. A nailed live version of “Trunk Muzik” is embedded above. And he dedicated “Daddy’s Lambo” to the fans that have been following him for the past three or four years.

“I do this for you all,” he said. “I know every artist says that, but I never have until this tour. Y’all have been following me for the past few, maybe three or four years, and you get and support what I’m about. You’re what I do this for.”

He also rocked “Growin’ Up in the Gutter,” another one of my personal favorites with apocalyptic levels of bass-heaviness, as well as the aptly titled club banger with Lil Jon, “Up in the Club.”

Another point worth noting: Midway through the show, Yela pulled out a confederate flag and told the crowd: “Look around you, we got all types of people in here. Don’t you ever think that I wave this flag because I’m some fucking racist. I’m just reppin’ Alabama. And I love everybody.”

So why did he say this? Well, in the lieu of Lord Jamar‘s recent comments about white rappers being “guests in the house of hip-hop” (and Jamar violently threatening Yelawolf in particular on Twitter), Yelawolf being one of the most revered of these “guests” I can think of (along with the go-to argument, Yela’s boss, Marshall), and the fact that Yela publicly invited Jamar to all of his shows after Jamar’s recent comments.

No encore though, Yela was off to the next show post-haste. Although I did get to watch a larger, gauged-ear punk drunkenly throw a swing at a dude a few inches in front of my face on the way out. This solidified the redneck, hip-hop lane Yelawolf has made for himself. I walked away feeling a little more like the slum of an American that I am because of this—exactly what I wanted from a Bud-gulping, Jack Daniels’ swilling Yela show. And I got just that. Lookin’ forward to those two Shady records releases this year, boys.

This post was written by Tyler McConnell, contributing writer for The Blue Note.

Just Announced: Is Schoolboy Q the next Eazy-E?

Kendrick Lamar wants to save the world. Schoolboy Q just wants to fuck your girlfriend. And party. And bullshit. And wash down the occasional handful of Oxycontin with a little sizzurp.

But all in good fun, of course.

If Black Hippy is the new N.W.A., Schoolboy Q (his mother knows him as Quincy Matthew Hanley, or just Quincy Matthew when she caught him with a plate of “mashed potatoes” under his bed) is the new Eazy-E. (Love to Jay Rock too, but this is Q’s time to shine).

Ab-Soul might’ve donned Eazy’s Locs shades, but Schoolboy’s copped his dangerousness-and-still-don’t-give-a-fuck good time. It’s the reason a lot of broke, white-trash midwestern kids like myself fell in love with gangsta rap in the first place. It was dangerous, it was subversive, but most of all – it was authentic. Somebody else was broker than shit as well, but they were from a radically different place. The hood is as novel to us as the trailer park is in reverse. But the struggle’s the same. Just instead of Deliverance, they had Boyz n the Hood. This is why Eminem was such a huge deal in rural America. He successfully crossed the river Styx and came out rappin’ like a motherfucker on the other side.

I listened to School’s last album, Habits & Contradictions, on a sunny drive in the afternoon. That’s what Q’s music is made for. That and for noddin’ out. Preferably not at the same time, though I’m certain quite a few Schoolboy fans have experimented (See “Hand on the Wheel,” below). That’s what Schoolboy fans do. From the droning bass of the first song, “Sacrilegious,” to the insanely infectious choruses of “There He Go” and “Druggy Wit Hoes Again,” I was hooked. And the hook is deep. The icing on the cake was that, even in the midst of wallowing in the id, Schoolboy was conscious of where the lifestyle was taking him, as songs like “Sacrilegious” and “Blessed” beautifully (and gruesomely) illustrate.

Schoolboy’s put on some weight since this early Black Hippy days, but so have I (Your mid-to-late 20s do that to you kids, just wait). But it’s all good. His rhymes have put on weight as well. Expect heavyass bars on Oxymoron, y’all.

But why is this music so effective at makin’ ya move your ass? Well, his lyrics are fun and real, like O.D.B. meets Ghostface. But the real secret is that low end sub bass. That’s the hook in the West Coast hip-hop meat locker. That and intricate production. The in-house TDE crew has gots da golden ears. Goddamn.

It’s always been the bedrock of West Coast hip-hop, ever since Dre fused gangsta with funk. But it’s alive and well within Black Hippy today.

So I’m excited for Oxymoron (stated for a Feb. 25th release date), and it looks like I’m not the only one. It’s the first album listed on hasitleaked.com. Take a look:

With outside production from the likes of Boi-1da, David Banner, Pharrell Williams, J. Cole, and The Alchemist, this shit is gonna bump hard. And with Ab-Soul, Jay Rock and Kendrick Lamar peer reviewing each track, you know the lyrics and concepts are gonna be on point as well. Aside from my man Big K.R.I.T.’s “Cadillactica,” there’s not another hip-hop album this year I’m more excited about.

SchoolBoy’s usual and irresistible cockiness may end up being prophetic this year. Among the hip-hop elite, he may just end up being the man of the year. At least one of ‘em for sure.

So grab your tickets for The Blue Note show on Monday, April 21. And if you’ve never listened to Schoolboy, familiarize yourself below. ‘Cause this is the year your junior high cousin starts singing his songs. Just like somebody slipped me a copy of 2001 on the seventh grade school bus, the kids this month’ll be doing the same with Oxymoron.

Q’s gonna try like hell to outdo Kendrick’s good kid, m.A.A.d. city, and even if he doesn’t succeed, it’s gonna be fun as hell to watch him try. I predict, that even if it’s not an album fit for the Library of Congress, it’s gonna be an album that’s a hell of a lot more fun to listen to on summer nights. And that’s always been my favorite thing to do with music anyways.

Watch him explain some of his process here: