Yelawolf

Yelawolf is the stage name of Michael Wayne Atha, a US rapper, singer, songwriter, producer and entrepreneur from Gadsden, Alabama, born in 1979. He is also known by the aliases Catfish Billy and, for a short period, M.W.A. He releases music on Shady Records and under his own Slumerican label and brand.

Background and early life

Atha is born in Gadsden and is mostly raised in Antioch, Tennessee, though he lives in several other places as well. He grows up around a wide range of music, helped by his mother’s boyfriend, a sound engineer who works with Aerosmith, REO Speedwagon, Ted Nugent and 10,000 Maniacs around the time of the Run-DMC version of “Walk This Way”. Yelawolf says Run-DMC visit his childhood home and give him Beastie Boys’ Licensed to Ill cassette tapes. He attends Carter Lawrence Middle School in Nashville, near the Edgehill Homes projects, and says this is where hip hop begins to make sense to him.

His influences include Three 6 Mafia, J Dilla, Pete Rock, CL Smooth, Black Star, Hieroglyphics, Digable Planets and Outkast, with Outkast his biggest influence. He also cites Johnny Cash, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Kid Rock, Eminem, Black Sabbath, Kraftwerk, The Doors, Fleetwood Mac, Metallica, Portishead and N.W.A. As a teenager he moves briefly to Berkeley, California, with a friend to pursue skateboarding, but he does not make a career from it and later returns home.

Career beginnings and early releases

Before his music career develops, he works a range of jobs, including construction, and also deals drugs, which he says he is not good at. In 2005 he appears on the UPN reality series The Road to Stardom with Missy Elliott. After leaving the show, he releases his debut studio album Creek Water in 2005 and the collaborative mixtape Pissin' in a Barrel of Beez with DJ Drama, DJ Jaycee and DJ Don Cannon the same year.

He signs to Columbia Records in 2006 and moves to Atlanta, where he meets manager Brother Bear. A planned album, Fear & Loathing in Small-Town U.S.A., is later cancelled after the single “Kickin’” appears in 2007. He then releases Ball of Flames: The Ballad of Slick Rick E. Bobby in 2007 and Stereo: A Hip Hop Tribute to Classic Rock in 2008. In 2009 he signs to Ghet-O-Vision Entertainment and releases the EP Arena Rap.

Breakthrough and Shady Records years

Yelawolf’s breakthrough comes with the mixtape Trunk Muzik, which is released in 2010 and attracts attention online. A reworked version, Trunk Muzik 0-60, follows later that year through Interscope and Ghet-O-Vision. In 2011 he signs with Shady Records and is named among XXL’s Top 11 Freshmen. His Shady Records debut album, Radioactive, is released in 2011 and features guests including Kid Rock, Lil Jon, Fefe Dobson, Mystikal, Shawty Fatt, Rittz, Killer Mike and Gangsta Boo. It debuts at number 13 on the Billboard 200.

In 2012 he releases “You Don’t Know (For F**k’s Sake)” with Ed Sheeran, leading to the collaborative EP The Slumdon Bridge, which is issued as a free download. He also works on several other projects, including Heart of Dixie, the Travis Barker collaboration EP Psycho White, and a hidden feature on Blink-182’s “Pretty Little Girl”.

Trunk Muzik Returns arrives in 2013 with production by WLPWR and guest appearances from Raekwon, Paul Wall, Killer Mike and A$AP Rocky. Later that year he releases the collaborative EP Black Fall with DJ Paul of Three 6 Mafia. In 2015 he issues Love Story, which includes Eminem as the only featured guest and as executive producer. The album debuts at number 3 on the Billboard 200.

Later Shady releases and departure

In 2016 he releases the surprise collaborative EP HOTEL with Jim Jonsin, though it is not available on streaming services because of unapproved samples. The singles “Daylight” and “Shadows” featuring Joshua Headley support Trial by Fire, which is eventually released in 2017. The album includes “Sabrina”, “Punk” with DJ Klever, Juicy J and Travis Barker, and “Ride or Die”, a tribute to Shawtty Fatt.

Trunk Muzik III follows in 2019 as a studio album and is presented as his last album before leaving Shady Records. It features production from WLPWR, DJ Paul and Jim Jonsin, and guests including Caskey, Doobie, Rittz, Shawty Fatt and Machine Gun Kelly. Later in 2019 he releases Ghetto Cowboy on Slumerican as his first independent album after Shady Records.

Collaborations and recent work

In 2021 Yelawolf releases the collaborative mixtape YELAWOLF BLACKSHEEP with Caskey. He then issues a run of projects in April 2021: TURQUOiSE TORNADO with RiFF RAFF, Slumafia with DJ Paul, Mile Zero with DJ Muggs, and the studio album Mud Mouth. Guests across these projects include Struggle Jennings, Peso Peso, Gangsta Boo, Seed of 6ix, Bub Styles, Christian Rose, Del the Funky Homosapien and Jelly Roll. He says Mud Mouth is his last rap project.

In 2022 he moves into rock with Sometimes Y, a collaboration with Shooter Jennings. He later releases War Story in 2024 as a double album: one side, Michael Wayne, draws on his life story and features production from Malay, while the second side is Trunk Muzik Forever, the fourth entry in the Trunk Muzik series. The album includes guests such as Killer Mike, Bub Styles, DJ Paul and Struggle Jennings. He continues to work with a wide range of artists across rap, country and rock, including Caskey, Doobie, J. Michael Phillips and Kordhell.