“We were in Nashville, [producer] WillPower and I, for like five months and we turned out Trunk Muzik Returns. That was a mixtape/street album, whatever you want to call it. Then we did Love Story. It was a total of somewhere around five or six months of non-stop work. It was the hardest album to record yet. It was really fucking stressful, but it was all worth it.”
YelaWolf explains that the extra effort devoted to Love Story involved significantly altering his writing approach and adopting a thorough method of self-critique.
“I used to fire off verses like nothing. There was a period where I could just go, go, go. Now I have the ability to write fast but I don’t want to for some reason. Especially this past six to eight months of writing, between Trunk Muzik Returns to Love Story, it just grew more and more intense.”
He indicates that the desire to progress his craft and yield a stronger product prompted him to pay more attention to all facets of song construction.
“I would record a verse five or six times before I was happy with it. I would write a song four or five times. Entire records, hooks, I would record and sit with them for two days and then erase the whole thing.”
A major point of difference between the development of Love Story and YelaWolf’s debut album Radioactive is that the stylistic direction wasn’t steered by various external participants.
“The ball’s been in my court. We had no interruption from anyone. No managers, no A&Rs, no production company; no one was allowed in the studio,” he says.
YelaWolf perceives that these sorts of factors hampered the consistency of Radioactive and he attests that he wasn’t interested in repeating the somewhat disjointed collaborative procedure.
“There was a lot of hands in on Radioactive, a lot of pre-written hooks, a lot of pre-produced records, which I was willing to try. I was just being a team player, but I saw what worked for me and what didn’t work for me. I thought it would be best to be left alone, so that’s what happened with Love Story. I had free range to do what I want to do instead of what someone else wants me to do.”
YelaWolf’s presence on record has always been striking but, having been allowed additional artistic freedom, he suggests he’s surpassed the honest clarity of his previous work.
“I don’t how to explain it, it’s just me. Except for Trunk Muzik Returns, this will be the first time people hear me just untamed, untainted.”
While he speaks confidently about the quality of the new material, he refrains from ostentatiously proclaiming Love Story is a piece of terrific innovation.
“All I know is that I really, really care about this project more than anything thus far. That’s why it’s called Love Story. I worked harder on it than ever before and I think people are going to hear that hard work.”
YelaWolf reveals that the only outside contribution will come when his label [Shady Records] boss and past collaborator Marshall Mathers aka Eminem assists him in wrapping up the record.
“Thus far it’s just been me and my producer WillPower, we made it together. We turned in like 14 records, so now we’ll go to Detroit and sit with Marshall, when he’s ready, and finish it.”
The fact that Eminem will pass the final judgement on the album sounds like an intimidating prospect; however YelaWolf explains that he’s past the point of being affected by the stature of his collaborators.
“[It’s] like when you’re on a team or you play ball with somebody, you know that ‘I’m good at what I do. If you pass me the ball I’m going to do what I was supposed to do’. Of course when you first start working with someone that you’ve looked up to and been inspired by you have to get over that hump of nervousness. I think those days are long gone of being intimidated by any artist. I’ve been on rap records with some of the best MCs ever and I’ve never really felt intimidated.”
YelaWolf affirms that he’s always been completely determined to be a successful rapper and seemingly this desire has motivated him to develop as a songwriter.
“Your talent really has to catch up with your drive in order to be successful. I had way more ambition than talent when I started. You’ve got to want it bad. So yeah, I had a fucking eye of le tigre,” he laughs.
YelaWolf’s propelling drive shouldn’t simply be described as hunger for popularity. The patent artistic commitment he made to the new album is indicative of utilising his massive ambition to harness his talents.
“I definitely learned after Love Story that it’s worth the time and the frustration if the outcome is a good song. You’ve got to listen to your gut.”
BY AUGUSTUS WELBY
