Yelawolf Talks About His Early Hip Hop Influences

During a newly released conversation with Karmaloop TV’s Damon Campbell, Yelawolf spoke about his early influences in Hip Hop, citing a White rapper from Nashville called Eric McAnally as one of his big inspirations as a young artist.

“Eric McAnally was a local rapper out of Nashville who was the first white boy that I had ever seen who had real street credibility and was rapping,” Yelawolf says. “But, no one was questioning his authenticity. It was around when Vanilla Ice was huge. I was 10 [or] 11 years old and all of my older friends were drilling in my head, ‘Nah, he’s the real deal. He’s the real deal.’ All these people were making fun of Vanilla Ice [but were saying about Eric McAnally], ‘This guy’s the real deal. He’s really a dope boy. He really does this.’ It set such a seed in me to back the authentic shit. Years later as time went by, [I] really [started to] understand how special that actually was. How far long ago that was and how progressive he was with his style and his realness.”

Earlier in the conversation, Yelawolf recalled finding one of Eminem’s old demo tapes and also recollects handing it back to Slim Shady 10 years later.

“I found an old demo tape of [Eminem’s] in New York,” Yelawolf says. “I put it in my pocket [and] took it home. It was on the floor behind some speakers along with a pile of old dusty demo tapes that a label had [thrown away]. I saw it and I knew who it was and I knew what it was. 10 years later, or something like that, I put it in his hand in the studio. He remembered it. He remembered making it. He remembered the apartments he was living in with Royce [Da 5’9] at the time.”

Early last week, the release date and cover art for Yelawolf’s upcoming album Love Story was released. The album is expected to hit shelves on April 21 and is executive-produced by Eminem.

Yelawolf’s full interview with Karmaloop TV can be viewed below:

http://youtu.be/U5nOu8DM6GM