'I've Found That Balance' — Yelawolf Discusses Bridging the Gap Between Hip Hop + Rock

On Thursday (July 9), Yelawolf joined Loudwire Nights and opened up about what it's like bridging the gap between hip hop and rock — and why he's excited for his upcoming album, 45.

Listen to the full conversation in the player near the end of this article.

"It's a certain type of hip hop that rock and roll fans like and a certain type of rock and roll that core hip hop fans like," Yelawolf explained to Loudwire Nights' Chuck Armstrong.

"I've kind of found that balance. I'm from Alabama, so the South is always going to be there, so there's that part as well."

Yelawolf admitted it's not just the hip hop and rock crowds that have embraced him, but a new scene, too.

"In the past year, I've been adopted by the reggae community," he shared.

"I've done three Reggae Rise Up festivals. I just opened for Sublime in Portland recently. I'm doing a whole cruise with Sublime. I was on tour with the Dirty Heads. I don't know, man. I have a space that's my own. You kind of can't really explain it."

Yelawolf has explored that space on massive stages, too, performing at some of the biggest rock festivals around, including Upheaval Festival in Grand Rapids, Mich., last year and Rocklahoma this year.

"To be honest, opening for hip hop acts, that doesn't really work for me at all," Yelawolf said.

"Me touring with Wu-Tang Clan, bro, that was so hard. The fans are very polarizing. They fuck with you or they don't, you know? And they'll let you know real quick. I do so much better opening up for Marilyn Manson and Slipknot than I do opening up for fucking Wu-Tang Clan. It shouldn't be that way, but it is that way."

Yelawolf said hip hop fans are generally very committed to their artists and they're either in or out, whereas he's found rock and roll fans to be more open to simply having fun at a live show.

"If you're a good act, they'll give you a chance. I've actually told my booking agent, especially with this new phase of my career, it's just like, book me only with rock ... It's just all supporting rock and roll or co-headlining."

Part of the new phase Yelawolf mentioned includes pushing himself in a new way on his upcoming album, 45, which will be out this year. Exploring his songwriter side, he's found it to be therapeutic to create music that isn't as aggressive as what he's done in the past.

"The reason why this era is exciting for me is because of the challenge to say so much more by saying so much less," he explained.

"When you're singing songs, there's less space for words. You could run a hip hop record up and within 16 bars you could spit out 100 words. That's the playfulness of the poetry. But when you're doing a singer-songwriter project, you have to get to the point in a different way."

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One major reason Yelawolf is pushing himself in this new way is because of the deeply personal experience of going through a divorce.

"[It's] tore me down, man," he expressed.

"I love and will always be in love with my wife, Fefe Dobson, but that hurt, it spilled into this record in all its form, you know? That pain or whatever, that pain or the trauma of that — the divorce and my separation triggered a lot of other things as well ... This record is really about letting go."

What Else Did Yelawolf Discuss on Loudwire Nights?

• What it was like having his Upheaval Festival set cut short due to lightning last year and then partying with the fans in the parking lot: "It was a good day. There was something about the atmosphere, we were rolling down that big hill that slants up that the fans were sitting on. We were just having fun with it, man. You go all that way, you travel all that distance, the fans are bummed. They're sitting outside waiting for the gates to reopen. I just felt like, why not? Let's just go. Let's try to have fun. I was actually down to put on a show in the parking lot with no microphone."
• The pain of not easily fitting into any one genre: "Paul Wall, who's on the Grammy board for hip hop, [I'll] tell you right now, when he heard Love Story, he goes, 'Man, you'll never be considered for a Grammy.' I was like, 'Why?' He's like, 'They're not going to consider this hop hop, man. You're not hip hop.' It just blew me away ... I constantly get told I'm underrated. I'm underrated, you're underrated, you're so slept on, nobody knows, if only people knew. I'm like, what else do I gotta do? I'm touring the world and selling shows out around the world. I don't know where you're at. I know what I'm doing. But I constantly get told that and it's painful, bro. It's like, damn. All these years of work."
• His hope for his new album, 45: "I'm going to be extremely patient with [it] ... Some albums not only take time, they deserve time. They deserve time. They deserve an opportunity. People put out so much fucking music, bro, [it's] oversaturated. You just cross your fingers and you hope that it finds its light in between all that."

Listen to the Full Interview in the Podcast Player Below

Yelawolf joined Loudwire Nights on Thursday, July 9; the show replays online here, and you can tune in live every weeknight at 7PM ET or on the Loudwire app; you can also see if the show is available on your local radio station and listen to interviews on-demand.