Yes, he’s white, has tattoos, frequents the shirt off look, but he’s not Eminem. Sure, he’s signed to Shady Records, yeah, it’s the same amount of syllables Yel-a-Wolf, Em-in-em, but the similarities stop there. First time I heard Yelawolf was on Big Boi’s “You Ain’t No DJ” and I wasn’t impressed (probably because I was hoping he’d be Andre 3000 instead). And then I saw him in the Def Jam official music video. He was half-naked, baggy pants, contrasting with an Adidas track-suit-wearing Sir Lucious Left Foot. Nearly every one of his words is censored, f— that, and I’m thinking, “Who the f— is this creepy a– mo-f-cker?”

It was Yelawolf. I didn’t sleep on him, especially with all the buzz he was generating, Interscope bidding war, then touring with Wiz Khalifa. But, I was definitely hesitant. Now, he’s this:

What got him on this cover? His 2010 mixtape Trunk Muzik. With featuring tracks including Juelz Santana, Bun B and Raekwon (the chef) it’s no slouch re-introduction into the Hip Hop world after a two year wait. The production is classic southern style, home cooking, fat sub-woofer rattling, Speakerboxxx eccentric, marijuana inspired, chill a– beats. Best part? It’s all original.

“Trunk Muzik” the tape’s first track, starts off with a trailing, trance-like bass line coupled with stuff that sounds like this. When you talk about “flow” (it’s stupid, but necessary) he’s going along like he’s hoping on clouds. Other times it’s as if he’s let his pet toad jump from a shoebox and he’s trying to catch up with it. It’s definitely my favorite track. “F.U.” is funny and Ludacris would be proud, it had me lightly chanting “F— you.”

Star Tracks: “Pop the Trunk”, “I Wish” feat. Raekwon, “Trunk Muzik”.

Out of 10 this is an 8, it’s second place in a sack race, B- in philosophy 203. Straight up, he’s deserving of the hype and I’m looking forward to his 2011 release Country Cousins with B.I.G. Krit. 8/10