(AllHipHop News) AllHipHop.com recently caught up with Shady Records artist Yelawolf at a recent tour stop in Dallas, Texas.
The Alabama bred artist spoke about his recent tour, his newest EP The Slumdon Bridge and his recent appearance on David Letterman’s Late Night Show.
The rapper said that since the release of his debut effort Radioactive, his fan base has been growing in both age and the types of people who attend the shows.
“We did this same run over a year ago and coming back, we sold out all the same venues, so it’s a great feeling. I feel like the crowd is getting to know the records and the fans that come out are like the real core,” Yelawolf told AllHipHop.com.
“Not only that, I see the fans keep going up in age and down in age. I’m seeing s**t man, 15 year olds and going up to 35 year olds and s**t, of all colors and all styles,” the rapper revealed.
Over the past few years, Yelawolf has toured extensively in nearly every major city in the United States.
He has also made his way overseas to perform at dates throughout Europe, which was chronicled on his popular YouTube vlog called, “YelaVision.”
“I had a blast in Europe man, I really just went over there for the first time for the Hove festival, and I went to Norway, and then I went back on my tour. The first stop was London. We did really well and we went to all the other cities and we did festivals and all that s**t. Then I went back with Wiz on the last trip and it was just incredible man,” Yelawolf explained to AllHipHop.com.
A byproduct of Yela’s excursions across the pond is a new EP with Ed Sheeran titled The Slumdon Bridge, a play on Yelawolf’s popular use of the Slumerican concept and the world-famous London Bridge.
“What happened with Ed Sheran was I got hit up and they said ‘Hey this kid Ed wants to do an EP.’ I was like, ‘Whats up with his music?’ I listened to his music and I was like, ‘Damn this kid’s music rips, but I don’t know.’ I didn’t really know how the music was going to come out and I just didn’t really know, but I was just like ‘F**k it, lets just get in the studio and see what happens,'” Yelawolf explained.
“I literally pulled into LA and did the whole thing in one night. We just vibed man, that kid is something else, he plays guitar and sings like fool, you know, and he raps. He’s only 21 or 22 and its amazing that some people just get it so young. He’s just going to flourish as an artist, there’s no telling where he’s going to be in 10 years and he’s doing classic s**t right now,” Yelawolf continued.
Lastly Yela explained his recent performance on David Letterman with Kid Rock, and labeled the appearance a milestone for the “Bama” artist.
“Me and Kid Rock, we vibe really well man, he’s the OG man and you can’t reinvent the wheel and nothing under the sun he hasn’t done musically, and as far as growing from Hip-Hop, into rock n’ roll into country, he’s a legend man. So it’s an honor to share the stage with him man – thats one,” Yelawolf explained about his historical performance.
“Two being at Letterman – there’s two things that I think as far as talk shows or just television shows go, as far as performances that are pivotal for someone’s career – one is Letterman and two is SNL [Saturday Night Live]. I just remember being like, ‘Peppers are on Letterman!’ or ‘Snoop is on Letterman!’ or ‘Eminem is on SNL!’ I remember Eminem when he did one of his performances on SNL. So I think it’s one to check off, you know my Mom called me super emotional and my Uncle buddy, my management. It was a moment I will never forget you know and I vibed out and enjoyed myself which is the main deal, and hopefully someday I can go back and do another record someday. So another one in the books.”
Yelawolf will be touring at select dates across the U.S. going forward and will also be performing with his Slumerican label mates at SXSW in Austin, Texas during the second week of March.
YelaWolf Radioactive Tour: Texas from Scoremore on Vimeo.