- Was born in Gadsden, Alabama, to a single mom. However, home for Yelawolf was not just Alabama, but all of the towns that he frequented throughout his life which includes other areas of Alabama, Louisiana, Seattle, New York, Georgia and Tennessee.
- It was in Tennessee that Yelawolf really became inspired by hip hop.
- Had a passion for skateboarding but injuries cut short any possibility for a professional boarding career.
- Dropped out of school in 9th or 10th grade.
- Held odd jobs throwing bricks, throwing fish and ditch digging.
- Felt that he didn’t want to make just ten dollars an hour for the rest of my life, so he dove head first into his music career
- After moving around the country, Yelawolf settled back in Gadsden where he hooked up with his friend Jeremy “J Dot” Jones who would become one half of his management team.
- J Dot then took him to the Atlantis Music Conference in Atlanta where they passed out CD’s and networked.
- While there, they met Courtney “Bear” Sills who became the second half of his management. This team-up led to a major opportunity.
- After being impressed with Yelawolf’s CD, Courtney called up KP (Kawan Prather) of Ghet-O-Vision Ent.
- KP had a label deal with Columbia and basically signed Yelawolf on the spot after seeing him perform.
- However, the deal would be short-lived. Not soon after that, Columbia started to make cuts. Yelawolf walked away with Get-O-Vision and started to basically tour the streets in order to make a name for himself.
- After being disappointed by being dropped from Columbia Records, Yelawolf went back into grind mode and released a flurry of mixtapes and EPs.
- His buzz started to increase from his music but equally potent was what people were saying about his ability to put on kick-ass live performances
- When Yelawolf dropped Trunk Muzik” on January 1st, 2010, he became red hot and was the toast of the hip hop blogs.
- Yelawolf’s label Get-O-Vision secured a joint venture with Interscope records which led to him signing to Eminem’s Shady Records.
“I’m an extremist. I did it a thousand percent. I was real obsessive about being the absolute best I could be. It’s not a fallback career at all, it’s all I have”. -Yelawolf
