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Producers like Malay and Track Bangas may not be household names just yet, but they have certainly played a key role in making this album musically engaging.
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Not unlike his idols and Southern rap champions, OutKast - whose Aquemini (1998) bounced freely between hard rock guitar and mellow Southern soul, among other genres - Yelawolf blends a decent variety of sonic elements into Love Story, including bluegrass, country and grunge. Nonetheless, Love Story remains distinct from Eminem’s Detroit-based style largely by staying true to the Southern musical influences that have helped to shape Yelawolf’s sound. “I’m not out of place, I’m from outer space,” as he explains on the album’s catchiest chorus, while also declaring himself to be “a trailer park pimp” who “needs fight tunes and mushrooms, I’m trippin.” If these sound like curiously familiar lyrics to fans of early-era Eminem, this should be no surprise: it makes sense that Yelawolf would want to take a leaf out of Slim Shady’s book, so as best to follow in the footsteps of his celebrated mentor. Much in the style of The Slim Shady LP (1999) and its opening track, “My Name Is,” Yelawolf establishes his world as a weird, psychedelic, not-quite-terrestrial one from the get-go. Born Michael Wayne Atha, the Alabama MC of Cherokee heritage sparked fan interest early on with a string of impressive mixtapes and guest appearances - perhaps most memorably by tagging along with fellow speed rapper Big Boi on 2010’s “You Ain’t No DJ.” After signing to Shady Records and releasing his debut LP, Radioactive, in 2011, Yelawolf returns after a fairly long album hiatus - not that the Age of the LP isn’t miles behind us at this point, anyways - for his second roll of the dice, Love Story. Over the last few years, it has been intriguing to observe the ways in which Yelawolf has been able to fill that void.