Yelawolf and DJ Muggs join forces to release an unstoppable album as a nod to Hip-Hop's golden era
Back in March, Yelawolf announced his album run titled the 'April Onslaught', through which he planned to release 4 projects, one dropping every Friday in April 2021. The first two projects to drop were 'Turquoise Tornado' with RiFF RaFF and 'Slumafia' with DJ Paul. For my personal taste, 'Turquoise Tornado' was a violation, and the first Yelawolf project that I haven't enjoyed at any point. Following that, 'Slumafia' was released, an EP that I've already written a review for, so check that out if you're interested in more Yelawolf reviews. 'Slumafia' saw Yelawolf rapping over some high energy Southern inspired beats, and was a strong album leaving me feeling highly pumped for 'Mile Zero'.
Yelawolf has collaborated with the Soul Assassins owner, Cypress Hill member and legendary LA producer DJ Muggs for this project. The pair come together to release an album is a nod to Hip-Hop's golden era and a number of artists that inspired Yelawolf.. The album is filled with stunning beats, and bars for days, so let's take a closer look at the tracklist.
Wtf
This album opens with Yelawolf hollering:
You know! What the f*ck Yeah!
I think is an extremely appropriate opening considering many of Yelawolf's never-ending verses leave me thinking 'what the f*ck', in awe of his lyricism.
'Wtf' features a lovely beat, with some strings etching in at points. The instrumental feels open and airy, allowing Yelawolf to be quite creative lyrically across the track. Yelawolf sounds brilliant rhyming to it, and opening the album with a very short introduction before going straight into his first verse really prepares the listener for the bar-fest that's to come.
Geeyat Damnit
On the second track DJ Muggs offers up a lovely beat, with some frustrated vocals coming in and out of the bass thuds and fluttering piano keys. The track opens with a skit of Jelly Roll congratulating Yelawolf on his achievements and when Yelawolf takes over he provides some great lyricism, flowing very well over the beat.
Hand Over Fist
'Hand Over Fist' is comfortably my favourite track on this project. The bassline thudding throughout the instrumental, and Yelawolf and B-Real's unstoppable chemistry on the track, are infectious.
Yeah, I should've worked on an hour rate (hour rate) I be tapping the stack (stack it up stack it up) Counting money hand over fist (over the first b*tch) Bouncing money over the waist (over the waist b*tch) Chopping broccoli on a dish (on a dish) Countin' greens over the bassline (bassline) Pullin' words up out the cooler jack (cooler jack) Digable Planets I'm cool like that (cool like that yeah) I'm cool like that
B-Real echoes Yelawolf with style during the hook, before providing an insane feature where he flows perfectly over the beat. Yelawolf offers up verses one and three, crushing his time on the mic and sounding very impressive here.
Harvest
DJ Muggs provides another beautiful beat for this track with some vocals floating around for the whole duration of the song. Yelawolf opens the track with a solid verse, before Struggle Jennings takes over for verse two. Struggle sounds good over the beat, with his gruff vocals juxtaposing the airy instrumental. Yelawolf takes the song back for a third and final verse.
The Catch
During 'The Catch' Yelawolf raps with no urgency over a nice laid-back lo-fi beat. The song has no hook, seeing Yelawolf rhyme until close.
Matador
DJ Muggs offers up another lovely lo-fi beat for 'Matador'. Of course Yelawolf continues to rap brilliantly, and we get a really good feature from Caskey. I'm not typically interested in Caskey's music myself but he raps really well here. I like hearing him rhyme over a nice lo-fi beat and hope to hear more at some point in his career.
Flea Market
'Flea Market' features a far slower beat than that of the songs previously. Personally, I found the opening Bub Styles verse quite unpleasant, with his half growling, half shouting style. When Yelawolf takes over the track he raps in a far slower style than before due to the pace of the beat. His bars are just as strong as before, leaving the listener more than satisfied.
Privacy
'Privacy' has an amazing beat, with tapping drums everywhere and some claps laced into them. Del the Funky Homosapien offers up an interesting and entertaining verse to open the track ahead of DJ Paul taking over for the hook and subsequently providing us with a strong verse himself. Typically I don't enjoy DJ Paul's style, however I always find myself enjoying his collaborations with Yelawolf, who takes over 'Privacy' with a top-notch third verse.
Dust Room
The album closes with 'Dust Room', which incorporates an amazing crackling beat, with some extremely relaxed verses from Christian Rose, Sam Lee and Yelawolf. Each verse contributes well to the track and is complimented by some lovely piano keys punching in the background.
As a body of work, 'Mile Zero' has been curated with a high-level of precision and talent. What holds it back, in my opinion, is that other than 'Hand Over Fist' no track stands-out on it's own. Should you lift songs from this album to put in a playlist, they may sound out of place. However, together in one tracklist this collection of songs contains a lot of lyrical power and musical excellence.
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