Eminem protégée Yelawolf just signed to Shady Records late last year, taking a moment during his setting-sun time-slot to underscore the contract, and perform a shout-out medley that featured “The Way I Am” and of course, “My Name Is.” That was on the heels of a tribute to MCA of the Beastie Boys, which found the emcee yelping his take on the best lines of “Fight for Your Right,” “Brass Monkey” and “Intergalactic.” Elsewhere, the 32-year-old upstart was all profanity and bravado, using hands-in-the-air moments to either tell the crowd to “fuck off,” “fuck that shit” or tp join him in a spirited “up in the club, don’t give a fuck” chant, from the Lil John-studded cut “Hard White” on Yelawolf’s debut, Radioactive. He had lots of awesome things to say throughout his performance, mostly prodding the crowd to share what kind of drugs they may or may not have consumed. But none of it compared to the times when he actually rapped and showed some of his true self-deprecating talent, like the fluttering beat he slapped on “White Boy Shit,” which featured autobiographical gems like “I got a mullet-hawk, a black girlfriend/Tattoos to my feet and back up again/Half Pearl Jam, half Eminem.” A cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Simple Man” was the cherry on top of that sentiment.
Tags: Yelawolf