The best rapper from all 50 states
By Ryan Wrenn
Alabama
Artist – Yelawolf
Years Active – 2005-Present
Notable Album – Trunk Muzik 0-60 (2010)
Sample Rhyme:
“Act like you don’t wanna see how much of this Jack
Daniels you can handle
You wanna drink and get cut like Rambo?
And let me drive your Daddy’s Lambo”
—
The magic of the alphabet delivers to us right at the top of the list perhaps the best possible example of the type of eccentric regionalism rap has to offer.
Yelawolf’s career took a weird turn when he began releasing actual albums, but his early mixtape Trunk Muzik 0-60 finds a rapper unafraid to be himself.
Being from Alabama, Yela was never going to find it ease to hide his accent or unique southern cadence. Instead, he leaned into it. His raps at times sound like slightly sped up — and significantly more filthy — country. It shouldn’t be surprising that this would be crazy fun, but it absolutely is.
The crossover appeal of rap among the typically conservative country music set wasn’t exactly enough to make a viable career, however. Yela continues to show a lot of the same spirit as he did on that early mixtape, but it all seems confined to the requisite marketability of being on a label.
Next: Alaska