Yelawolf - Love Story (Album Review)

Love Story is Yelawolf's second album released through Shady/Interscope and really to me it's his big statement. This album lives or dies with how good Yelawolf is. Eminem is the only featured artist on one song. Other than that it's an eighteen track album of Yelawolf's trademark southern influenced hip hop. After a decent debut album I wondered if the style would grow stale or if Yelawolf could find some way to improve the formula and keep his style interesting.

"American You" has southern swagger mixed with hip hop. It's a song Kid Rock wishes he could write. Yelawolf does the song in a way that feels so authentic. Honestly it's one of the catchiest songs I've heard this year so far. The album itself bleeds a lot more of the southern influences Yelawolf often times wears on his sleeve than his debut album, Radioactive, did. There's a lot of this album that is country influenced rap that's done the right way, in my opinion. I've heard a ton of artists trying to find this formula and it often more than not falls so short it's almost laughably bad. Yelawolf makes it work. He finds the right balance. Yeah, there is a lyric here or there that comes off cheesy, but he finds a way to make those cheesy lines feel like afterthoughts on Love Story.

It honestly feels like after all the mixtapes and a debut album Yelawolf is just now finding his stride with this batch of songs. "Best Friend" features Eminem spitting some rapid fire rhymes. His guest spot is notable because he's the only guest. Honestly he's not a bad guest to have. Eminem always draws a ton of interest when he's featured on a song. His guest spot works good, but it seems like it's really on there to ensure at least one single gets a ton of interest from a mainstream community. Even though I've seen Yelawolf say it's not the case and the feature just worked out because the song felt like it needed an Eminem feature. It just screams an insurance case single in case none of the singles hit. "Fiddle Me This" sounds like a rocking barn yard stomper of a rap song. It's a pretty interesting song and a really gnarly sounding album closer. It definitely puts country rap tracks like "Dirt Road Anthem" to pretty big shame.

I think limiting the guests overall helps Yelawolf present a clearer vision with this album. Will Power produced most of the album save for a little production work from Eminem, Dr. Dre, and Yelawolf himself. Dr. Dre produces the opening track "Outer Space". Once again Dr. Dre's a big name and having him produce definitely gets people talking, but the beat feels totally out of place on the album and doesn't fit the vibe of the album very well. For an opener it really isn't the best. It's probably my least favorite track on the album. To me it probably would have worked better as a b-side or bonus track for the album.

Compared to Radioactive, which is an album I thought was okay, I think Love Story is much better. I like the production better, the songs presented and songwriting overall are stronger in my opinion, and the album as a whole has a way better vibe. It flows a lot better and to me is just a more impressive album overall. The southern rap style feels more authentic and less gimmicky on this album.

This album might be something slightly different in style from his previous projects or maybe it's what Yelawolf has been doing since day one just refined to the best, most pure potent form and turned up to eleven. I think that makes this album work. It blends two lifestyles nicely and it comes out more successfully than one would think it could. It's a much stronger album than Radioactive. I'm interested to see what kind of audience this album finds and to see what his current fan base thinks about it. Overall it's a pretty solid listen and it proves to me that Yelawolf has a few more hours left at his party.