First things first, Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had a a good time getting wild (while staying safe) for the New Year and that 2015 is treating you right. I’m a few weeks behind, but you know how the Holidays can be. So let’s just get right to it. On December 19th, I had the chance to head up to Raleigh, NC to the Lincoln Theatre to catch one of the last stops on the Slumerican Made Tour featuring Rittz, BIG Henry, DJ Klever, guitarist Bones Owens and headliner Catfish Billy aka Yelawolf.

The last time I saw Yelawolf was about 3 years ago right as Yela was starting to gain some national attention for his Trunk Muzik: 0-60 project (great project btw). I couldn’t go to a party without hearing “I Just Wanna Party” or “Daddy’s Lambo” back then. However, since that time, Yela has undergone a semi musical transformation in the way that he’s pioneering the fusion of traditional hip-hop with southern rock and roll, something that I believe only Yela could successfully pull off. This movement has most recently been supported by the success of Yela’s newest single Till It’s Gone, that was featured on the critically acclaimed series Sons of Anarchy. This single also doubles as the lead single from Yela’s upcoming album, Love Story which has yet to receive a release date. (The video for this song also appears to be cut straight out of an episode of the HBO series True Detective if you have the time to check it out).

Now that you’re caught up on a brief review of Yela, back to the show.

Our pregame ran a little overboard so unfortunately we missed seeing Big Henry. No disrespect to Big Henry, but that didn’t exactly ruin the evening. To be completely honest, I’m only familiar with him from the song “Gangster” off of the Trunk Muzik Returns mixtape. That song also features A$AP Rocky and is definitely worth a listen.

Next up, Strange Music’s very own: Rittz.

Rittz has been a long time friend of Yela’s, and they had a longstanding agreement that if Yela were to ever make it, he would put Rittz on. Yela stayed true to his word. Rittz was featured on the trunk rattling “Box Chevy Pt.3” that I have come to call my favorite Yela track and from there he launched a solo career, releasing his debut album The Life & Times of Johnny Valiant and more recently his 2nd studio album and his first since signing with Tech N9ne‘s label Strange Music, Next To Nothing. He’s also sprinkled in a few mixtapes between these album releases. Rittz came out and was well received by the crowd and played a mini setlist of around 10 songs or so including, “Like I Am”, “Sleep At Night” and “Switch Lanes”. He closed out his set with “Amen”.

Finally, the time had come. YELA-WOLF. YELA-WOLF. The room was filling with anticipation. The music started and out came Yela to a song I had only recently heard of entitled “Honey Brown”. This beat RIDES. It made me reminisce to the Yelawolf that I had come to love for projects like Trunk Muzik and made me completely forget about the project that must not be named, Radioactive. I suspect it will be featured on Love Story. From there, the set list went something like:

1. Honey Brown

2. Good To Go

3. Growin Up In The Gutter

4. Catfish Billy

5. Throw It Up

6. Trunk Muzik

7. I Just Wanna Party

8. Pop The Trunk

9. Box Chevy Pt. 3 w/ Rittz

10. Box Chevy V

11. Medley of southern rock songs w/ Bones Owens

12. Daddy’s Lambo

13. Billy Crystal

14. Marijuana

15. Whiskey In a Bottle – new song that will be featured on the Love Story album

16. Let’s Roll

17. Till It’s Gone

I may have missed a song here or there, but this was the general jist of it all.

Per usual, Yela put on an amazing set and left nobody in the sold out Lincoln Theatre disappointed. Unfortunately, if you didn’t get the chance to see him on this tour you’ll most likely have to wait until a future tour is announced – this was his 3rd to last show on the tour. I would wager that with the release of Love Story, a tour would also be announced to promote the album so hopefully you won’t have to wait too long.

If you don’t already have a New Year’s resolution, I would encourage you to make yours to go see as much live music as possible. It’s not everyday that you get a chance to see one of your favorite artists perform. Tomorrow isn’t guaranteed, so seize the moment!

Next up for us is Wale at the Fillmore in Charlotte, NC on 2/12/15. See you there!