I did not expect at all to be back with a second Yelawolf album review in one year. For me this came out of nowhere, I knew TM3 was his last album on Shady Records but I didn't expect him to release another album so quickly. In an interview though he did explain how Ghetto Cowboy was actually made before TM3, so I guess he could release it whenever he wanted to.
3 Minute Read
Being his first album after leaving Shady Records I wasn't 100% sure about what route he was going to take with this album. I thought TM3 was going to be a good indicator of the type of music he was going to go for in the future. Heavy 808's, hard-hitting flows etc, more typical of the music at the beginning of his career even before he was signed.
He got a little criticism for some of his albums on Shady being a little pop-sounding (I'm thinking Radioctive), so I thought this would be really different to that, and continue the vein of TM3. However, that wasn't really the case with Ghetto Cowboy.
Ghetto Cowboy did contain a few songs with more pop-sounding elements such as; Opie Tayloy, it's definitely not pop music, but out of all his other albums, Ghetto Cowboy reminded me the most of Radioactive, which is the album that received the criticism for being softer sounding.
However, I absolutely loved Radioactive so I didn't care at all. And I really like Ghetto Cowboy. It reminded me of both Radioactive and Trial by Fire, but instead Yelawolf was the one singing the hooks (which he does amazingly).
Just going back to the point of this album not having those bass-heavy beats that TM3 did, Yelawolf also explained in this interview how he had Ghetto Cowboy ready for his last Shady release, but then he wanted to actually make something that was like the music that got him signed to Shady in the first place, and that is when he made TM3. Almost like it was his parting gift for Shady, making the music that they signed him for.
Originally when I heard Lightning I thought it was a metaphor for leaving Shady records, a few lines and the intro were adding up, but overall probably not and I was just speculating. Plus, I'm pretty sure Yelawolf and Eminem parted ways on good terms, at least I hope they did because they made brilliant music together.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this album. The flows were nice and the lyricism was sharp as ever. Yelawolf is proving to make consistently good music. There's ones I like more than others, but I haven't disliked any of his last 5 albums; Radioactive, Love Story, Trial by Fire, Trunk Musik 3 and now Ghetto Cowboy.
For certain he's an underrated rapper and I am looking forward to what he does next.
Star Track: You and Me
7.5/10
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