Atha’s original plan in life was to be a skateboarder but several injuries forced him to retire the dream and focus on music. As a kid his family moved around a lot, and he was especially influenced by the hip hop scene in Tennessee.
Atha gained popularity on television while on “The Road to Stardom with Missy Elliot” in 2005 and released his album “Creek Water” later that year. Columbia Records picked up Atha several years later and he released the single “Kickin’.” Atha’s luck with Columbia was short-lived however and he was dropped from the label.
Under Ghet-O Vison Entertainment Atha released four mixtapes from 2008-2010, the last one called “Trunk Muzik” which attracted the attention of Interscope Records. On 22 November 2010 the album was re-released as “Trunk Muzik 0-60.”
Along with a contract with Interscope Records, Atha was also signed to Eminem’s label Shady Records in 2011. His debut album on the label was “Radioactive” which was released on 21 November 2011 after a few leaked songs were removed from the final playlist. “Radioactive” reached #27 on the Billboard 200.
Yelawolf’s most recent album “Love Story” came out in 2014 with single “Till It’s Gone” making an appearance on the television hit “Sons of Anarchy” soundtrack. Atha attributes his love for classic rock to his mother whose favorite bands 10,000 Maniacs, Led Zeppelin, REO Speedwagon and Yes inspire him in his own songwriting.
Minnesota rapper, Prof, has the charisma and energy to keep his audience engaged throughout his performance. His rapping is aggressive, abrasive, and absurd. He delivers his music with a force that makes you take him seriously, but his lyrics are full of playful antics and obscene word play, which conveys a carefree personality to his music.
Prof is a powerful force when on stage, running around and belting out his rap lyrics. He is usually backed by his sideman, Rahzwell, who provides the backing tracks and helps pump up the audience. The music that Prof raps over is usually quite diverse ranging from ethereal synthesizers that create emotive tones that can be heard in the song, “Karma” or he might rap over a highly upbeat backing track that incorporates loud bass drops and use of disc scratching. His lyrics are also very diverse and cover topics that include his misfortunate upbringing in the ghetto as well as finding parties and having a good time.
Prof has played at many diverse venues ranging from large festivals to small clubs. His delivery is always energetic and gets the crowd revved up. Prof and his sidekick Rahzwell used to perform their shows only after both of them were completely drunk from all the drinks their audience members bought them, which created a wild show for everyone in the venue. Prof and Rahzwell are always having fun with the audience when they perform. During their song “Yeah Buddy” they take supersoakers or water bottles and start to drench their audience with water during the song.
Prof has proven himself to be a diverse rapper that can master both the serious and playful side of rap. He has been listed as one of Minnesota’s 20 best rappers and has the reputation of instilling joy into the audience whenever he performs.
I first heard of Yelawolf from his first album Trunk Muzik 0-60, which was okay but his music got better after releasing Radioactive in 2011 when Eminem took him under his wing, his music took off.
Yelawolf has sick beats and rhymes, and all of his works is fresh. He raps with a purpose and gets his points across when he raps like a boss. I saw Yelawolf in one of his concerts in a smaller venue, the crowd loves him, hes got such great crowd interaction and gets the crowd hype.
He has that personality that keeps the crowd entertained, a true entertainer. He loves what he does, hes got the skills and he shows it on stage. He does a lot of songs for the little amount of time he plays for, he gets it all in there, gets in his talking, and does his thing, he does not stop until he is done.