Interview: Will Power (4/15/10)

Despite not being on XXL’s Freshman list for 2010, Yelawolf has had one of the best runs out of any emerging artist this year.

His Trunk Muzik mixtape, hosted by DJ Burn One, dropped on January 1st and the roaring reviews came in almost immediately!

Following the genre-flipping music put out in both the Stereo mixtape and Arena Rap EP, this new project was the Alabama emcee’s way of really getting back to his hip hop sound.

Will Power, who produced 9 of Trunk Muzik’s 12 tracks, recently stopped by the HipHopAtLunch.com offices to discuss Yelawolf’s upcoming 0 to 60: Off To Neverland project, working on Trunk Muzik, and what the Deal or No Deal tour has been like.

I enjoyed hearing that Yelawolf has a lot of say in the production of his music and isn’t simply throwing bars onto every track sent his way.  Having said that, lets take a look at a few of the standout tracks these two made for Trunk Muzik:

Yelawolf – Pop The Trunk

Motion Family provided the clean video for “Pop The Trunk,” where Yelawolf’s perfectly timed hook takes the track to another level.

Will explained to me during our meeting, that few rappers would have thought to space out the hook the way Yelawolf did – spitting his lyrics in-time with the heavy bass and adding the songful “on you” to the end of the chorus.

Yelawolf – Trunk Muzik

The progressive beat on “Trunk Muzik” serves the mixtape’s introduction well.  We’re quickly exposed to Yelawolf’s wide range of flows on this track, a range which becomes more apparent throughout the tape.

Yelawolf – Love is Not Enough

Will Power did a good job remaking Devin the Dude’s “Anything” for the powerful “Love is Not Enough” track without losing the original song’s sad feel.

Yelawolf – Speaker Sex

Nikkiya and Yelawolf’s sexual exchanges work well over the slowed down beat, making “Speak Her Sex” one of the mixtape’s catchiest tracks!

For a closer look at lyrics, check out our official review of the mixtape.

Working almost exclusively with Yelawolf at this point, Will is carving out a lane and building up his buzz within the industry.  Asterisks next to the song titles below, mark the tracks produced by Will Power.