Radioactive (also known as Radioactive: Amazing and Mystifying Chemical Tricks) is the second studio album and major label debut by American rapper Yelawolf. It was released on November 21, 2011 through Ghet-O-Vision Entertainment, DGC Records, Shady Records, and Interscope Records. The album features guest appearances from Shawty Fatt, Mystikal, Kid Rock, Lil Jon, Rittz, Gangsta Boo, Eminem, Poo Bear, Priscilla Renea, Fefe Dobson, Mona Moua and Killer Mike.

Recording Recording sessions took place at Las Vegas Valley, Nevada in two weeks.

Music composition, style, and lyrics Radioactive covers many different styles of hip-hop fusions, being alternative hip-hop as principal musical genre. Hardcore hip-hop is represented on the tracks "Radioactive Introduction", "Throw It Up", "Get Away", and "Slumerican Shitizen". A horrorcore rap style is used in "Growin' Up in the Gutter", whereas "Hard White (Up in the Club)" is a crunk party track. "Let's Roll", "Write Your Name", and "Radio" follow a pop rap style, with catchy hooks and beats. "Animal" is a fast-paced hip-hop party track with a dubstep influenced beat. "Good Girl" utilizes an R&B-tinged feel, while "The Hardest Love Song in the World" is a g-funk hip-hop track. Yelawolf covers a variety of lyrical themes in these album, from gangsta rap lyrics in "Get Away" and "Throw It Up", to more conscious and slightly political tracks such as "Made in the USA", "Slumerican Shitizen", "Write Your Name", and "The Last Song". "Radio" is about the internet taking over how music and music videos are received by fans. It also refers to radio stations playing the same songs constantly and singers being discovered via the internet. The song contains several references to rock and rap artists and their songs from the past."Write your Name" is produced by J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League With samples from the Reza Pishro "Tehran". The album's final track, titled "The Last Song" described as very personal about Yelawolf's life, and it's a very emotional final letter to his absent biological father and talks about other past struggles.

Singles The album's first single "Hard White (Up in the Club)" was released on August 8, 2011. The song features guest vocals by Lil Jon and it was produced by Hydrox. The music video was filmed in Atlanta, Georgia, and directed by Motion Family. On September 20, the music video for "Hard White (Up in the Club)" was released through VEVO. The remix to "Hard White (Up in the Club)" was released on November 2; the song features T.I., and label-mates Slaughterhouse.

On October 28, 2011, Yelawolf released the album's second single "Let's Roll" featuring Kid Rock. The song was produced by The Audibles, Mr. Pyro, and Eminem.

Other songs The track, titled "No Hands" was featured on the video game Driver: San Francisco. Yelawolf partnered up to release the music video with Ubisoft and Complex. The music video was filmed at several major landmarks in San Francisco, California, and directed by Erick Peyton, who is well known for his direction on Snoop Dogg's music video for his song "That Tree". The song did not make it on the album.

Yelawolf filmed a 12-minute short horror film for the track "Growin' Up in the Gutter", which features rapper Rittz. Although the track was not released as a single the short film finally premiered on July 4.Yelawolf Readies EP with Travis Barker, 11-Minute 'Horror Film' Music Video. Billboard.com (September 14, 2009). Retrieved on August 9, 2012. It was directed by Tyler Clinton and Yelawolf credited as Michael Wayne for Slumerican, the short film was titled "Gutter".Video: Yelawolf Ft. Rittz – Growin Up In The Gutter . The Source. Retrieved on August 9, 2012.

Critical reception

Before release, the album was noted by the influential hip-hop magazine The Source as being a near classic, with a 4.5/5 rating. Acclaimed hip-hop magazine XXL gave the album a 4/5 (XL) rating, saying "more than not, the album is a standout effort that introduces the full-range of his talents as an MC with crafty songwriting abilities and deft ear for a sonic palette". Prefix Magazine stated that it was "hard to view Radioactive in any context that doesn’t label it as a total artistic failure" and that Yelawolf was "rolling over to commercial demands". PopMatters echoed this sentiment, calling the album a "misguided grasp at populism" and criticising Yelawolf's willingness to "play second fiddle" to A&R demands. Complex Magazine rated Radioactive at number 18 in the 25 Best Albums of 2011. XXL ranked Radioactive at number 10 for the best albums of 2011.

Commercial performance The album debuted at number 27 on the US Billboard 200, with 41,000 copies sold in its first week. It has sold 208,000 copies in the US as of April 2015.

Track listing

Notes signifies a co-producer signifies an additional producer "Radioactive Introduction" features background vocals by Nikkiya. "Let's Roll" features background vocals by Herschel Boone. "The Hardest Love Song in the World" features uncredited vocals by Poo Bear. "Radio" features uncredited vocals by Danny Morris. "In This World" features uncredited vocals by Eminem.

Sample credits "Get Away" contains elements of "Strawberry Letter 23", written by Shuggie Otis, and samples of the same performed by The Brothers Johnson. "The Hardest Love Song in the World" contains elements of "Always Together", written by Bobby Miller, and samples of the same performed by The Dells. "Everything I Love The Most" contains elements of "The Stranger", written and performed by Billy Joel. "In This World" contains elements of "Is There Any Love", written by Paul Zaza and Trevor Dandy, and samples of the same performed by Trevor Dandy.

Personnel Credits for Radioactive adapted from AllMusic.[ Credits: Radioactive]. AllMusic. Retrieved on November 23, 2011.

Ray Alba – publicity The Audibles – producer Matt Barrett – guitar Blaqsmurph – drums, keyboard programming, piano, producer Herschel Boone – background vocals Borgore – producer, programming Leslie Brathwaite – mixing Tyler Clinton – cover art Regina Davenport – A&R, production coordination Archie Davis – A&R Cristian DeLano – engineer Lionel Deluy – photography Ben Didelot – bass Diplo – producer, programming Fefe Dobson – composer Seneca Doss – marketing Eminem – additional production, executive producer, mixing, producer, vocal Finatik – percussion Finatik N Zac – programming John Fisher – management Brian "Big Bass" Gardner – mastering Jimmy Giannos – drum programming, programming Matthew Hayes – engineer, mixing Matt Huber – assistant Joe Strange – mixing assistant Irvin Johnson – assistant Jeremy "J Dot" Jones – management Jim Jonsin – percussion, producer, programming Dominic Jordan – drum programming, keyboards, programming J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League – producer, programming David Karmiol – guitar Emanuel Kiriakou – bass, drums, editing, engineer, keyboard programming, producer Dave Kutch – mastering

Marc Labelle – project coordinator Robert Marks – mixing Nikolas Marzouca – engineer Marshall Mathers – composer Tristan McClain – engineer Riggs Morales – A&R Danny Morris – composer, keyboards Mona Moua – vocals Mr. Pyro – producer Brian Nelson – watercolor artwork Nikkiya Brooks – background vocals T.W. Pentz – composer Phonix Beats – engineer, producer, programming Poo Bear – producer Kawan "KP" Prather – A&R, composer, executive producer Michael Pratt – assistant Priscilla Renea – vocals Luis Resto – keyboards Courtney Sills – composer, management Sasha Sirota – bass, editing, drums, engineer, producer, guitar Muzzy Solis – assistant Mike Strange – engineer, mixing, mixing engineer Al Sutton – engineer Tha Hydrox – instrumentation, producer, programming Andrew Van Meter – producer Eric Weaver – assistant Jason Wilkie – engineer WLPWR – assistant, drum programming, instrumentation, producer, programming Jason Wilson – assistant Mike Wilson – engineer Yelawolf – vocals David Sammon – Yelawolf's Father Salvatore Casto – close friend

Charts

Weekly charts + Weekly chart performance for Radioactive Chart (2011) Peakposition Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan) 34 US Top Tastemaker Albums (Billboard) 20

Year-end charts + Year-end chart performance for Radioactive Chart (2012) Position US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard) 41

References