Michael Wayne Atha (born December 30, 1979), better known by his stage name Yelawolf, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. In a recent interview with HipHopDX, the former Shady Record artist talked about the first time he heard Em’s music.
“The first time I heard Marshall was on a Rawkus mixtape,” he said. “This is back when 411 [Video Magazine] skate videos was where I was getting a lot of underground Hip Hop.”
He continued, “Somewhere through there, I heard Marshall. I was like, ‘Is that a white boy? That sounds like a white boy. It wasn’t just the accent and the style, it was the content… I just started digging through to try and find more.”
Yelawolf also revealed “Any Man” was the first song he heard by Eminem before spitting the lyrics perfectly.
“‘Cause any man who would jump in front of a minivan/For 20 grand, a bottle of pain pills and a Mini Thins/Is fucking crazy,” he rapped.
In addition to “Any Man,” Yelawolf noted he’s a big fan of Eminem’s Slim Shady LP track “Role Model.”