Video: Yelawolf, “Pop the Trunk”

January 19, 2010


There's a lot to say about this video and about Yelawolf in general. Someone could probably write a really stuffy paper about whiteness in rap and how Yelawolf could represent the newest iteration of that, and we would then make some kind of vaguely tongue-in-cheek comment talking about how it's just music man. But the thing is, there is a lot going on with this dude. He's at the crossroads of being recognized as a pretty talented Southern rapper who can carry a solo career or being condemned to novelty status. But he's nimble and able to make fun of himself enough that on his collabo with Bun B, when he raps I got a pocket full of stones/because I fell off my dirt bike in cargo pants it comes off as both UGK reverence and a needling jab at his own lack of street authenticity. "Pop the Trunk" is an achievement both for Yelawolf and the perpetually on-point Motion Family video team, in that it evokes not only the rarely-rapped about world of white Southern poverty but also shows Yelawolf's chops as a leading man, able to carry a video that requires him to do some actual acting with enough charisma that it's both intense and uncomfortable to watch.

Video: Yelawolf, “Pop the Trunk”