Evan Nabavian dreams of electric beats.
“Kill My Nightmare” begins with a scene from any slasher movie. There’s a steady heartbeat and a background of white noise. Then a woman’s scream, a wet stab, and the sound of the killer’s breath. The heartbeat slows. Yelawolf uses Friday, May 13th as an occasion for a cold, violent dirge with the pacing of a lullaby. He doesn’t just don the hockey mask, he acts out the killer’s transformation.
In a move that would get most rappers lambasted back to the unsigned hype column, Yelawolf alternates between singing and rapping. He croons softly about danger lurking in the dark until he interjects, “And the dream is dark. Fuck it. Into the dark I go,” and turns bloodthirsty. “Nightmare” has no drums, only the backing of a slow Moonlight Sonata-esque piano. Yelawolf consistently betrays expectations, refusing to be pigeonholed as a white rapper, a skateboard rapper, a fast rapper, or even a Southern rapper. At this point, his appearance and personal effects are a mere footnote on his performance.
Download:
MP3: Yelawolf-“Kill My Nightmares”
MP3: Yelawolf ft. Trae & Chamillionaire-“Shit I Seen” (Remix) (Left-Click)
Video for “Shit I Seen,” below the jump.
