Radioactive (also known as Radioactive: Amazing and Mystifying Chemical Tricks) is the second studio album and major label debut by American rapperYelawolf. It was released on November 21, 2011 through Shady Records and Interscope Records.
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".[3] 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.[4][5][6]
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.[7] 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.
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.[8] It was directed by Tyler Clinton and Yelawolf credited as Michael Wayne for Slumerican, the short film was titled "Gutter".[9]
Radioactive has received generally positive reviews from music critics. 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. At Metacritic the album received an average score of 62 out of 100, based on 16 reviews.[10] 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".[21]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.[17]Complex Magazine rated Radioactive as #18 in the 25 Best Albums of 2011.[22] Noted hip hop magazine XXL, Radioactive was ranked at number 10 of the best albums of 2011.
The album debuted at number 27 on the US Billboard 200, with 41,000 copies sold in its first week.[23] It has sold 208,000 copies in the US as of April 2015.[24]
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