Yelawolf has been very open and honest about the struggles he has endured throughout his life. Whether it is a troubled childhood, growing up with a mother who had him at 15 and living in poor conditions, Yelawolf has channeled that into his music in a very personal and honest way. However with that pain comes the need to medicate sometimes, especially for artists who have an unfortunate tendency for self-destructive behavior, which was brought up in a recent interview on the ESPN program Highly Questionable. The hosts Dan Le Batard and Bomani Jones normally like to keep things light and funny, but this time they discussed the "Best Friend" rapper's relationship with Eminem and his struggle with alcoholism, which is where the conversation became very serious.
Yelawolf admitted he is still an alcoholic and he is still the only person who can control his vice, not even God can help him with that.
"No one controls my drinking, but me," admitted the rapper. "I'm the only person that can control that. God himself could not control my drinking. I'm admittedly an alcoholic and it's a problem. I wrote a song about it called "Empty Bottles" on Love Story. You know, I'm not proud of it but it's in my genes. I do take breaks. I was sober for five months. That was my last sober streak. I'm back drinking again. It is what it is."
He is very candid about how he treats his addiction and how he doesn't expect people to look at him as a high-character guy.
"I can't deal with sober. It just sucks. I'm not a role model. I don't expect people to watch this or parents to watch this and go buy my album because I am a role model. I'm not that guy. I'm just doing me, and if I wanna drink I'm gonna drink," explains the rapper. "If I wanna party, I'm gonna party. That's it. Drinking is my vice. When I'm done working, I'm gonna have a drink, that's what I'm gonna do."
Besides the aforementioned "Empty Bottles," Yelawolf discusses his addiction on the Love Story track "Whisky in A Bottle," which comes from the mindset of being confident while under the influence.
Watch Yela talk about his struggle below.
