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The last time most fans heard anything about Atlanta rapper DG Yola was in August 2009, as he surrendered to serve time in prison for shooting his cousin in a family dispute gone too far.
Three years have passed since DG Yola, one of the South’s most promising rappers of the late 2000s, was first incarcerated over the incident, and the hours, days, weeks, and months spent locked away – three years in total – were well spent.
According to DG Yola, he used the time to write an enormous amount of material. Then, upon his recent transfer to Atlanta Transitional Center’s work release program, the rapper got crafty about how to work his first “real” job while breathing new life into his rap career.
“I wrote everyday, everyday for like 36 months, everyday, day in and day out. I came out with something like 2,500 songs,” DG Yola told AllHipHop.com in a recent, exclusive interview. “I touched down, I’m at the halfway house transitioning…still transitioning my life. From time to time – we at Raheem’s Seafood – I’ll just drop songs or whatever.
“You know, they let me work and make songs from time to time here in the shop on a laptop. It all plays itself out—while I’m in here cooking, I can still find time to make a song. That’s how I came up with the Mr. Broke Tha Knob situation.”
Mr. Broke Tha Knob (titled for how everyone in Atlanta is “turned up” these days) is DG Yola’s latest mixtape project, which he described as pure street, without the “outerspace swag” that some of his fellow Atlanta artists have been reaching for lately. But, he insisted he wasn’t referring specifically to Future (and his Pluto album), and said he’s glad all types of rappers can gain respect, especially independents.
“I’m doing everything – me and my manager – we’re doing everything out of our pocket. If a label did want to step in and back it up, I mean, that’ll help,” DG Yola said. He was coy about whether labels are actually scouting him now; however, the word on the street is that he is “in talks.”
