In the early 2000’s, a young gunner stepped on the southern rap scene who personified what the real Atlanta streets were about. Anybody who’s familiar with the Westside of Atlanta, and the infamous Allen Temple Apartments, understands the tough nature of its youth and the environment that raised them. Da Great Yola aka DG Yola is a product of this environment. You can hear it in his rhymes bar after bar. You can trace it in his years of unfortunate circumstances (i.e. being shot in the face in 2005). You can even feel the passion and discord when he speaks about his long hiatus from music due to being incarcerated.

 

Despite his misfortunes, DG Yola is a household name amongst his southern rap counterparts. His classic banger “Ain’t Gone Let Up” became a staple in DJ rotations and signified his spot in rap. Yola’s incomparable voice can’t be duplicated. This is why no one has really captured his essence while he’s been gone. But, the question is “is he ready to return and pick up where he left off?”

 

Well, DG Yola says YES. After all the trials, tribulations, and deaths he’s dealt with in the last 7 years, he has more to prove to himself and the critics. This is why he released the mixtape “Mr Broke Da Knob” in the summer of 2012. The project dropped to good reviews. For Yola, this was the motivation he needed to keep pushing. Although, he is currently spending days in a half-way house, Yola is using his nights and weekends to his full advantage. As such, STACKS Magazine was lucky enough to get the opportunity to sit down for an exclusive. When we say “exclusive”, we mean EXCLUSIVE!

 

Check out what DG Yola had to say regarding his start in the game, the shooting incident, jail time, and how he feels about the haters and fake niggaz in the rap game.

 

Tell us where your name comes from and little bit of background about yourself and what made you start rapping.

DG Yola: Well first all of grew up in Allen Temple…It’s on my birth certificate originally. About the name, first I had Yola da Great. That came from Rudy Ramone, but once I got signed to Atlantic or whatever, somebody in China already had the name. So I changed Yola da Great to DG Yola. DG stands for Da Great. So it’s Da Great Yola, you know what I’m saying. That’s how I came about the name or whatever cause I used to sell crack on Martin Luther King and all the Mario’s in the hood, they call’em lil Yo. So they called me lil Yo and I just put the ‘la’ on it. That’s how I came up with Yola.

 

So you chasing the dream…05’ you come with this hit ‘Ain’t Gon Let Up’. How did that song come about? Who produced the track?

DG Yola: My patna Wynn produced it. Big shout out to Wynn…ATM. The song actually came about…I was mad at one of my best patnas Alfred Person rest in peace. I was mad at him and I went to writing and that’s how the song came about. We didn’t think it was no hit or nothing. We thought it was another song. But once I did it and we put it in the club or whatever…it just blew up! Yeah that was like was of my first little songs to blow up.

 

So the song itself, it’s a classic now. Like you know if they play the song now everybody knows it word for word. So at that moment when you realized like “damn this song is about to take me to another level” how did that moment feel for you? Was it like “I’m there”?

 

DG Yola: That moment was crazy. ‘Cause during the process of that song taking me to where I was, I was geeked up all the time. So shit, that process there was crazy. Because when the song took flight, I was high as a muthafucka and I stayed high. We stayed high so it was like…it was just crazy. I didn’t wanna listen to nobody. I didn’t wanna do shit. I just wanted to do what I wanted to do when I wanted to do it and how I wanted to do it. And that resulted to me getting shot in the face you know what I’m saying shooting people, going to prison ‘cause I didn’t listen. I wasn’t nothing but 19…20.

 

So yeah that shit…and then the money really drove me crazy…that shit really drove me crazy. I was buying everything then when I went broke it was just like…I sold everything. Shit I had to start from ground zero. But now that I don’t get high, I appreciate life and I appreciate everything a whole lot more than I did back then. So it was crazy…that whole lil thang. ‘Cause you know you got everybody in your ear. Everybody wanna hang around you. They got they’re hand out. That shit drove me crazy!

 

They say when that fame and fortune come…

DG Yola: Hell yeah…it drove me psycho

 

…you got to be tough to be able to handle it and maintain.

DG Yola: Yeah and I stayed in the hood a lot too. I didn’t branch out…I didn’t ever leave the hood. I stayed in the hood at all times. That was my base. That’s where I was…right there in Allen Temple. I didn’t never leave…still ain’t left.

 

So you talked about kind of the misfortune of you getting shot during the moment you was about to probably become one of the hottest rappers on the scene. Since that occurrence, I don’t know if you can speak on your current situation…

DG Yola: I can speak on anything!

 

As far as being in the halfway house at this point…can you speak on that?

DG Yola: Yeah…Hell yeah. Imma give you the raw. As far as the halfway house, that’s a part of my prison sentence. I got sentenced 12 years, serve 5 and I did like 4 of the 5…well 3 ½. So really the halfway house, I had just put in for it not knowing I would get accepted to go you know what I’m saying. I’m still fucking up right now cause at the end of the day I got to do my music. They want me to work…go to work every day but I ain’t never had a job. This is what I do so shit when they see this, if y’all see this…this what it is. I told y’all!

 

So shit with that situation right there, it’s a blessing ‘cause I’m not in prison and I’m able to be around you all, my family and everything like that. But I gotta take advantage of the moment. I got to seize the moment. So with the halfway house… shit they don’t want me to do this. They don’t want me to do no interviews, no music, no none of that shit and if I do it, they want me to be on the low key about the shit you know what I’m saying. But how can you be low key? How can you halfway do something? In this profession anyway, you can’t halfway do this shit. You got to go at it. So if they was to catch a whiff of what I was doing, 9 times out of 10, they’ll probably just move me out of Atlanta. They’ll probably just take me to LaGrange or some country town like that or whatever and let me do the rest of my time there. But it really wouldn’t matter ‘cause I’ll still work my shit out there. But I should be getting out that shit in a minute though. Like if it ain’t this month, next month, it’ll be some time next year or whatever. It’s just trials and tribulations.

 

Will you have any restrictions when you get out like as far as traveling out of state?

DG Yola: Naw, I don’t think so cause for parole, this a job too. Then like with my current situation with manager and them, I got a job in their eyes. That’s how I’m able to do this. So I don’t think it’ll be a problem. I think I’ll be able to travel or whatever. I just got to get that understanding with my parole officer.

 

With that situation and not to dwell on it, but as far as for advice for the guys that’s out there rapping or that’s in music but still like you said are heavily connected to the streets because we so much about rappers going to jail, doing this or getting in fights, shooting or whatever the case may be. What kind of advice can you give to the young adults to try to help them maintain and focus on their career if they’re really trying to be successful?

DG Yola: Well I can tell them the same thing I told one of my lil patnas. You can’t do both of’em. It ain’t no way in the world you can do both of’em. You can’t sell dope and rap so one of’em gotta go. You’re going to either be a drug lord in the streets or you’re going to be a successful rapper. I had to make that transition too when I used to sell drugs. I couldn’t sell both of’em. Rap outweighed the dope game so that’s the route I chose.

 

So if you out there and you doing your thang and you doing both of’em at the same time something gon have to eventually give. You gon have to give one of’em up and I say go with the one that’s making you the most money. Rap made me the most money so that’s the one I went with. You feel what I’m saying? But you can’t do both of’em. Hell nawl cause if you selling dope and catching cases you ain’t gon be successful cause ain’t nobody gonna wanna touch you. That’s just like me and my situation. I wasn’t supposed to go to prison how I feel. I know what I did was wrong . I shot my people… I shot my cousin two times over some bullshit or whatever. But he ain’t the only one I done shot, but I shot him. So I had to do what I had to do and that shit put a strain on my shit. It stopped a whole bunch of stuff so it was like really…I won’t do that again. I’ll think before I do it again.

 

Do you think there’s that fine line when it comes to what rappers talk about in music and like you said at some point when you start selling music, albums and getting this money in…they aren’t really in the streets?

DG Yola: You know man I think all these rappers fake. I think all of’em fake, all of’em putting up these images, all of’em putting up these smoke screens… to fool their fans. Cause I’m out here every day straight up and if you don’t see these niggas in the club or whatever, you ain’t gon see these niggas out here interacting in these hoods. You ain’t finna see these niggas out here on these corners. You ain’t finna see these folks fucking with these real dope boys out here. I’m out here so I don’t see’em. You hear a whole bunch of shit about niggas in space, niggas doing this, niggas balling and all that…I don’t see that shit brah and I don’t fuck with it. You know what I’m saying…like I made that song “Live Real, Die Real” dog you know what I mean. So the thing about that…man I don’t see these niggas. These niggas fake to me straight up. I push up on niggas, niggas act funny cause they got that money. It don’t even matter. It don’t matter to me ‘cause I’ma do me regardless. I’ma keep it all the way 100 regardless of what the situation is. I’ma keep it 100, keep it street not industry…keep it in the streets. Ya feel what I’m saying.

 

 

Stay tuned for Part 2 with DG Yola…

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