To Whom It May Concern - Yelawolf

So I had a phone call with a good friend of mine the other night

And, um, it seems that I've created some confusion

He told me straight up, people don't know you like I do, man

I guess I haven't said enough, or maybe I've said too much, I don't know

But I don't wanna leave any stone unturned or no questions about who I am

Or what I represent

So here you go…

I grew up in the deep gutter

Raised by wolves, church steeples, and a single white mother

Taught to be blind to any colour by hippies who been smoking weed since the ‘60s

With Dukes of Hazzard for bed covers

Rock'n'roll, country music, and cocaine

One hand on the Bible and the ouija board in the other

The irony of it all is so thick that a fly would get stuck in the thin air of that dope smoke

Lynyrd Skynyrd and Michael Jackson

Practicing moonwalking with a broomstick in the kitchen, popping and locking

No BET on television, we didn't have it, we had the rabbits

The 10-4, mason jar on the counter full of bacon oil

Now looking back, talking ‘bout freedom, yeah you were spoiled

Oblivious to the hideous crimes from the insidious minds

That took place right below us on the Southern soil

The blood and the pain left a recoil

The creekwater's holding secrets

Ghosts of Confederate veterans in the wind

Backwoods are haunted with the death and the sin

Slave ships carried the lost souls

Wicked white men slaughtering angels for a fucking bar code

We buried these wicked ways, the world is still turning

And these motherfuckers with they crosses is still burning

Yeah, I seen ‘em at the courthouse

Not really sure what they're trying to prove still

Jumped up on mountains they're still trying to move hills

And their daughters probably listen to Dru Hill

Pussy hotter than blue steel for Dru Hill

So Jesus come take the wheel

No, you steer drunk

The youth here're punks

The truth here it come

I'll show you how these country folks pop that trunk

Uh, and my honesty is modest

To tell the whole truth yeah I've pondered and I've pondered

To be spit at and called a wigger from who you considered a father at 14

‘ll make you wonder, and you wonder

Yeah, that's hard to hear, ain't it

But at that very moment my picture got painted

Call it God, call it what you will

But I knew the South was sick still and in need of some changes

So I took it upon myself to adpot all of the outcasts

I took the American and the Confederate flag

Threw it in my back pocket, I even went and got tatts

And carried them like a shield for the shit that once held me back

And these redneck brothers of mine, playin' that 3.6

In a fucking cornfield, in big trucks with lift kits

Oblivious to the beauty of juxtaposition

They had no idea how special it was to witness

Them in deep Alabama playing Snoop and Group Home

Big Hank and Metallica, I discovered a new zone

And Catfish Billy, a way for me to talk about it

From them on I was questioned and highly doubted by my peers

Who didn't understand that all these years we'd been the brunt of the jokes

America made it clear that we were backwards, wrong, behind, and segregated

So I decided that Yelawolf would go make it more obvious that we've grown

I polished up my tone, I signed to Shady and brought a record deal home

Look mama, no hands, I'm coming up, yeah I'm grown

Respect from the OGs, cosigning my songs

First it was Bun B, then Raekwon, and TIP

Then all of these MCs wanted features from me

But I was a live wire, my tongue was a fuckin' blade to these critics

Who didn't get it, the clips from the grenade in my teeth

A little too unique, the market for me was smaller than some thought it would be

Even me so I looked in the mirror

Saw the Jordans, the gold chain, my shirt—Pantera

Rebel flag in my pocket, RED tattooed on my neck

Heart of Dixie across the stomach and it ain't clicked yet?

Maybe I wore the wrong shoes back to the woods because these suede No. 5s can't get wet

Maybe it's something I need to go figure out on my own

So after Radioactive I took my shit back home

Disappeared from the world, became increasingly different

Tuned in every once in a while to see who was spitting

But mainly I was in Nashville getting back to my roots

Explorin' music with Love Story, I made it my truth

Dropped a single called Til It's Gone and travelled the globe

I started seeing rebel flags everywhere at my shows

I didn't think nothing of it, I assumed that they get it

I'm on some New South shit, but I have to admit it

I saw the posts up on Instagram proclaiming I'm racist

And that I'm fucked in the head and I don't know where my place is

I started taking it personal ‘cause I treat people equal

Homie, I got mixed kids and music is how I feed ‘em

Lo and behold as I'm saying this I discover this evil

White boy went in a church and killed 9 innocent people

Goddamn, hold on, moment of silence

Nine innocent church going people get murdered

There's not a word I can utter, there's not a rhyme I can say

There ain't no fixing that ever, those people brutally slain

And I refuse to see ways to justify all the blame

That motherfucker's insane

I got so mad at my own image, I took down merch

No explaining it now, it's only making it worse

This fucking coward, this criminal's, just a puppet, a mental case

But the truth is the truth, he did it because of race

There's nothing I can describe, the shame that I felt inside

A white boy with the flag committed this homicide

I tried solo to defend the South, and yes it was my decision

My interviews broke on the internet, you can see my vision

I never thought myself to be like a politician, just a witness to the sickness

The kindling was in the bridge and the bricks that I laid to the road

That I built from the love and the wisdom

I'm trying to find my way

But now I'm feeling imprisoned from the stereotypes

I was prepared for the fight

Hell, I'll be stereotyped until my burial site

I married a loaded gun when I married this mic

Ain't playing Russian roulette, ain't playing ‘round with my life

‘Cause what I cannot lose is the respect that I've gained

Friendships I cherish, fuck the money and fame

Black American culture is in the thread of my veins

It's rock'n'roll till I die, I'm just a rebel in shame

Yes I apologize for me and anybody with that flag

Honestly, any proud Southerner is sad

How do you think I feel when I look at my grandad

Imagining him dead because of that piece of trash

I got nephews, nieces, who need this, peace between this

But media is fiendish

So if you feel like you're above it or beneath it

Have a logical mind about who your team is

And when you look at me, dawg, don't look at me like another branch off a tree

Lord, I took this shit and balanced it the best that I could

Try to hold up the wood of America's old see-saw

But this ain't Hee Haw with MeMaw

We ain't on the Cosby Show, are we, bro

Daddy may give a goodnight kiss, but I can promise you this

That you ain't promised tomorrow

I wish I could go back to the innocence

I remember my friends with no differences

But pigment is relative, isn't it

Maybe by 2050 we'll be over it

Big KRIT, I love you homie, keep killin' shit

You inspired this verse, I got your back and let's live with this

It is what it is, we cannot fix all this ignorance

Slumerican flags up, it's over, I'm ending this