Yelawolf was the child of a teenager mother who spent his youth moving around the southern states. While growing up in Tennessee, he attending school in the projects where he was first introduced to rap and hip hop. From there him and his mother would travel to California and it was there he took an interest in skateboarding, and later they would move to Alaska where he would find work on a commercial fishing boat, for a short time he was even homeless. But once he moved to Alabama, rap became his main focus. Working with Ghet-O-Vision, Yela was able to drop Creekwater, which gained him the attention of Columbia records. But he was dropped from the label almost as quickly as he was signed. With almost a whole album unreleased Yelawolf began to drop the songs as mixtapes, including Trunk Muzik. The mix was an overnight success.