Yo Gotti Wants To Tell More Of His Life Story On His New Album

Yo Gotti's career has been a long, patient and largely independent grind since his debut project more than a decade ago. But after a bad experience with RCA in the mid-2000s soured him on the major label experience, he was back on his own moving mixtapes out of the trunk as he toured the country trying to build up his own music empire. Last year, however, he hopped back onto the major label train, signing a label deal for himself and his CMG label with L.A. Reid and Epic Records and releasing his first Epic LP, I Am, last November.

The album, spurred on by singles "Act Right" and "King Shit," brought Gotti to a level of stardom that he hadn't previously touched before. His I Am Tour brought him to theaters and bigger venues around the States, while his opening slot on the Drake Vs. Lil Wayne Tour this summer put him in front of stadium-sized crowds just about every night. But the grind continued, and less than a year after I Am he's gearing up to drop his second Epic LP, The Art Of Hustle, some time in the next few months. As he builds off the remix to The Art Of Hustle's first single, "Errrbody," which features Lil Wayne and Ludacris, Gotti hopped on the phone with XXL to talk about the success of I Am, his tour with Wayne and Drake and the status of his CMG label. Hustle hard. —Dan Rys