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Yelawolf doesn’t believe in taking breaks. Just a few months after releasing Trunk Muzik Returns, Yela went straight to work on his forthcoming album Love Story. However, he doesn’t like having downtime and immediately got into the studio with DJ Paul to create Black Fall.

“Marshall’s album got pushed back a little bit, so naturally my project got pushed back too,” he tells XXL. “So in the meantime, I was like, ‘Fuck it. I’ll just grind.’”

Yela’s first time meeting DJ Paul was when he was invited for a studio session in Nashville, TN. The two were putting the finishing touches on “Go Hard,” a track that became the first single from Paul’s Da Mafia 6ix project. It was here that Black Fall was created. “We were just vibing in the studio, drinking and fucking around. And we came up with the idea. Me and Paul just clicked,” he recalls. "I was like, ‘Aw man, shit would be crazy to drop on Halloween.’ So I wanted something that represented the season, but still ill sounding. I just thought Black Fall sounded perfect.”

The five-track EP shows the two worlds with familiar styles coming together. Paul dabbled into rock during the latter days of Three 6 Mafia and shows his expertise here by handpicking all the samples from Metallica to other obscure bands. Conversely, Yelawolf has always been a fan of the genre as displayed in his 2008 mixtape Stereo and last year's Psycho White EP with Travis Barker. When asked why Yela paired up with the Memphis legend, he says, “With me, I just felt at home. It wasn’t no pressure. I was giving myself a hard time with “Go Hard.” In the booth, [I was] getting mad at myself. I always do that. I wasn’t doing it perfectly or something. It was just bothering me. He told me to chill the fuck out, it’s just music.”

One of the standout songs is “Bowties” featuring the EP’s only guest: Rittz. “I never been one to reach out to who’s hot. I never kind of did that. I’m a fan of a lot of people, but I keep it within the squad.”

Yela and DJ Paul’s Black Fall EP is available now.

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