YELOHILL
Written by Andrew Mason
Photos by Noah Cudal
GHETTO SUPERSTAR
On a mission to touch as many aspects of the Los Angeles scene as possible, UNDRGRND Magazine was overdue showing love to YeloHill. The West LA rapper rose to street-rap fame in the late 2010s/early 2020s with hits like “Hood Musik” and “Tales From The Hood,” and has been able to maintain relevance out here in the wild west ever since.
YeloHill came by the UNDRGRND compound during the promo run for his newest project “Ghetto Superstar,” a 14-track album featuring TruCarr, Big $wift, Yhung T.O., Hit-Town, and Rowdy Racks. The tape is the first of the year for Yelohill, who came ready for photoshoot action in a classy, all-black fit.
According to Yelohill, West Coast rap was always a part of his childhood. However, the music he was introduced to from his parents exceeded further than just hip-hop.
“My mom would listen to 94.7 The WAVE, smooth Jazz,” Yelohill said. “And my dad, he wasn’t really around, he would listen to ranchero music. But Tupac, Snoop Dogg, The Dove Shack — all of that G-funk shit I was around for sure.”
Yelohill has a different energy than most rappers we meet. He’s highly attentive, hasn’t smoked weed in over eight years, and even dabbled for a short time as a pescatarian (“I’m done with that shit now though”). He’s a Black-Mexican with Native-American roots, and is the only rapper I’ve ever met who openly brags about not cheating on his girl.
Aside from his likeability, one way Yelohill has kept his name hot well into 2024 is his relationships with LA’s dopest producers. Yelohill has an impressive beatmaker resume, including multiple projects with Steelz, an LA-based producer best known for his work with G. Perico, Rucci, $tupid Young, RJMrLA, and other West Coast icons.
For production on “Ghetto Superstar”, Yelohill called on SalTreze, an LA-native signed to OTR Records and managed by Rosecrans Vic. Picking Saltreze, as well as the projects’ five features, was part of Yelohill’s plan to give a spotlight to those who support him from within the industry.
“I got people on the project that I felt were really fucking with me,” Yelohill said. “I’d rather get people who actually want to be on a record with me, rather than try to fish for somebody that’s bigger — because they’re gonna give you shit.”
As we find Yelohill amidst his “Ghetto Superstar” rollout, he tells us he’s embracing his mob boss’ persona. He’s a fan of 80s “Italian mafia” movies, which was the inspiration behind our Issue 12 exclusive cover design.
But Yelohill knows that being a boss is more than just carrying the title.
“Making music the music’s the fun part — I’ll go in the booth like Wayne, 20 tracks a day. But if you want to make money from it, capitalize on it, be a businessman, you gotta make sure that you doing all your shit right. Getting the team together, budget for promotion, peoples’ paperwork in order — all that funny shit is what takes longer.”
Yelohill is his own day-to-day manager, but admits he is open to looking for someone who “makes sense and coexists with everything I have going on.” He notes the key qualities he’s looking for in a potential manager is someone who is in LA, knows the scene well, and is simply “not deadweight.”
Go stream Yelohill’s “Ghetto Superstar” out now, and follow him on Instagram at @yelohill.