Eminem and Yelawolf Cover Vibe With First-Ever Joint Interview

Eminem and Yelawolf appear on the cover of the December/January issue of Vibe against a headline that asks: Is hip-hop finally color blind?

With Eminem having become the most successful white rapper of all time and his understudy Yela attempting to forge a similar path, it's a poignant question. It's the duo's first-ever joint interview and they discuss all sorts of topics, from white rappers using the "N" word to their history with drugs. Em and Yela aren't afraid to open up or to serve as the poster boys for color-free hip-hop.

Yelawolf, a backwoods Alabama b-boy, will release 'Radioactive' on Em's Shady Records, on Nov. 21. Having grown up in the South, he doesn't think white rappers should drop the "N" word, at all. He also doesn't think any white person should use the term, inside or outside of the rap world. He copped to having used the word as a youngin, but has since stopped.

He said, “[In Alabama] we have a dark history concerning the relationship between black and white people. I’m not a role model by any means, but if I said it around the house I got popped in the mouth." However, on the flip, he admitted that his black friends used the word as a term of endearment when speaking to him.

When the touchy subject of drugs came up, Em joked that he is clean, save for the heroin he shot in the AM. Kidding aside, Yelawolf wasn't shy about his drug-filled past. And when we say drug-filled, we mean it.

"I started smoking weed at 11," Yelawolf said. "By 12, I was smoking dust. Thirteen, acid, Freon, special k, mushrooms; 16 years old, I was selling X pills at school. Not even because I was a good dope boy, but because I was a scumbag. It was called chocolate chip, and it had heroin in it. I used to take that s--- and go to class. I went so heavy into drugs that I had a bad trip one time that lasted for months." Yikes. Yela really was playing with the hard stuff.

As for Eminem and Yela being the ambassadors for color blind hip-hop, Em said, "We deal with it enough as it is. So now, let's make music. Yelawolf concurred, "Let's make great records. At the end of the day, that's all there is to do." Everyone wins that way!

The Em/Yela issue of Vibe drops Dec. 6