Yelawolf Revisits His Alter Ego On “Catfish Billy 2”

Yelawolf’s “TM3” off Trunk Muzik 3 contains many references to his early career, and on the second single, “Catfish Billy 2,” he returns to a character he first brought to life more than six years ago. The original “Catifsh Billy” appeared on 2013’s Trunk Muzik Returns.

Yelawolf first teased the sequel back in the summer of 2018. He later performed it at a show in Jacksonville, NC. On the song, Yelawolf tells the story of Billy’s childhood growing up committing small crimes in Alabama. He raps:

I’ve been that boy since I was smoking banana peels
Back in Alabama where the ballpen
Hammer knocking hubcaps off the reel
Stealing bowties off the grills
Momma said, “No carbonated soda ‘fore you go to bed”
But I never listened to her
A two-liter bong with a tinfoil bowl
Full of cheap hydro is illegal, I’m sure

Both “Catfish Billy” and “Catfish Billy 2” are produced by Yelawolf’s longtime collaborator WLPWR. The character’s demeanor and attitude on the second song are consistent with the picture Yelawolf paints on the original “Catfish Billy” as he raps:

Going to jail cause I’m drunk at Piggly Wiggly, (dagnabbit)
Cause I be here and I do my time
Cause I can’t make bail on minimum wage
Nothing to do in the country but get drunk
And watch that pendulum sway
Back in the saddle again
Throw my middle finger up to the law

Yelawolf hails from Gadsden, AL, and the Catfish Billy characters seems to have much in common with the 39-year-old rapper himself. At the end of the second verse of “Catfish Billy 2,” Yelawolf seems to break character slightly to assert that he isn’t making music for accolades or social media success. He raps:

I do not hang at the same club in the same town every damn night
I am not making Hip-Hop for the Hip-Hop awards show or the ‘Gram likes

He previously took shots at other white hip-hop artists like G-Eazy, Machine Gun Kelly, and Post Malone on his “Bloody Sunday” freestyle. Trunk Muzik 3 will be Yelawolf’s final album on Eminem’s Shady Records.

Read the full lyrics to “Catfish Billy,” “Catfish Billy 2,” and the rest of Yelawolf’s discography on Genius now.