After spending two decades in the rap game, Yo Gotti is experiencing another career surge after the release of Untrapped. The veteran Memphis rapper started off the year by celebrating a few major accomplishments, including the end of his deal with Epic Records and the acquisition of all his master recordings. As a recording artist, purchasing your master catalogue is one of the greatest investments you can make but, unfortunately, it never becomes a feasible option for most rappers. Running press for the album, Yo Gotti stopped by The Breakfast Club to chat with Charlamagne Tha God, DJ Envy, and Angela Yee about how he's freed himself mentally in the last year, flaunting his freshly-inspired untrapped mindset and speaking on the central themes to the album.
We all know that, when he wants to, Yo Gotti can make a banger. If he goes into the studio with the intention of creating a strip club anthem, a radio hit, or a cut that'll shoot up the charts, he can do it. With Untrapped, Big Gotti employed a different approach to music creation. He tells the hosts of The Breakfast Club that his intention was to focus on telling stories. Commencing the album with "Trapped" and ending it with "Untrapped" wasn't just a conscious decision; it detailed his mental activity while putting together the body of work. It also symbolically spells out the end of his deal with Epic.
Speaking about the final record on the project with Estelle, the Memphis spitter says that "Untrapped" was inspired heavily by the attitude Nipsey Hussle kept. "That's one of my favorite records," said Gotti, referring to his Estelle collab. "I recorded that the day after the thing happened with Nipsey [Hussle] too. I think a lot of the Nipsey energy was what inspired me to write that record from a more mature level."
Many are hailing this version of Yo Gotti as a return to the "old Gotti." For the Nipsey Hussle comments, watch below at the 18-minute mark.