Yelawolf Rebrands Himself With New Name

A little over a month ago, Yelawolf canceled the remainder of his Trial by Fire tour after a series of mid-concert breakdowns. Shortly afterwards, he also changed his Instagram handle to his government name, Michael Wayne Atha. Now, the “Shadows” performer reveals his new Instagram name will also be his rap moniker going forward. He explains as much in a recently uploaded Instagram post.

In the post, MWA says he decided to go the sober route after losing one of his close friends and being forced into a psych ward by his ex-manager. MWA explains that he’s lost “everything” and that he’s maintained his sobriety for 300 days.

“In the psych ward in SD…where they tried to break me and feed me drugs for 72 hours against my will…I lost everything…and lost 95 percent of every so called friend and business associates during my stay … and I bounced back so fuckin hard and fast they should give me my own line of Olympic diving boards .. my soul must be spring loaded … I am HipHop’s answer to rock and roll…and Nashville’s answer to the debauchery they called pop country rap, did it. DONE !! currently inspired by the dopeness pouring out of California,” reads the Alabama rapper’s Instagram caption.

A bit later in the post, MWA explains that he believes he’s hip-hop’s answer to rock and roll and the “Alexander McQueen of skateboarding.” For reasons that aren’t exactly clear, MWA is in a hospital bed in one of his other recently uploaded Instagram videos.

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