“We’re just about getting good music to the people however we need to go about that, whether it’s an album or mixtape or single.”Įven on Live From the Kitchen’s life-story opener “Testimony,” Gotti admits that he doesn’t trust record labels. “It’s just more product out there to me,” Gotti says of the Live From the Kitchen release. And he released several high-profile singles: “Five Star” (Fall 2009), Lil Wayne duet “Women Lie, Men Lie” (Spring 2010), “We Can Get it On” (Summer 2011), and the current “Single.” He’s released innumerable self-released “mixtape” collections - usually recorded in two- to four-day sessions.

Gotti - who’s reached a wider audience in his hometown via regular appearances at the University of Memphis basketball’s annual “Memphis Madness” event - wasn’t exactly without product in the multiyear wait for Live From the Kitchen. Swapping the songs out is not a thing to me.” But that’s not a problem with me because I record so much.

That sent me back to the drawing board again. “The first set of songs I turned in leaked out, and that sent us back to the drawing board. “The first reason, I turned in the album maybe three times,” Gotti says, explaining the rolling delays. And, for Gotti, Live From the Kitchen arrives after literally years of delays. But being on a major label is, for most artists, not what it used to be. You might think this would be a life-changing event for Gotti, who has ascended to the top of the Memphis rap scene in the years between official albums.

Released by RCA, it’s Gotti’s first label-released album since 2006’s Back 2 Da Basics, for prominent national indie TVT. In January, Memphis rapper Yo Gotti - born Mario Mims - witnessed the release of his major-label debut, Live From the Kitchen.

New yo gotti mixtape tracklist