Young Gunz
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| Young Gunz | ||
|---|---|---|
| Background information | ||
| Also known as | Young Gunners, Gunnaz | |
| Origin | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | |
| Genre(s) | Hip Hop/Rap | |
| Occupation(s) | Rapper | |
| Years active | 2000 - Present | |
| Label(s) | Roc-A-Fella Records/Def Jam | |
| Associated acts |
Cassidy Beanie Sigel Freeway Jay-Z |
|
| Members | ||
| Neef Buck Young Chris |
||
The Young Gunz, composed of Young Chris (born Christopher F. Ries on October 7,1983) & Young Neef aka Neef Buck (born Haneef Muhammad on December 29,1983), is a Rap duo from Nicetown on the northside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are former members of Beanie Sigel's State Property collective and are currently signed to the Roc-A-Fella Records label. Young Gunz' debut single, "Can't Stop, Won't Stop", was one of the top 20 on the Billboard charts of 2003.
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[edit] Early life
While growing up in the poverty stricken neighborhood that is Nicetown, Philadelphia, Haneef "Neef" Muhammad & Christopher "Young Chris" Ries made a promise to their mothers that they would some day "get them out the hood." To achieve this goal, Chris & Neef apparently decided to sell market illegal drugs and narcotics. However, Neef, was inspired by rap music and started to write rap lyrics and perform at the lunch table during middle school. He later encouraged his childhood friend, Chris (who, according to many critics and even Neef himself, would ironically become a better rapper), to stop selling drugs and form a rap group with him. By high school the pair would have a manager and the interest of major rap labels. This experience soon led to a record deal with the world-famous, industry-dominating Roc-A-Fella records. These events were eventually detailed in the title track to the group's debut album Tough Luv
[edit] Early career
The duo signed with Roc-A-Fella in the summer of 2000 and immediately started recording with their labelmates, though an album never manifested itself. The first appearance of either member on a mainstream record was on the track "1-900-Hustler" from Jay-Z's multi-platinum album, The Dynasty: Roc la Familia (2000- ). Though he didn't rap, Young Chris introduced himself during a skit on the song. And later, on Jay-Z's next effort The Blueprint, the Young Gunz, who where simply called "Chris & Neef" at the time, got a high-profile shoutout from him on the vicious diss track, "The Takeover" & and also another song on the album called "All I Need". This would cause some speculation and interest to who they were. During this period, Chris and Haneef continued to sell drugs, because of the neglect and small amount of work they were receiving from their label. The duo first rapped on and made a few guest appearances on the State Property soundtrack album as well as making small cameos in the movie it self. Also during this period of their career, Young Chris would carry the weight of the group appearing throughout Dame Dash's Dream Team compilation & Beanie Sigel's The Reason. This would cause a slight rift between the two but they were eventually able to settle it and even record a song about it, releasing their emotions on the aforementioned "Tough Luv". In turn, this altercation made them closer instead of tearing them apart. Neef soon realized his mistake and the pair began to stop selling drugs (permanently) accept all the guest appearances they could attain, appearing on the second installment of Jay-Z's Blueprint album, Freeway's Philadelphia Freeway, State Property's Chain Gang, Vol.2, and Memphis Bleek's M.A.D.E. all while recording their album. The Young Gunz scored their first hit single "Can't Stop, Won't Stop", the lead-off single from the Chain Gang album. The song and it's video received major airplay on the MTV2 and BET networks and radio.
[edit] Albums
The guest appearances would be an enormus help to album sales as evidenced in the numbers the album put up during the first week and chart postitoning eventually. The album itself boasted features and production from the likes of artists and producers such as Jay-Z, Scott Storch, Just Blaze, Beanie Sigel, members of The Diplomats, Bink!, Chingy & others. Chris & Neef scored moderate success with the remix to "Can't Stop, Won't Stop" which features a guest appearance by St. Louis rapper, Chingy. The duo followed up with the hit record "No Better Love", featuring former Roc-A-Fella Records crooner Rell. Unfortunately, the duo failed to gain as much success with their Just Blaze produced "Friday Night". The album received rave reviews and a 3.5 rating from the Source magazine. After a brief hiatus, the duo returned with Swizz Beatz produced "Set It Off" from their second album, Brothers from Another. This album was somewhat of a disappointment compared to the first despite the decent exposure of the lead single, promotion from Jay- himself, TV, radio & magazine appearances, and features from Kanye West, Swizz Beatz, Daz Dillnger, Slim of 112 (Marvin Scandrick III) and John Legend on the album.Young Chris will be releasing a solo album in 2007 titled Now or Never. The first promo-single of his album is "Coast 2 Coast" and features Bobby Valentino. Now or Never probably comes out between summer and fall, the first rumored release date is June 26th.
[edit] Singles
| Year | Song | U.S. Hot 100 | U.S. R&B | U.S. Rap | Album |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | "Can't Stop, Won't Stop | - | - | - | The Chain Gang, Vol. 2 |
| 2004 | "No Better Love | - | - | - | Tough Luv |
| 2004 | "Friday Night | - | - | - | Tough Luv |
| 2005 | "Like That | - | - | - | 534 |
| 2005 | "Set It Off | - | - | - | 'Brothers from Another' |
| 2005 | "Don't Keep Me Waiting (Come Back Soon) | - | - | - | 'Brothers from Another' |
[edit] Beef
The Young Gunz are currently "beefing" with West Coast rapper, The Game. The feud stems from The Game's beef with Memphis Bleek, which escalated into a beef with the entire Roc-A-Fella camp with the exception of Kanye West, Jay-Z and Just Blaze. The Game dissed Bleek and The Young Gunz on a 15-minute G-Unit diss entitled "300 Bars and Runnin'" as well as on his mix-tape album "Ghost Unit". The Young Gunz, along with Pooda Brown, responded with a freestyle of their own. Surprisingly, Chris & Neef are also beefin' with actor, comedian and now Dipset rapper, Katt "Money Mike" Wiliams. This beef was encouraged by The Game as he and Katt dissed the two on a Freestyle over their own "Set It Off" beat. Formerly, when State Property was still together, the Young Gunz had beef with the entire D-Block crew as well as Nas & the Bravehearts but, the beef has been squashed, evidenced by when they all performed together at Jay-Z's "I Declare War" concert.
[edit] Videography
From Beanie Sigel's The Reason
- 2001: "Think It's A Game" (Young Chris - performing, Neef - cameo)
From State Property OST
- 2001: "Roc the Mic" (cameo)
From Dame Dash's Paid in Full OST/Dream Tream
- 2002: "One For Peedi" (Young Chris - performing, Neef - cameo)
From Jay-Z's The Blueprint 2: the Gift & the Curse
- 2003: "Excuse Me Miss" (cameo)
From Freeway (rapper)'s Philadelphia Freeway
- 2003: "Flipside" (cameo)
- 2003: "Alright" (cameo)
From Bad Boys II OST
- 2003: "Flipside" (cameo)
From The Chain Gang, Vol. 2
- 2003: "Can't Stop, Won't Stop" (Produced by Dame Majes)
From Tough Luv
- 2003: "Can't Stop, Won't Stop [Remix]"
- 2004: "No Better Love"
- 2004: "Friday Night"
From Memphis Bleek's 534
- 2005: "Like That" (cameo)
From Brothers from Another
- 2005: " Set It Off"
- 2006: "Don't Keep Me Waiting (Come Back Soon)" (Ft. Slim Of 112)
From Teairra Mari's Roc-a-fella Presents...Teairra Mari
- 2005: "Make Her Feel Good" (cameo)jackIee
[edit] Filmography
- State Property 3:The Come Back (Early 2008)
- State Property 2 (2005)
- Fade to Black (2004)
- State Property (film) (2001)
[edit] Discography
[edit] Mixtapes (with State Property)
- The Lost Files
The Gangs All Here(Mixtape Album with State Property) (2005)
[edit] Albums (solo)
- Tough Luv #3 US Gold(2004)
- Brothers from Another #15 US (2005)
- Now or Never 2007 (Young Chris Solo)
- From Pieces To Change (2007)
- Tough Enuff (late 2007)
[edit] Mixtapes (solo)
- Get in Where You Fit in (Mixtape Album) (2004)
- Get in Where U Fit in, Vol. 2 (Mixtape Album) (2005)
- Get in Where you Fit in vol.3 All on Chris(Hosted by Wyse Schmeek) (2006)
- Killadelphia: More Bodies than Days (Mixtape Album) (2007) (Young Chris solo)
- Young Chris: Hired Gun (with DJ Noodles) (2007) (Young Chris solo) (http://www.youngchrishiredgun.com)
