Bringing You Up to Speed: Young Money

Today Lil Wayne’s super group, Young Money, hits the world with their debut album, We Are Young Money.

Led by a Grammy award-winning, multi-platinum rap star (Lil Wayne), and two of the hottest emerging artists in the game (Drake & Nicki Minaj), it seems like Young Money has a promising future.  Having said that, they still have a lot to prove.

Their hit single, “Every Girl,” put the group on the nationwide radar in early 2009.  That track and Drake’s “Best I Ever Had” seemed to be the only songs played on the radio this past spring.

To help bring back some of that early buzz, they recently released a video for the Kane Beatz-produced “Bed Rock,” featuring Lloyd.

Young Money – “Bed Rock.”

This is one of the more entertaining videos of the year, and I’m very impressed by how well they were able to fit seven artists onto one track so flawlessly!

As expected, Drake and Nicki Minaj put forth two standout verses on “Bed Rock,” but it’s the cohesive group effort that makes the track so smooth.  Despite having seven artists on the song, not everyone in Young Money got a chance to spit on “Bed Rock.”  We finally get to hear the entire group on “Finale,” and once again I’m impressed at how well they fit everyone in.

Because the size of the group can be confusing, I’ve put together a list to provide a more detailed look at Weezy’s collective.  The following is a quick bio of the group’s members, as well as a link to their Twitter pages:

Drake:  If you listen to the radio or stay in touch with pop culture in any way, it’s almost impossible to have missed Drake.  Hailing from Toronto, the Degrassi star has made a clean transition into hip hop, and has already received two Grammy nominations without an official album. Twitter:@DRAKKARDNOIR

Nicki Minaj: The emerging female emcee from New York has successfully aligned herself with two of the biggest forces in the South; Gucci Mane and Lil Wayne.  In addition to these co-signs, she’s building her own lane with a unique flow and cult following of fellow barbies.  For more information on Nicki, check out our feature article.  Few artists know how to use Twitter as well as @NickiMinaj, follow her now!

Mack Maine: Serving as the President of the record label, as well as a member of the group, Mack Maine helps to manage the careers for each member of Young Money.  Being a friend of Wayne’s since they were 11 years-old, he’s down for the long run.  You may also remember Mack from Tha Carter III’s “Got Money.”  Twitter:@Mackmaine

Shanell: Shanell encompasses a lot of what Lil Wayne has been visualizing for his urban/pop rock genre that will be explored with the upcoming Rebirth album.  She was actually on the album’s first single “Prom Queen,” and appeared in the video opposite Korn in “Wayne’s band.”  Having said that, she only appears on We Are Young Money once, with “Play In My Band,” a track that could have easily been saved for Rebirth.  Outside of making music, this Atlanta native is a professional dancer and met Lil Wayne while on tour with Ne-Yo. Twitter:@Shanell_SnL

Tyga: The 20 year old cousin of Travis McCoy, Gym Class Heroes’ lead man, first achieved national recognition in 2008 with “Coconut Juice.”  He’s now the West Coast representative of the Young Money family, having been born in Compton.  Twitter:@Tyga

Jae Millz: After making a name for himself as an impressive freestyle artist and releasing a number of well received mixtapes, it’s finally time for Jae Millz to enjoy mainstream success.  The Harlem emcee has been through a number of ups and downs in his career, but signed with Young Money to give his career a jump start, after gaining the attention of Lil Wayne.  Twitter:@JaeMillz

Gudda Gudda & T-Streets: Both of these New Orleans-bred artists were a part of Lil Wayne’s Squad Up group, and now join him in Young Money Ent.  They’ve been with Weezy from day one, and bring more of the Nola’s flavor to the table.  Twitter:@GUDDA1 & Twitter:@TStreetsYM

Lil Chuckee: We see yet another New Orleans artist with the youngest member of the group, Rashad Ballard.  Rashad was given the nickname “Chuckee,” by his parents who borrowed the idea from the movie, Childs Play.  He joined Young Money after Lil Wayne met him on a video set and was immediately impressed by his parent’s presentation of the rising artist.  Twitter:@LilChuckee

Lil Twist: Christopher L. Moore, aka Lil Twist, is similar to Lil Chuckee as they’re both teenagers, but this Dallas artist is being branded as the good kid of the group.  If you check out his myspace page, you’ll see his interests lie in God and family above all.  Twitter:@LilTwist

Short Dawg: He’s the newest signee to Young Money, also known by his alias, Elvis Freshly.  Lil Wayne discovered him while Short Dawg was still ghostwriting for Bow Wow.  Twitter:@ElvisFrEsHley

Getting back to the music, the We Are Young Money album has been causing a lot of buzz with Lil Wayne fans, who despite grabbing a leaked version are still heading to the stores to purchase a copy.  After hearing the album a few times, I must say that I was impressed with its final product.

Two standout tracks which showcase the group’s talent are “Streets Is Watchin’,” and “Roger That.”

Young Money – “Streets Is Watchin’.”

David Banner has an ear for creating those Southern, bass-heavy tracks with futuristic metallic sounds sprinkled throughout.  My favorite quote off the track, beside Nicki Minaj’s verse, is the hook’s, “If you scared, you better go and see Mase bitch!“  That’s a funny take on the popular phrase, “If you scared, go to church,” ha!

Here’s Nicki’s verse:

“I’m a bad woof,
Bout to get a manni-ped,
I’m the big bad wolf, and your granny dead,
Even though I’m in Mexico,
I rep New York like Plaxico,
Look, switch my name,
Now I’m celebrating Hanukkah,
Lewinsky bitches, Young Money Monica,
I’ve been hot since Hedgehog, Sonic The,
So could you pass me the keys to the Tonika?
I mean Tonka, that’s the truck bitches,
Fuck you and fuck all of you fuck bitches,
Matter fact, put some sprinkles on my cupcakes,
And get ready to put your dimples in this duck tape.”

Nicki killed that.

If you still doubt her presence in hip hop, check out this video of her in concert.  Few artists know how to brand themselves like the Harajuku Barbie, and her fans are some of the most loyal in the game.

Young Money – “Roger That.”

Nicki, Tyga, and Weezy all go in on this track, and once again Nicki impresses me with her lyrics and flow:

“I’m in the collard green 6, cornbread in the guts,
Got the Halloween kicks, trick or treatin’ the clutch,
Come on nigga is you trickin or what?
Flo-flo-flow tighter than a dick in the butt.
Just hopped off da plane, came back from Vancouv’,
Little white tee, some boobs, and bamboos,
White girls tell me, “Hey Nicki, your camp rules,
Is that why you get more head than shampoos?”
Asalaam alaikum, no oink for me.
And I never let a D-boy boink for free.
Cause its barbie bitch, you can join the wave,
I done penny, nickel, dimed, I done coined da phrase.”

I love that line about her collard green 6 with the cornbread inside!

Other standout tracks on the album which can be streamed in its entirety on the group’s myspace page, are “Gooder,” “Pass The Dutch,” “She Is Gone,” and “Steady Mobbin’,” featuring Gucci Mane.

Big shout out to KY’s Finis, Mike Banger, and everyone who helped make the album.  If you cop it today, be sure to send Shanell a Twitpic, as she’s postin them on her blog.