Chris "Young Chris" Ries and Hanif "Neef Buck" Muhammad have been friends since childhood, growing up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 2001, through his track "Takeover", Jay-Z announces them as "Chris & Neef", the duo signs with Roc-A-Fella, is part of the soundtrack of the film "State Property" (2002), enters the group of the same name and, while starting to record material for his own CD, performs on several albums on the label, including Beanie Sigel's "The Reason", Jay-Z's "The Blueprint 2", Freeway's "Philadelphia Freeway", Memphis Bleek's "M.A.D.E." and albums by the State Property group. After the worldwide success of the Young Gunz hit "Can't Stop, Won't Stop" featured on State Property's second LP, Roc-A-Fella is persuaded to release the duo's first album. The disc is recorded between Philadelphia and New York, almost entirely produced by Chad Hamilton along with Bink, Boola, Just Blaze, Scott Storch, EZ Elpee, Digga and Ruggedness. The guests include fellow State Property members Beanie Sigel, Freeway, Omillio Sparks aka Sparks, Roc-A-Fella artists Jay-Z, Rell and Dipset rappers Juelz Santana & Camron, Denim and Chingy. There's a good number of samples and the disc rarely makes use of live instrumentation, practically absent after the introductory track.
Bink has the task of opening this effort and chooses a tense, simplistic, bouncy, skeletal and somber jazzy rhythm, which the duo faces with a syncopated delivery. Sigel is immediately called to save the album on a simplistic, skeletal and banal jazzy boom bap in its continuous rebounds, the delivery of the duo has landed by Beanie Sigel, who travels to another level dropping a not completely clear verse. Chad Hamilton repeats himself in "No Better Love", this time it's up to Rell's hook to make the listener ignore yet another attempt for the club by the duo on a rhythm qualitatively similar to the previous ones, with the addition of a healthy hysteria in the rhythm, in an attempt to (vainly) modernize the sound. Finally Just Blaze: instead, the beatmaker makes you regret Chad Hamilton! Boom bap jazzy bouncing and simplistic more than the previous ones, not only, it's also tight and heavy to digest; straight cut at the party, attempted "State Property-style" summer hit, unfortunately failed. The result of this beat are hysterical and meaningless syncopated deliveries, performed at random, ignorant stuff at the lowest level with vintage hook.
Chad Hamilton is back with his cheap jazzy rhythms (this is soiled by confused noises in the background, so annoying to make you pray that DJ Khaled will arrive soon and solve everything), here skeletal, tight, with a soulful male bridge on the hook; the delivery of the duo is as trivial as it's light, the two try the hit with every single cut, it's exhausting, Juelz Santana helps them to push in that direction with a weakly southern delivery, but the song doesn't take off. Scott Storch presents the first rhythm that could be called good on the record: frenetic jazzy production, littered with heavy alt rock guitar licks and synth in the background, with a successful jazzy background. Jay-Z brings out the best verse of the disc with a technical delivery, smooth, dope, while the duo is ignorable in their syncopated deliveries. Just Blaze returns, after a cold shower, for the title track of the disc: skit, then pulls out a dirty, gloomy, dusty jazzy rhythm, enlivened by dirty-dusty strings, good Denim soul hook, beautiful cinematic tense jazzy bridge by Blaze on the hook. Young Gunz has a pretty good delivery for once. Here they put energy, commitment, bring out a couple of decent verses and successful bars, energetic and lively deliveries. The title track is among the choices of the LP.
Chad Hamilton worthily produces the next one thanks to a simple and accessible, essential, clean jazzy beat, which boasts a decent delivery of the duo. Even "North of Death" somehow flows away easily: good boom bap jazzy essential, simple, bouncy, tight, decent deliveries of Young Gunz, here calm, solid, with synths to accompany the rhythm in a dark atmosphere. Cam'ron awarded with the «ignorant bar of the record» above a rhythm created by Ruggedness: essential, simple, tight, tense jazzy production, with a deep soul sample in the background near the functional hook, the guest is superior to the main rappers without effort, the other two come up with just decent verses that travel calmly on the current of this rhythm surrounded by synths that float serenely around the mood of the song, not affected, in a rhythm with a West Coast flavor. Even the "good" Omillio Sparks looks better than the Chris & Neef firm: annoying, simplistic, tense and dark rhythm of Chad Hamilton, with a synthesized frenetic piano and hysterical delivery of the duo.
Boola fixes the album probs in "That's Right", thanks to a heavy, simplistic, skeletal and obscure jazzy boom bap, probably a half-successful cinematic attempt, but the decent (maybe even good) delivery of the duo, helped by the rhythm, makes it impeccable the job of the producer in his modern and dusty, dirty and underground jazzy beat. The frenetic piano is ingenious, excellent addition, perfect carpet for the wretched deliveries of the performers and at the same time to contrast the shots in the background. Freeway gives the coup de grâce to the disc, but there's still a long way to go: the MC arrived from Philly doesn't kill the cut. He drops bars with a delivery in his determined style, but neither shouted nor too hardcore on this jazzy beat simple, skeletal and too tight, partially annoying.
The other two mediocre, awaken delivering decently when finally even Chad Hamilton guesses half a beat: with a job worthy of a third series Roc album (which is this laughable effort), the beatmaker achieves a tight, essential, light and jazzy boom bap partially bouncing, "blueprintian", given the use of the sample chipmunk soul looped in the background on the hook which supports the entire cut and begins to make sense of the disc in general. At the end of the games, this is an accessible and among the best cut of the tape thanks to the above-mentioned formula, in some ways surprising, if you look at where it came from.
In the wake of the previous one, "Life We Chose" uses a similar rhythm (ethereal, beautiful, provided by Hamilton) among the most accessible of the album, with a great almost perfect soulful killer hook provided by Denim and an appropriate delivery of Young Gunz here smooth, solid, technically clean. Ez Elpee puts everyone down to earth with his annoying and poor boom bap, Chris and Neef drop on it and play well, but on this very tight loop I don't even know what, the delivery becomes practically inadmissible. The album ends with the banger who made the whole world dream... in 2003. Chingy "reigns" on the remix of a "classic" by Young Gunz, presents on the second album of the State Property (The Chain Gang Vol. II): annoying, simplistic, shabby attempt to return to the club by breaking through the main door. This time the bland delivery of the two doesn't help them.
Young Gunz: part of the answer to the question "what's the future of Roc-A-Fella?" along with the rest of the State Property, namely Beanie Sigel and Freeway. I'd keep the others out (Oschino, Omillio Sparks and Peedi Crakk), of whom it's still not clear today if they pulled out at least one album and for what reason they tried to do it. Blessed by Hova, the duo vomited by State Property is the rare union of a poor rapper (Young Chris) and a poorer rapper (Neef Buck). This is a record that makes you appreciate guests: the aforementioned Sigel and Freeway, together with Jay-Z, humiliate the duo. The others simply overcome them with equally ignorant and meaningless lines, but better, somehow, with the possibile exception of Juelz Santana.
The album contains the rap sound of the early 2000s, all the time it seeks mainstream success through a myriad of tracks aimed at the club, chasing the blinding beacons of "Can't Stop, Won't Stop", here also recalled in the final remix, never quite reaching it and proving the boys were just another one-hit wonder. Published by Roc-A-Fella and distributed by Def Jam, the album is a great success, reaching #1 on the rap chart and #3 on the Billboard 200, becoming one of the best-selling records of the season and also receiving enough acclaim from specialized critics. In the end, the product results in a decent party LP for the ignorant rap / soft hip-hop market, danceable for radio and clubs, with poor lyrics around braggadocio and thug, and after a forgettable first section, it manages to get back on track from the central part towards the end, when the "Blueprint formula" (jazzy beats and chipmunk soul hook/sample) arrives with rhythms good enough to give some replay value to this effort.
Rating: 6/10.
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