Unique studio album by Young Soldierz, a hip-hop group from Los Angeles, California, formed by members of the Bloods & Crips recording project. The members are Wytony "Big Wy" Dillon, Dajuan "Dog" White, Pops and Samari "Lil Stretch" Doby.
In the wake of the unexpected recording success achieved by the experimental project Bloods & Crips, some guys recreate another one that is a cousin of that project to, let's face it, get a little bigger slice than you got with Bloods & Crips, being only four compared to the over twenty of the original group. In addition, it should be specified that the four members of Young Soldierz are all members of the Bloods.
Young Soldierz gets a deal with Dangerous Crew, the same label as Bloods & Crips, and in 1993 released the promotional single "Alligator", followed by the second promotional single "If Tomorrow Comes" in 1994. Then it's time for the album. Production is entrusted almost entirely to Ronnie Phillips, already the unique producer of the other group's debut album "Bangin' on Wax" the year before, who is joined behind the keyboards by J. Stank, Tweedy Bird, Flip, Rashad, Lil Stretch, Big Wy and brothers Leroy and Robert Dukes (the latter under the moniker Duke-E Fingaz). J. Stank, Ronnie Phillips, Pimper Jackson and Duke-E Fingaz also take care of the mixing, scratches are performed by DJ Battlecat and Rashad. J. Stank plays bass and keyboards, Duke-E-Fingaz plays guitar, bass, organ and keyboards. Guests are Keystone, James, Lyrical, Nini X, Big Freeze, Big Stretch, Flip and Tweedy Bird.
The album begins with the two promotional singles in chronological order, "Alligator" opens the album, followed by "If Tomorrow Comes". The first features a tiring three-second loop that goes on for four minutes and works for some reason, along with an endlessly repeating soporific hook. The second single has a sick beat and a killer melody with an infectious rnb hook courtesy of Tammi Holt and a slow and sharp rapping that make it one of the best ballad pieces brought out by the boys in these 68 minutes and in their career.
Then there's a great moment for mobb music fans with "Tough Guy" and in the second part several guests arrive to keep the attention high before the final posse "East Side, West Side", in which Big Freeze and Tweedy Bird arrive as the only members of the Crips on the entire album. They sound good, while the rest of the product is average and makes a better impression on first listening than on repeated listens, possibly, because these are quite mediocre songs as are those made by the other Bloods & Crips guys, if you put these tracks in between the ones released in 1993, there isn't too much difference. The beats are similar, the rapping is basically the same, this offering is normal.
The album, which features an apt and simple cover featuring the four emcees over a purple background, is published by Dangerous Crew and Pump Records, distributed by Warlock, albeit without achieving the same commercial success as its cousin album released the year before. In 1995 it was also distributed for the Brazilian market through Kaskata's Records which released a vinyl reducing the project to eight tracks, excluding the skits and songs "If Tomorrow Comes", "Wanted Child", "Mama Said There'd Be Days Like This", "Straight Gangsta Mack" and "Buck 'Em With The "9"".
Once the album was finished, the young members of Young Soldierz returned to the supergroup Bloods & Crips to record their second studio album, "Bangin' on Wax 2", another commercial monster, when they manage to get a deal with Suge Knight by signing to his Death Row Records. The Young Soldierz end up closing out the "Murder Was the Case" soundtrack, on a record that features Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Tha Dogg Pound, Nate Dogg, Jewell, Sam Sneed, Jodeci and DJ Quik, among others. Three years later they are also on the "Gang Related" soundtrack, among songs by 2Pac and the Outlawz. In 1998 the group also broke up due to internal problems at Death Row, and in the following years Big Wy and Dog (aka Suga Buga) continued their adventure in the music industry by recording together with Damu Ridas, then forming their own duo in the 2000s, The Relativez. 6/10.
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