Young Chris (born Christopher F. Ries in 1983) is a Grammy nominated^[1] American rapper and songwriter. A member of Philadelphia rap duo Young Gunz, formerly signed to Roc-A-Fella records through Beanie Sigel’s State Property collective,^[1] early success included the hit single "Can't Stop, Won't Stop".^[2] Signed in December 2010 as a solo artist to Universal Motown through producer/songwriter Rico Love’s label imprint Division1, Young Chris is currently working on his album release.^[3] Because of identical names (minus a spelling difference), he is often confused with rapper Yung Chris and incorrectly credited as the performer of the song Racks

Music career[link]

Young Gunz[link]

Young Chris and Neef Buck (born Hanif Muhammad) had been friends since they were young boys on the block(C-Ave).^[4] On "Takeover", a track from his 2001 album “The Blueprint”, Jay-Z announced the duo as "Chris & Neef".^[5] In 2001, the duo performed on the State Property soundtrack album.^[5] Young Chris and Neef starred in the titular movie.^[6] Also during this period of their career, Young Chris appeared throughout Dame Dash's Dream Team compilation, and Beanie Sigel's The Reason.^[7] The duo performed together on guest appearances for albums like Jay-Z's The Blueprint 2, Freeway's Philadelphia Freeway, State Property's The Chain Gang Vol. 2, and Memphis Bleek's M.A.D.E.; all while recording their album.^[8] The Young Gunz scored their first hit with "Can't Stop, Won't Stop", the lead-off single from The Chain Gang Vol. 2 album.^[2] Its song and video received major airplay on hip-hop radio, MTV2, and BET and reached #14 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart and #6 on the Billboard Hot Rap Tracks chart.^[2]

After the success of their single, "Can't Stop, Won't Stop", the label jumped and was ready to release their debut album, Tough Luv.^[9] It included the remix to "Can't Stop, Won't Stop", which featured St. Louis rapper Chingy.^[9] Singles included "No Better Love" featuring former Roc-A-Fella Records crooner Rell and the Just Blaze-produced "Friday Night".^[9] Tough Luv debuted on the Billboard 200 at #3 after selling 128,000 copies in its first week.^[2] That week, the album at #2 was labelmate Kanye West's debut album The College Dropout, which was released just two weeks earlier.^[10]

After a brief hiatus, the duo returned with Swizz Beatz produced "Set It Off" from their second album, Brothers from Another.^[11] It was the second release from the "new" Roc-A-Fella Records, referencing when Jay-Z became president of Def Jam Records, the first being Memphis Bleek's 534.^[12][13] The album debuted on the Billboard 200 at #15, and included guest features from Kanye West, Swizz Beatz, Slim of 112 and John Legend.^[14][15]

Solo career[link]

As early as March 2006, Young Chris thought about recording a solo album. He initially titled it Now or Never.^[16] He stated to XXL magazine that he wanted to release a solo album by the end of 2008 and had been "95 percent done" by June 2008.^[17] In this article, Young Chris also states that he feels himself up there with Lil' Wayne and Juelz Santana.^[17] Since this time, Chris has taken to the internet to solidify himself as a top solo artist, with his YoungChris.com Social Network, hitting the remix circuit, and his much anticipated "The Network" Mixtape series, hosted by DJ Don Cannon.^[18][19]

In December 2010 Young Chris signed with Division1, a label started by songwriter/producer Rico Love, under the Universal Motown umbrella.^[3] Love considers Young Chris his flagship artist, working closely with Young Chris on his debut album and pre-album/mixtape.^[20] The mixtape, called "The Re-Introduction", was released on November 20, 2010.^[21] The aptly titled mixtape gives the spotlight to a newly signed Young Chris, as a solo artist, and also, re-introduces the combination of DJ Drama and Don Cannon, the former "Affiliates" partners, hosting their first mixtape together, in several years.^[22]

On January 28, a song called "Philly Shit (Mega Mix)" featuring Young Chris, Eve, Black Thought, Money Malc, Fat Joe, Fred The Godson, Diggy Simmons, Jermaine Dupri & The Game was leaked.^[23] On March 22, 2011, Young Chris’ single “A$$ets” was commercially released.^[24]

Awards and Nominations[link]

"Can't Stop, Won't Stop" was nominated for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards.^[1]

Discography[link]

See: Young Chris Discography

External links[link]

• Young Chris Official Website
• Division 1 Website
• Young Gunz Official Website

References[link]

The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's notability guideline for music. Please help to establish notability by adding reliable, secondary sources about the topic. If notability cannot be established, the article is likely to be merged, redirected, or deleted. (December 2011)

Robert Williams (born May 6, 1987), better known by his stage name Meek Mill, is an American rapper from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was briefly signed to T.I.'s label Grand Hustle Records and in February 2011 signed to Rick Ross' Maybach Music Group. In March 2011, Mill was included in XXL's "Freshman Class of 2011".^[1]

In 2011, he released his debut single, "Tupac Back", featuring Rick Ross, from his label's compilation album Self Made Vol. 1. That same year he released another single from the album, "Ima Boss", also featuring Ross. The song was later remixed, featuring T.I., Birdman, Lil Wayne, DJ Khaled Swizz Beatz and Ross. The remix charted on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at #51. "Ima Boss" is so far Meek Mill's most successful song, peaking at #20 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.

In February 2012, MTV listed Meek Mill as the #7 hottest MC in their annual "Hottest MCs in the Game" list.^[2]

On May 7, 2012, Mill released the second fresh installment in his Dreamchasers series. The mixtape features guest appearances from Drake, Jeremih, Big Sean, Kendrick Lamar, 2 Chainz and more.^[3] Mill has stated his favorite tracks off the tape are "Amen," "A1 Everything" and "Racked Up Shawty" with French Montana and Fabolous.^[4] On May 10, it was announced Meek Mill signed to Roc Nation management.^[4]

Discography[link]

Collaborative albums[link]

Mixtapes[link]

• BloodHoundz – Grimey, Thirsty, Starving, Hungry (2005) (with Mel Love, Dat NIG*A LiL & Young Pooh) +
• BloodHoundz – Blood in Blood Out (2005) (with Mel Love, Dat NIG*A LiL & Young Pooh)
• The Real Me (2007)
• The Real Me 2 (2008) (Hosted by DJ Difference)
• Flamers (2008) (Hosted by DJ Difference)
• Flamers 2: Hottest In The City (2009) (Hosted by DJ Difference)
• Flamers 2.5: The Preview (2009) (Hosted by DJ Cosmic Kev)
• Flamers 3: The Wait Is Over (2010) (Hosted by DJ Drama)
• Mr.Philadelphia (2010) (Hosted by DJ Ill Will & DJ Rockstar)
• Dreamchasers (2011) (Hosted by DJ Drama)
• Dreamchasers 2 (2012) (Hosted by DJ Drama)
• Same Dream (2012) (with Ace Hood)

Singles[link]

As lead artist[link]

As featured artist[link]

Other charted songs[link]

Guest appearances[link]

References[link]