A Look at What's new in Hip-Hop
by Mikey Montana
This year seems to be the year of success for hip hop’s newest army, Young Money Entertainment. The group consists of: Lil Wayne, Drake, Nicki Minaj, T- Streets, Gudda Gudda, Mack Maine, Lil Chuckie, Lil Twist, Shanell, Tyga and Jae Millz. They are planning a 2010 release for their debut album, entitled Young Money Family.
Each individual person is the group contributes in their own way. They have their own fame and fans from their solo careers. With that being said, people have high expectations for the debut album. Marica Corri, an 11grade, said “I am expecting for the album to outsell The Carter III.” The Carter III, Lil Wayne’s latest studio album, was released in 2008, and sold an outstanding 1,005,545 copies the first week alone.
Drake, the newest member of the group, has the biggest weight on his shoulders at this point. He is one of the most “successful” in the group, no pun intended to his hit single, “Successful” feat. Trey Songz, an affiliate of the group. His solo debut album, Thank Me Later, is due for a 2010 release also, possibly to coincide with the Young Money album.
Nicki Minaj, known as one of the hottest rappers out of New York, females and males alike, is also becoming a hit among Young Money fans. She stated she is inspired by all the female rappers that came before her. Her mixtape, Beam Me Up Scotty, is available for free download on all major hip-hop websites. T- Streets, from New Orleans, is a former member of the group “Sqad Up”. He was featured on Weezy’s single and music video “The Only Reason”.
Gudda Gudda, known as the half brother of Nicki Minaj, was also in the group “Sqad Up”. He Is from New Orleans.Mack Maine is the president of Young Money Entertainment. Him and fellow rapper Lil Wayne have been friends since the age of 5. He has a DVD distribution company also, Kush Entertainment.
Lil Chuckie and Lil Twist, the “young guns” of the group, are highly successful considering their ages: Twist 16 and Chuckie 13. They are in the group Young Hot Boyz.
Shanell is known as the mastermind behind many of the groups hits, including “Every Girl” and Lil Wayne’s Carter III single, “Lollipop”. She is the sister of Danity Kane’s D-Woods. She is a singer herself, and currently helping Wayne develop his upcoming album, Rebirth. Although Tyga is officially in the group, he has been more frequently working on his own solo work and album. He joined the group in 2008 and was featured on their mixtapes released that year. Mack Maine made a public announcement on his twitter account that year that Tyga was “officially Young Money”.
Jae Millz, the underground battle rapper out of New York, plans to bring a little “
The group’s debut album should sell successfully, considering the members’ individual success. Look out for the self-titled Young Money album, coming in 2010.
-Volume 2, Issue 1 -
