Philadelphia’s young gunner, Young Chris, is back. As one half of the former Roc-A-Fell Records signee’s, Young Gunz, Christopher Ries is on a campaign to bring east coast rap back to the forefront. Recently signed on as a solo artist on Rico Love’s Division1 Records, this young man is reintroducing himself to the masses. With the release of his highly anticipated mixtape, The Re-Introduction, fans who’ve supported him in the past and those who’ve just hopped on the wagon can be surprised that the young gunner hasn’t lost his step.

Check out STACKS Magazine’s interview with Young Chris as he expressed his views on the lack of east coast representation, The Re-Introduction, re-joining Neef in future projects, maintaining financial stability, and how he gives back to the community.

In the last few years, a lot of the major East Coast labels like Roc-A-Fella, Bad Boy, Murder Inc, haven’t been represented in the right way on a major scale. What do you think is the cause of the lack of representation of East Coast rap?
YC: It started in NY. That’s one of our biggest problems back home in Philly. I tell everybody in the city. What’s the first thing we do when we looking for a deal? We hit the turnpike right. We go down South. We got to bring it home and just keep it tight and look out for one another instead of going at each other. Sort of like the South.Tthat’s why they held it so long. They shared it oppose to taking advantage of it and letting the next man starve. You just got to share. You just can’t do it by yourselves. Stuff is in the numbers. Once people learn that, we’ll all be around.

 

How old are you? 26?
YC: Yes.

With that in mind and with the turmoil that Roc-A-Fella and State Property went through,you’ve experienced a lot at a young age. Tell us about your experience in the industry. Did you have a moment where you said bump it “I’m tired” of music or “I’ll just quit”?
YC: No,it was never a moment like that. It was just frustration. Coming from that… the highest expectations, I always refer to the 96 Chicago Bulls Roc-A-Fella when we were there. Everybody had range. We were a huge team. And when you chop the head from the body…we had to choose to either go with Dame or Jay. When you stuck in that position, I made the decision to go with Jay ‘cause I was in the group. Dame was trying to give me a solo album at that time. I said, No. We had the Young Gunz album out. And we were looking for another one. And I was due for that one. That’s why I made the decision that I made.

So you decided to go solo…
YC: Well on the second Young Gunz album, Brothers From Another, Jay came to me like, “Yo, your solo project up next.” So just hearing it from him, I just started practicing 3 verses and a hook immediately. I started releasing freestyles by myself and just started building a brand.

Where’s the other half of the Young Gunz?
YC: That’s my brother. We have a show at SOB’s tonight. I plan on bringing him out just to show the people. We came in together. That’s the difference between me and Neef. We started in middle school around the way. We didn’t meet in the industry.

Any plans to work on music together again?
YC: Oh yes of course. That brand was too big not to. We just got to get it back right. Get the people back ready for it.

The new mixtape, The Reintroduction. That’s hosted by Don Cannon right?
YC: Yes, Don Cannon and DJ Drama which is huge because they haven’t done a tape together in 3 years. So that’s big for me, hip hop, and them. I ran into Drama first. Did this interview at 107.9 when I was in Atlanta. I ask Rico Love and we ask Drama what yours relationship with Cannon we want yall to do this tape together. He was like yeah just ask Cannon.

Any features on the mixtape? What were your intentions with the songs on this mixtape? What did you want to give the people?
YC: The growth is already there. I’m sure they already saw that. Especially the ones that are following me on the internet right now and that help me build the brand to where it is today. And the versatility to those who didn’t know I had it. Me and Rico’s chemistry. That was just us in 3 weeks, a month tops. We bonded real well. We just got cocky with it and said, “Yo, lets just put this out. Dnt call it a pre album…we aint call it no mixtape. Let’s just put this out.” He got the name from the first record off the mixtape. It was titled 40 bars at first. Then he heard me in the beginning “…pardon me for this sweet interruption now it the reenactment, it’s the reintroduction”. And that stuck with him. Yes that’s it, The Reintroduction that what we gone do.

The solo album is projected to come out next year…
YC: Yes we looking forward to May. I’m excited about it. I don’t have a title yet.

Any features on this album?
YC: So far it’s Rico Love and just in house people. I got a record with Wiz Khalifa…it’s crazy. Look forward to that. That’s it right now. I never want to make it like a compilation because I’m just coming back out.
Recently Beans (Beanie Seigel) said Dame owes him $11 million. Unfortunately, this is a trend that we see amongst artist …. Have you had any unfortunate financial situation during your career? If so, what did you do to maintain your financial stability?
YC: No, not nothing like that. Maybe my own problems… back home and stuff like that. Not with no body. {laughs} I never got into nothing like that. I’m blessed that I slid passed that. ‘Cause a lot of people got caught up. It’s easy to get caught up. But like I said, I’m one of the blessed ones. I was blessed to have a publishing deal at a young age. So that held me over when I didn’t tour as much. I invest it real well. It kept me alive. Kept me real well. It’s great. Kept it up to maintain the lifestyle.

What is some advice that you would give upcoming artists coming into this business? If they are projecting a certain lifestyle and how to maintain that lifestyle.
YC: Put up 50% of what you make every time. Seriously! ‘Cause it get tough. Once you making that money, just put up half. You won’t miss it.
Do you own any businesses?
YC: Me and my guy from Baltimore working on something like a Myspace.com…Ratemyteachers, Rate myprofessors, doing things stuff like that. He’s helping me get into the business and invest my money real well. Julian who is doing my marketing …he’s on my team. These guys are helping me invest my money real well this time around. I’m blessed to have that circle with this shot. I feel like this is it.
Have you done any community outreach this holiday season?
YC: These past couple weeks… I’ve been doing stuff down here. Me and Freeway did stop the violence for the high school, we performed. We went and talk to the high schoolers with state representatives. This past weekend they had an event for the kids that I took my daughter to. BET came down and covered the whole thing. Anything with community and giving back I’m all for that. I was talking to a representative the other day. He’s going to help me build my recreation centers. Start where I’m from, nike town. I’m all for that. That’s my life. No fake, no gimmick, not for the industry… that’s just me. It’s all about the future.

How can the fans reach you?
YC: Youngchris.com….become a member. Download the mixtape as well. Twitter @youngchris. Division1.com we got that to.

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