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YOUNG BUCK |
 Everybody
wanna know who 50 done
signed/ And who he is, what
he �bout, where he from, can
he rhyme/ Is he real, is he
fake, is he true, is he lyin�/Did
this Young Buck really get
shot two times?
That you�ve only been
hearing about 23 year-old
David �Young Buck� Brown for
a little over a year has its
roots in many different
grounds, but lack of
determination is not one of
them. �I been doing music my
whole life,� says the
Nashville, Tennessee native.
�I started rapping when I
was about 12 or 13, just
playing around with it.
Around the age of 14, 15, I
was in the studio, serious
about it.�
But Young Buck also had two
feet in the streets,
peddling street narcotics in
his early teens. �I was the
youngest nigga in the
field,� he recalls. �There�s
really no age limit when you
out there in those streets.
I was out there doing grown
man shit.� The older
hustlers�more specifically
one now-incarcerated OG
named Priest who was
especially close with Buck�would
chide him due to his youth.
�Sit your young ass down,�
they�d say. �Pay attention,
you young buck motherfucker.�
It wasn�t long before �Young
Buck� became a term of
endearment as well as name.
When Buck was 16, he got
word that New Orleans� Cash
Money rap troupe was
recording in his town and
scored a chance to perform
for the label�s CEO, Brian
�Baby� Williams, who had him
prove his worth by engaging
in verbal combat against
Cash Money�s baby gangsters,
including future Hot Boy
Lil� Wayne. Buck�s
performance was so
impressive that Williams
offered him the chance to
become part of the cash
Money stable. Buck accepted,
dropping out of high school
and relocating to New
Orleans for the next four
years.
The year was 1997 and the
Cash Money Millionaires were
a few diamonds away from
being the bling kings they
are today. �We all lived in
a little bitty apartment,�
recalls Buck. �Everybody was
in struggle, in the grind
trying to make it. I was
young and felt like it was
opportunity �cause they were
moving units back then on
the underground scene. You
could see the potential of
them becoming something. I
felt like if I wasn�t around,
maybe my shot would be gone.�
Buck dedicated himself to
the development of the crew,
going as far as to secure
props for the label�s
breakthrough moment, the
1999 video for Juvenile�s
�Ha,� which was shot in the
young rhymer�s hometown.
�The people I used to have
around me from Nashville was
showing love to the Cash
Money clique on the strength
of Buck trying to make it;
making sure Buck gets to
where he gots to go. We
provided the cars you see in
that video: the yellow
Ferrari, the blue Jaguar.
Things wasn�t all the way
right for Cash Money around
that time and we respected
that. We were blessed to
have a little something so
we added to their finesse in
the beginning.�
But after about 4 years of
waiting on the Cash Money
bench, Buck decided to
return home. �I came back to
the hood and got in those
streets and started doing
whatever it took for me to
provide,� he confesses. �I
had lost so much time.
Financially, I was brand new.
I was on some other shit out
there trying to get that
bread. But you reap what you
sow. At the same time I was
out there doing my thing,
there was another
motherfucker who felt like
he could come and do his
thing to me. That�s exactly
how it happened.
Motherfucker come kick in my
door, 4, 5 in the morning. I
was laying in the middle of
the floor. He came standing
on top of me with AK or a
Mac something. I ain�t had
no gun so I got my ass off
the floor and ran towards
the kitchen. It just so
happen one of my homeboys,
he was awake, he pushed the
guy back up out the door. I
got shot twice. One of them
damned near blew my arm off
and another caught me in my
upper leg, in my thigh. I
had so much illegal shit in
the house at the time I rode
around for 45 minutes to an
hour before I even went to
the hospital. I damned near
lost my life from bleeding
so much.�
But Buck had also been
pushing hard in the studio
and, along with childhood
friend D-Tay, released an
independent LP, Thuggin� Til
The End. Though the record
didn�t sell many units, Buck
gained invaluable experience�especially
when he tried to get out of
his one-sided contract. �I
was young and so eager to
make some money as well as
get exposed and show my
talent,� admits Buck. �When
I started looking for other
opportunities, I realized
this dude had paperwork on
me that was holding me. I
felt like, �Let me get up
offa this here.� He kinda
didn�t want to make it
happen at the time, but we
wound up working it out.�
Buck�s next opportunity came
when Baby Williams called
him, inviting him back into
the Cash Money fold as part
of a new group he was
putting together. When Buck
arrived at the offices, he
saw that the label�s
fortunes had vastly improved.
But after about a week of
sitting around the office
and not running into any of
the recording roster, he
felt that he was just
sitting on a more
comfortable bench. �I was
ready to get out of there
when Juvenile stopped by the
office,� says Buck. Juvenile,
who at the time was having
contractual issues with Cash
Money�s principals, offered
Buck a chance to join up in
his new venture, UTP
Records. �Juvenile was like,
�I can�t promise you nothing,
but at least you�ll be out
on something that�ll be
heard.� I made my decision
from there. I had Juvey take
me to grab my luggage and I
struck out on the road with
him and started recoding
songs. In the first 3 days I
did about 11 songs.�
Buck was living and
recording music out of
Juvenile�s tour bus when UTP
met up with 50 Cent and his
G Unit crew in New York
City. A freestyle session
led to some group
collaborations, most notably
the street hit, �A Little
Bit of Everything.� �It was
like an honor thing for me
to meet 50 cause I respected
his whole story. I was a fan
of the nigga before I even
became an artist under his
Unit. We started vibing from
the beginning. We left on a
note of, �Yo, if this rap
situation happens for me or
it happens for you, we�re
both gonna holla at each
other.� And through the
grace of God, it started
taking off for 50. And he
came back, like, �I told you.�
Juvenile had always told me,
�If an opportunity comes,
take it. I�m doing what I
can do, but if it�s
something that�s gonna help
you better, do it.��
Young Buck�s first G Unit
appearance came when 50 Cent
took �Bloodhound,� a Buck
solo effort he enjoyed from
their first meeting, turned
it into a duet and placed it
on 50�s record breaking
debut, Get Rich Or Die Tryin�.
Last year, the G Unit
released Beg For Mercy,
which has sold well over 2
million copies to date. Next
up for Young Buck is his
solo debut, Straight Outta
Cashville.
�I got the name from N.W.A.�s
Straight Outta Compton,�
says Buck. �Straight Outta
Cashville speaks for itself.
It tells you my way of
living up on to this day. I
want the world to get a feel
of me, showing them the way
I am and the way I get
down.�
Straight Outta Cashville
features production from Dr.
Dre, Eminem, and Lil� Jon
with appearances by G Unit�s
50 Cent and Lloyd Banks as
well as Southern hip-hop
heavyweights T.I., Lil� Flip
and David Banner. �With me
being form the South, I
wanted to make this album
like a G Unit South�,� says
Young Buck. �It�s all the
way street. You won�t really
get a lot of the mainstream,
lovey-dovey side because
that wasn�t a part of my
life in the beginning.
Straight Outta Cashville is
just a lot of headbusters.� |
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