You know you saw this coming. Neef Buck of the Young Gunz, in the midst of reintroducing himself to the music biz with a series of videos from his mixtape Forever Do Me 2, sat down with BET.com this spring. Did you really think that Young Chris, the other half of the platinum-selling duo formerly signed to Roc-A-Fella Records, wouldn’t emerge as well, with his own mixtape and his own BET.com interview? Of course not. The Philly rapper, fresh off his new video, “Sweetest Joy,” recently sat down with us to discuss his new music and beef with Neef.
Young Chris first came in the game with the Gunz’ 2002 hit “Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop,” and apparently he’s still living up to that mantra. A decade after his debut, the former Roc rapper is proving his skills are as sharp as ever with his fiery new song and video “Sweetest Joy.”

“The reason I named it ‘Sweetest Joy’ is, you know, Pac said revenge is like the sweetest joy next to getting p---y,” Chris tells BET.com. “I knew it was going to fool people—they probably thinking it was going to be about a female or a soft record, and when they saw it and heard it, it was like flatline.”

Some listeners speculated that Chris was going at his bandmate, Neef, with the record’s ferocious rhymes, and he certainly doesn’t play down that notion, though he insists it’s just friendly competition.

“At the end of the day Neef is my brother,” Chris says. “I talk to his mom on the regular, I talk to his sisters—it’s a family thing. But you know how you go body to body with your man like you’re playing and y'all hitting body to body? I feel like he went to the face on me, and n---as could call it childish if they want, but I had to get my hit back [laughs]. That’s what that’s about: Nobody could check us but ourselves, you feel me? I said, “It ain’t real until the blood is spilt/So why entertain this s--t when I know how our mothers feel.” I’m going to jab you up a little bit and get my hit back, but at the same time I’m not going to entertain no negative energy on my friend.”

No matter who Chris is firing shots at, the record should help ramp up anticipation for his next solo projects: an album to be released via his deal with Division 1, producer Rico Love’s Motown Universal imprint, and a Gangsta Grillz mixtape with DJ Drama. He says he’s already got some major musical bullets in his arsenal, including songs with Mary J. Blige, Kelly Rowland and L.A. rhyme slinger Problem.

“I feel like everybody already knows I can rap—we established that already,” Chris says. “With this one I really want to show them that I can create songs. I want to show more of the creativity. I got a lot more to offer than just me spitting bars.”

Chris also insists that despite the internal drama, a Young Gunz project is on the way as well. “We’ve been talking about it. I wasn’t supposed to spill the beans, but we’ve been in deep conversation and it’s going good,” Chris says. “We’re definitely about to do something. Aside from Neef being my brother, the strength is in the numbers, and they love us together.” 

Lock and load.

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(Photo: Adrian Sidney/PictureGroup)