Long
before his Cash Money brethren the Big Tymers
and Juvenile hit the national spotlight with
their stunning LPs, B.G. (AKA Baby Gangsta) was
tearing up the regional charts with his poignant lyrics
and awesome flow that move all who hear him for the
first time. Although very few people outside of the Deep
South and Midwest had heard of Baby Gangsta prior to his
performance on Juvenile's platinum-selling 400
Degreez, make no mistake about it, B.G. is a
seasoned veteran-a bonafide supernova set to explode on
the national scene.
Born in the
infamous Uptown section of New Orleans, Baby Gangsta
acquired his moniker because of his reputation for doing
dirt at a very early age. According to the 17-year old
rap artist, his trouble are largely due to the loss of
his father and his environment-one of the poorest, most
dangerous urban areas in the nation. "Being from
the ghetto, you get caught up sometimes," explains
B.G. "I was out there acting up and doing stuff
that I had no business doing-like going to jail for
ditching school and breaking curfew."
B.G.'s love and
appreciation for rap music eventually led him to writing
and reciting rhymes. "In junior high school, I
would be in the hallway giving little mini-concerts, or
just writing rhymes whenever and wherever…"
offers B.G. "I just knew I had it in me to make it
in the rap game."
So did Ronald
"Slim" Williams and his brother Bryan
"Baby" Williams, the owners of Cash
Money Records who signed B.G. at the tender age of
eleven-years old. In no time, B.G. went from being an
unknown local rapper with a reputation for rowdiness to
being one of the region's most prolific rhymers. His
debut LP, the eerie semi-autobiographical True Story
created a major stir in his home town, easily outselling
big name acts two to one regionally. The album
established the young lyricist as the heir apparent to
hard-core reality-based rappers.
He followed that
up with his equally stunning sophomore album, Chopper
City, which sold over 100,000 units, but it
wasn't until he dropped It's All On You Volumes I
& II that the name B.G. began to ring around
the nation's underground. Both volumes sold over 250,000
apiece. As a member of the Hot Boys, an all-star
hip-hop dream team featuring Juvenile, Lil Wayne
and Young Turk, he furthered his status as a
regional superstar with an album titled, Get It
How U Live. So popular is B.G., that his classic
hits "Uptown Thang" and the
sparkling baller's anthem "Get Your Shine
On" can still move the crowd in any club
down South or in the Midwest.
Now, with Cash
Money's association with Universal Records, B.G.
is set to explode in the national scene with his fourth
solo album, Chopper City In The Ghetto.
Produced by the up & coming Mannie Fresh, Chopper
City In The Ghetto takes the listener on a whirl-wind
tour through the rough and tumble terrain that is B.G.'s
home -New Orleans' Uptown section (AKA Chopper City).
"Chopper City is another word for an AK-47 assault
rifle," explains B.G. The AK-47 can be analogous to
B.G.'s lyrical style and flow which comes off with a
force so deadly and so precise that there is no way to
ignore it's impact. On the eeriely anthemic lead single,
"Cash Money Is An Army" B.G.
spits venomous lyrics amped by Mannie's moog-induced
bass-line and a tight bounce-inspired beat.
Indeed, B.G.'s
Chopper City In The Ghetto packs enough rounds to ensure
a rapid-fire secession of hits throughout the Spring and
Summer, making B.G. and the Cash Money clique the
soldiers to watch in 1999; or as B.G. puts it,
"We're coming in the rap game knocking thangs down,
so you either gotta roll with us or get rolled
over."