Yeeeah Baby is the second and final studio album by rapper Big Pun, released April 4, 2000 through Columbia Records, SRC Records, Loud Records and Fat Joe's Terror Squad Productions. It was released as planned, peaking at number 3 on the Billboard 200, and selling 179,000 units during the week it was released.[1] It was subsequently certified Gold in July three months later and would go on to be certified Platinum on October 31, 2017.[2] Fat Joe executive producer, produced the album.
Yeeeah Baby | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | April 4, 2000 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 52:08 | |||
Label | ||||
Producer |
| |||
Big Pun chronology | ||||
| ||||
Singles from Yeeeah Baby | ||||
|
Struggling with morbid obesity, Pun experienced breathing problems throughout the album's recording process, slowing down his signature flow. He died at 28 years of age, just two months before the album's release.
The album consists of two of Big Pun's biggest hits, the first single "It's So Hard" and the Puerto Rican anthem "100%". In the former song, he exclaims: "It's hard work, baby. I just lost 100 pounds. I'm trying to live. I ain't going nowhere."
In his last magazine interview, conducted by Industry Insider only a week before his death, Pun detailed that his approach on Yeeeah Baby was not as "hardcore" as his previous album Capital Punishment, in an attempt to reach out to an even wider fanbase than his debut album already had.[3]
Terror Squad members and affiliates such as Sunkiss, Tony Sunshine, Prospect, Cuban Link, Remy Ma, and Fat Joe were featured on the album.
The album featured lighthearted songs like "100%" and "It's So Hard". It opens with an introduction "The Creation", likening Big Pun to Frankenstein. The first song "Watch Those" is a rock-oriented rap song with the beat derived from the theme song of Starsky and Hutch. With Tony Sunshine, there were also jokey R&B ballads like "My Dick" and "Laughing at You", an interpretation of Notorious B.I.G.'s "Juicy" with lyrics like "It was all a scheme / I used to load the tech with the magazine". The track "Nigga Shit" is a two-minute skit where Pun jokes about indulging in African-American stereotypes. There were also hardcore revenge-fantasy songs with a dark sinister sound like "Off With His Head", "LeatherFace" and "Wrong Ones". In the song "My Turn", Big Pun made a jab at a then up-and-coming rapper 50 Cent in response to the remark 50 made about Pun in his song "How to Rob".
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [4] |
Billboard | (Favorable)[12] |
Entertainment Weekly | C[10] |
NME | (7/10)[7] |
Q | [6] |
RapReviews | (8.5/10)[8] |
Robert Christgau | [9] |
Rolling Stone | [5] |
The Source | [6] |
Vibe | (Favorable)[11] |
Yeeeah Baby posted a strong debut on the Billboard 200, the album sold more than 179,000 copies in its first week in stores to take the third slot on the chart.[citation needed] It reached Gold status within three months.
Yeeeah Baby received favorable reviews from music critics.
Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.[13]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "The Creation" (intro) | 1:29 | ||
2. | "Watch Those" | Knobody | 3:20 | |
3. | "Off Wit His Head" (featuring Prospect and Opera Steve) |
| Just Blaze | 4:06 |
4. | "It's So Hard" (featuring Donell Jones) |
| 2:52 | |
5. | "We Don't Care" (featuring Cuban Link) |
| Younglord | 3:12 |
6. | "New York Giants" (featuring M.O.P.) |
|
| 3:30 |
7. | "My Dick" (featuring Tony Sunshine) |
|
| 3:19 |
8. | "Leatherface" | The Infinite Arkatechz | 3:25 | |
9. | "Air Pun" (skit) | 0:51 | ||
10. | "100%" (featuring Tony Sunshine) | Sean Cane | 3:51 | |
11. | "Wrong Ones" (featuring Sunkiss) |
| Just Blaze | 4:07 |
12. | "Laughing at You" (featuring Tony Sunshine) |
| Ogee | 4:26 |
13. | "Nigga Shit" |
| Buckwild | 1:45 |
14. | "Ms. Martin" (featuring Remi Martin) |
| DJ Shok | 4:16 |
15. | "My Turn" |
| 3:48 | |
16. | "You Was Wrong" (featuring Drag-On, Fat Joe, & Remi Martin) |
| DJ Shok | 3:51 |
Notes
Sample credits[13]
Weekly charts edit
|
Year-end charts edit
|
Year | Song | Chart positions | |||
Hot 100 | Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs | Hot Rap Singles | Rhythmic Top 40 | ||
2000 | "It's So Hard" | #75 | #19 | #11 | #39 |
2000 | "100%" | #84 | #53 | #16 | - |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
United States (RIAA)[19] | Platinum | 1,000,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |
{{cite web}}
: |last=
has generic name (help)