Search - Da Youngsta's :: No Mercy

"Listen up to the rhymes I drop, as I kicks mad flavors from

ctrx | 'bout to show you how the EAST COAST rocks... | 04/07/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Where plenty of 90s hip hop acts used their young ages as a gimmick (see Kriss Kross, Illegal), I feel that Da Youngsta's were unfairly overlooked due to their age. And for this reason, a lot of hip hop heads missed out on one of the decade's dopest rap products. "No Mercy" is the fourth Youngsta's album, from 1994, and it shows the continued progression of Da Youngsta's from pre-teen rappers to matured teenagers. As with every one of their albums, the production is absolutely spectacular. Their previous album, 1993's The Aftermath, featured what may have been the best production list ever assembled on an album, including Pete Rock, DJ Premier, and the Beatnuts. "No Mercy" is entirely produced by the legendary Marley Marl and his young protege K-Def, the same production duo behind the Lords of the Underground debut Here Come the Lords. There is heavy horn instrumentation, hard drum beats, and often some catchy strings and synths. The music is excellent and will induce head-nodding throughout. The Philly natives Quran, Tarik and Tajj are pretty good rappers, but I'd be lying if I said the production wasn't the selling point here. They do hold their weight though, and they rap beyond their years about urban life and come up with some clever lines, like the one I used as the title to this review. The album has a few subpar tracks towards the end, but overall "No Mercy" is an excellent hip hop album, a slept-on 94 great.



The first song is the classic "Hip Hop Ride," a wonderful laidback start to the album. Over a woozy, upbeat g-funk beat, the trio shouts out all the current hip hop stars in between a great chorus. The next song is "Mad Props," with an awesome beat and some standard Youngsta's lyrics. After the appealing title track comes "Backstabbers," which addresses the friendly-acting haters of hip hop. "No More Hard Times" is decent but fairly boring, while the vibesy and subtler "Put Me On" is nice. "Stayed Away" is okay despite its very odd hook, and "Illy Philly Funk" is quite catchy. "Grim Reaper" is pretty good; the next song "Reality" is excellent, both lyrically, dealing with depressing urban struggles, and musically, with a great piano-led production. I like "In the City," which has a breezy feel to it, and "People Round Town" sounds like some harder boom bap. The album ends with the jazzy yet tough "What U Feel."



Da Youngsta's have sadly been forgotten over the year, after disappearing following their final album, 1995's I'll Make U Famous. Fans of east coast hip hop and its synonymous jazzy production of the 90s will love this album. Heads should not be turned off by their young age, Da Youngsta's always provided a truly wonderful hip hop product, and never so much as on this disc, which is in my opinion their finest."

Great beats

ctrx | 01/25/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Pretty sweet record. Fat beats and cool rhymes, kind of sounds like Wu-Tang Clan at times. Check out the song "Grim Reaper" - this song has a very cool sample. Another cool song is "Mad Props", these young dudes are doing a great job.Yeah!"