Yeeeah Baby

Yeeeah Baby
Studio album by Big Pun
Released	April 4, 2000 (USA)
Recorded	1999-2000
Genre	Hip hop
Length	52:08
Label	Loud Records
Producer	Fat Joe (Executive) Just Blaze Buckwild L.E.S. Sean Cane DJ Shok Richard "Younglord" Frierson Knobody O.Gee Mahogany Minnesota Guy Boogie KNS The Infinite Arkatechz
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Rolling Stone link Q July, 2000, p. 111 NME (7/10) April 29, 2000, p. 35 Rapreviews.com (8.5/10) link The Source May, 2000, p. 186 Entertainment Weekly (C) link Vibe (Favorable) June, 2000, p. 214
Big Pun chronology
Capital Punishment (1998) Yeeeah Baby (2000) Endangered Species (2001)

Yeeeah Baby is Big Pun's second solo album. In the wake of Big Pun's death in February 2000, it was posthumously released in April of the same year as planned, peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200 charts, and subsequently was certified Gold^[1]. Fat Joe, Pun's close friend and mentor, is the executive producer of the album.

Yeeeah Baby included his trademark sinister sound with tracks like “Off Wit His Head” and “Leather Face,” it also featured more lighthearted efforts like the optimistic “It’s So Hard” and the Puerto Rican nationalist anthem “100%.” Struggling with morbid obesity, Pun experienced breathing problems throughout the album’s recording process, slowing down his iconic flow. Catastrophically dying at 28 years old, just two months before the album’s release, Big Pun was unfortunately unable to ensure a whole-hearted release.

Background

The original title that Big Pun selected for Yeeeah Baby was Endangered Species,^{[citation needed]} which was to later become the title of Pun's second posthumous album, released the following year. The album consist of two of Big Pun's biggest hits, the first single "It's So hard" and the Puerto Rican anthem "100%".

In his last magazine interview, conducted by Industry Insider only a week before his death, Pun detailed that his approach on Yeeeah Baby wasn't 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.^[2]

Reception

Commercial

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. It reached Gold status within three months, and later on it was certified Platinum making it his second album to achieve Platinum status and it has sold over 1,000,000 copies.

Critical

Yeeeah Baby received favourable reviews from music critics.

• Rolling Stone (4/13/00, p.128)

- 3.5 stars out of 5 - "...[Pun] has gone out with a bang. He attacked standard hip-hop topics with witty, unpredictable elasticity....Pun is at his habanero hottest..."

• Q (7/00, p.111)

- 3 stars out of 5 - "...Would have established [him] as both a radio-friendly commercial force and rebellious icon..."

• CMJ (4/24/00, p.30)

- "...Beams the spotlight on the Boricua bomber's unparalleled breath control and hilarious jaw-dropping wordplay."

• Vibe (6/00, p.214)

- "...A triumphant final effort for one of the Boogie Down Bronx's favorite super-lyrical sons....[It] showcases Pun's matured artistic vision and newly mastered flows but never ceases to move bodies and minds..."

• The Source (5/00, p.186)

- 4 mics out of 5 - "...An even more in-depth peep inside the heart and soul of a man in constant struggle with himself....a backstage pass to the all-out jam that was Pun's personality: street-wise, intellectually sharp, sex-crazed - and funny as hell..."

• NME (4/29/00, p.35)

- 7 out of 10 - "...[A] raucous final musical statement....like a library of every cool contemporary hip-hop sound squeezed onto one compact disc....One for delinquent work experience boys everywhere..."

Track listing

Album chart positions

Singles chart positions

References

1. ^ RIAA database search result (Accessed March 13, 2009)
2. ^ News - Articles - 1425716 - 20000315