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No Mercy
Artist : Da Youngsta's
List Price : $5.98 USD
ProductGroup: Music
Release Date : 1994-09-20
Studio : Atlantic / Wea
Label : Atlantic / Wea
Avg. Customer Rating :  (5 reviews)
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Reviews
Customer Reviews for No Mercy
"Listen up to the rhymes I drop, as I kicks mad flavors from my verbal glock!" (4.5/5)
Rating:
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.
Customer Reviews for No Mercy Cd
Slept On Like Some Kinda Bed [4 Stars]
Rating:
One of my friends passed me this CD at work one day, and I poped it in. Me not knowing who the heck these guys were seemed to impress me. These 3 young guys from Phillidelhpia (Taji, Tarik, and Qu'ran/Q-Ball) really showcased their skills in 1994 with their final album "No Mercy." The first song "Hip Hop Ride" reminds me of my childhood days of 1993/1994 when all the songs and artists that they name came out "Cuz I Freakit like this, like my homeboys Das(EFX)/ It Ain't Hard To Tell like my main man Nas..." I can go on about this whole song here on how each one shines. Another song is the tack "No Mercy" (I don't have my linear book with me, but I can tell thats a Marley Marl poduction) where once again each verse is great. Kinda reminds me of the golden era of 1994 rap. "No More Hard Times" soundes like a track they did live without the audience yelling and cheering, I mean it was that live. And there is a sample from Snoop Dogg's "Intro" from Doggstyle where the guy says "Got the dopest sh** out on the streets" that plays inside the hook. "Illy Philly Funk" is a jazzy type of track that shows me what this group could have been if they have stayed in the game longer as each member interchange lines inside the verses (it's really hard to tell who is who on that song becuase Tarik and Qu'ran sound almost identical). The "Grim Reaper" track has a sample that plays as the hook. I think Taji produced this one (or was it Tarik, I'm not sure) but it stands out as one of my favorites.
Judging by the reviews on all of their CD's here on Amazon, this group was heavily slept on. It's kind of unfortunate that they fell off with this last album, because its a hip hop gem. I highly recommend this to those who like hip hop that came out in the early 90's. You will be impressed.
Lyrics: B+
Production: A
Musical Vibes: A
Overall: A-
Standout tracks: Hip Hop Ride, No Mercy, No More Hard Times, Illy Philly Funk, Grim Reaper
Update: I just recently saw the video for "Hip Hop Ride" and it looked like a bunch of deleated scenes from something like "House Party 3" (lol). But I can imagine it being played inside of a store like Foot Locker or a store that plays a lot of music videos.
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