Racks on racks: Rapper Yung Chris (aka Christopher Miller) says his single Racks? a "rack" being a slang term for $1,000 ? is gaining momentum for two simple reasons: "It's just a club song that everybody vibes to, moves around to," he says. "And racks, of course, is the money, so you know everybody wants money." With a chorus like "Got racks on racks on racks/racks on racks on racks/racks on racks on racks" on top of a club-approved beat, the description is spot-on ? this is pure party music. The song hovered just under the top 40 on Billboard's Hot 100 and hit No. 2 (rhythmic) and No. 4 (urban) on USA TODAY's airplay charts.
By Thaddeus McAdams
Yung Chris has a hit single out called 'Racks.'
By Thaddeus McAdams
Yung Chris has a hit single out called 'Racks.'
The payoff: Rapping has been the 26-year-old Decatur, Ga., native's hobby since childhood, but as he grew up and experienced street life, "I started taking it a little more serious (and) started recording." Persistence with a healthy dose of confidence eventually led Yung Chris, who usually goes by "YC," to a record deal. "Anything I'm gonna try, I'm gonna succeed in, you know? I kept trying, kept working and it finally started to pay off," he says.
Sign him up: After being courted by a number of major labels because of the underground success of Racks, "I (was) just looking for somebody to believe in me as much as I believe in myself." He found that with Universal Republic, and signed with the label in March. YC subsequently released his Got Racks mixtape in early April. The 17-song collection includes the rapper's next single, I Know. "We've been getting a crazy response off (the track)," YC says. "A lot of people have been hitting me up about it." He's currently recording his full-length debut in Atlanta in between dates of a solo club tour, which stops next in Las Vegas on July 2.
New at the game: The rapper performed Racks at the BET Awards pre-show last weekend, where he met some of the hip-hop scene's biggest names, "rappers that have been in the game a little longer (than me). That was a great experience, being very new at this game." Walking the red carpet with industry leaders such as Jay-Z is inspirational, he says. "I look up to (them), to try to accomplish some of the goals, or even more goals, than they have accomplished."
The highlight of his night? "I met the Five Heartbeats," he says, referring to the fictional group from the 1991 film of the same name, which performed at the awards show to celebrate the movie's 20th anniversary. "To see them all dressed up ? remember the movie?" he says with a laugh. As for his own performance, YC couldn't wait to hit BET's stage. When approached by the network to perform, "I was like, 'For real, BET? Oh, man, all right, let's go! What? I need to be there now? I'm on my way, I'm ready to go perform for BET,'" he says, recalling his enthusiasm.
Remix it up: "I think I have the world's longest remix," says YC, laughing. "It's like 22 minutes." The official remix of Racks is actually more like 13 minutes, but with 15 rappers including Nelly, B.o.B., Wale, Wiz Khalifa and Waka Flocka, the higher estimate isn't too far-fetched. "It's crazy. We shot (the video) in Atlanta. I mean, Nelly came down to be in the video ? that shocked me." The veteran hip-hop artist approached YC to get in on the remix, rathern than the other way around. "For Nelly to do it, that was kind of exciting. He's accomplished a lot, he's sold a lot of records."
Identity crisis ? or not: Yung Chris is one vowel away from Young Chris, another rapper and one half of the duo Young Gunz. YC, who uses the initials to help avoid confusion, says the similarity of the monikers actually hasn't caused much of a problem. "The only problem I ran into is Twitter. (Fans) might follow him, thinking it's me. They might follow me, thinking it's him."
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