Tony Yayo

Tony Yayo原本是和50 Cent出生入死的好兄弟，最早，当这群街头黑人青年准备成立说唱乐团G-Unit的时候，没有人能想到他们可以成为世界上最著名的说唱团体之一。早年，Tony Yayo和50 Cent等其它G-Unit乐团成员一起共同创业，一起录制一些说唱磁带。当50 Cent遭遇了一个个磨难之后，并且最终步入成名正轨之时，Tony Yayo却不能和50 Cent以及Loyd Banks等G-Unit乐团人马一起飞黄腾达。
2002年新年前夜，Tony Yayo被警察突然搜查，经过盘查之后，Tony Yayo因为非法携带武器而被逮捕，在2003年年初，Tony Yayo取得保释的努力宣告失败，他在监狱必须呆到2004年初才能获得自由。在此期间，正是50 Cent和G-Unit乐团取得爆破性巨大成功的时期，而Tony Yayo在监狱中孤独的度过，Young Buck替代了Tony Yayo在乐团中的位置。在G-Unit乐团中，Tony Yayo并没有被遗忘，他们在自己的音乐录影带中，身穿释放Tony Yayo标语的体恤衫，但是在监狱中经受磨难的Tony Yayo已经丧失了对音乐的兴趣，他每天只看体育节目而不是音乐节目，也不知道50 Cent和G-Unit乐团已经取得的成就，和那些体恤衫。直到后来，Tony Yayo才知道原来50 Cent和G-Unit乐团已经成为了说唱音乐的超级明星，而且由于Eminem在颁奖典礼中也身穿释放Tony Yayo标语的体恤衫，这让Tony Yayo重新燃起了音乐的灵感，2004年1月8日，Tony Yayo重获自由，但马上又受到了检察官的“伪造护照”指控而又蹲了回去。又过了几个星期，Tony Yayo才终于重见天日。
Tony Yayo获得自由之后，G-Unit乐团的其它成员，Lloyd Banks以及取代他的Young Buck全都开始了个人专辑制作计划，Tony Yayo也马不停蹄的开始了自己作品的录制，并且马上放出了两支单曲《So Seductive》和《Drama Setter》，并且在2005年夏天成为颇受欢迎的说唱单曲之一。2005年8月30日，在其它的G-Unit乐团同僚，50 Cent，Lloyd Banks，Young Buck，The Game等人都已发片之后，Tony Yayo的首张个人专辑《Thoughts of a Predicate Felon》正式发行。（CatCobain）
监狱里总会有很多的黑人青年，他们被捕的罪名各式各样，贩毒，杀人，抢劫，强奸，盗窃等等，Tony Yayo的罪名仅仅是非法携带武器，这在枪支泛滥的美国，几乎是一个等同于我国没带身份证一样的小事件。如果Tony Yayo不是G-Unit乐团的成员，如果不是Eminem和50 Cent等人轮番的身穿“FREE YAYO”体恤衫亮相各种颁奖礼演出的话，恐怕没有人会关注Tony Yayo这个平凡的黑人青年。但是他G-Unit乐团前成员的身份被拿来大肆渲染之后，Tony Yayo成了明星，这张他的首张专辑也成为了唱片市场的抢手货，发行首周就达到了21万4千张，仅次于风光无限的Kanye West位居排行榜亚军。
Tony Yayo的这张专辑作为G-Unit成员的最新一张专辑，其商业上能够取得成功是理所当然的，在专辑中的音乐也保持了G-Unit乐团其他成员类似的特点。带有自传倾向的歌词，街头特色的内容必不可缺，《Live By The Gun》可以理解为那段监狱生涯的注释。色情，毒品，枪支，暴力，这些老套的内容构成了Tony Yayo的首张专辑，《Homicide》一首歌名就叫做杀手的歌曲，尽管内容上有所延伸，那也早已经不算什么了。稍微有点惊喜的是Tony Yayo表现了一下自己的爱情观，尽管这些粗野的内容仍然俗套，但也算有点自己个性吧。当然有了Eminem，50 Cent以及其他G-Unit成员的大力协助，专辑的录制自然不会差，但是这种音乐我们已经至少从G-Unit这里领教了太多，特别是在今年早已经受够了The Game，50 Cent等人的饱和攻击之后，这张专辑自然也就显得可有可无，更何况他的说唱，节奏和内容都没有什么出彩之处，甚至略显平庸。
by David Jeffries
A street legend before the recording of his debut even started, rapper Tony Yayo is a lifelong friend of 50 Cent and a member of his G-Unit crew. Yayo had been with 50 during his career-building years in the world of mixtapes. Along with 50 Cent, Yayo was arrested on New Year's Eve 2002 on weapons-possession charges. During a background check, police discovered Yayo had an outstanding warrant for a previous weapons-possession charge. Early 2003, he was sentenced for bail-jumping and would remain in jail until the beginning of 2004. During this time, 50 Cent and his G-Unit crew were blowing up. Videos featured the group wearing "Free Yayo" shirts, but Yayo himself was unaware of all the attention he was getting. The prison inmates Yayo shared a television with preferred watching sports to music videos, but when Eminem and 50 where scheduled to make an appearance during the Grammy Awards, he convinced everyone to change the channel. It was the first time he saw a "Free Yayo" shirt -- this time worn by Eminem. Inspired by the shirt, he started working extra hard on his rhymes while keeping in touch with the G-Unit crew let him know he was going to get his chance once he was a free man. Come January 8, 2004, Yayo was back on the streets, but presenting a forged passport to his parole officer a day later put him back in prison for a few weeks. Out again, Yayo was finally able to start work on his debut. Some mixtape appearances on the G-Unit Radio series announced his comeback at the street level while the "So Seductive" single let the rest of the world know in the summer of 2005. In August and while the single was dominating urban radio, MTV, and BET, Yayo dropped his debut, Thoughts of a Predicate Felon.