''Tough Luv'' is the debut studio album by American hip hop duo

Young Gunz Young Gunz is an American hip hop duo from Philadelphia, composed of rappers Young Chris (born Chris Ries in March 9, 1983) and Neef Buck (born Hanif Muhammad in March 30, 1983). The group is part of Beanie Sigel's State Property collective ...

. It was released on February 24, 2004 via

Roc-A-Fella Records Roc-A-Fella Records was an American record label and music management company founded in 1994 by record executives and entrepreneurs Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter, Damon Dash, and Kareem "Biggs" Burke. Carter issued his debut album, '' Reasonable Doubt ...

. Recording sessions took place at

Sony Music Studios Sony Music Studios was an American music recording and mastering facility in New York City. The five-story building was a music and broadcasting complex located at 460 W. 54th Street, at 10th Avenue, in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhat ...

, Baseline Studios and Quad Recording in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, and at The Studio and Homebase Studios in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

was handled by Chad Hamilton,

Just Blaze Justin Gregory Smith (born January 8, 1978), known professionally as Just Blaze, is an American record producer and DJ. Born in Paterson, New Jersey, Smith attended Rutgers University for three years before dropping out to pursue a career in mus ...

, Bink!, Boola, Darrell "Digga" Branch, Ez Elpee, Ruggedness and

Scott Storch Scott Spencer Storch (born December 16, 1973) is an American record producer and songwriter. Storch began his career as part of Philadelphia-based hip hop band the Roots, which he joined as a keyboardist prior to the release of their 1993 debut a ...

, with

Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American Rapping, rapper, businessman, and record executive. Rooted in East Coast hip-hop, he was named Billboard and Vibe's 50 Greatest Rappers of All Time, the ...

Damon Dash Damon Anthony Dash (born May 3, 1971) is an American entrepreneur and record executive. He co-founded Roc-A-Fella Records with Jay-Z and Kareem Burke in 1994, and co-founded the fashion retailer Rocawear with the former in 1999. Early life ...

and Kareem "Biggs" Burke serving as executive producers. It features

guest appearance The term guest appearance generally denotes the appearance of a guest in an artistic or pop-culture setting. The guests themselves (referred to as guest artists, featured artists, guest stars, or guest fighters, depending on context), are disting ...

s from Denim,

Beanie Sigel Dwight Equan Grant (born March 6, 1974), better known by his stage name Beanie Sigel, is an American rapper from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is best known for his association with Jay-Z and his label Roc-A-Fella Records, to which Grant signed ...

Cam'ron Cameron Ezike Giles (born February 4, 1976), known Mononym, mononymously as Cam'ron, is an American rapper. Beginning his career in the early 1990s as Killa Cam, Giles signed with Lance Rivera, Lance "Un" Rivera's Lance Rivera, Untertainment, a ...

Chingy Howard Earl Bailey Jr. (born March 9, 1980), better known by his stage name Chingy, is an American rapper. He toured as an opening act with fellow St. Louis rapper Nelly in 2002, and signed with Georgia-based rapper Ludacris' record label, D ...

Freeway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway, and expressway. Other similar terms ...

, Jay-Z,

Juelz Santana LaRon Louis James Sr. (born February 18, 1982), better known by his stage name Juelz Santana, is an American rapper and member of now-defunct hip-hop group, the Diplomats (also known as Dipset). He is best known for his appearances on group coho ...

Omillio Sparks Kenneth Johnson (born October 17, 1977), better known by his stage name Omillio Sparks, is an American rapper and actor from West Philadelphia. He is best known for his uncredited guest appearance on Jay-Z's 2000 single " I Just Wanna Love U (Giv ...

and Rell. The album peaked at number three on the ''Billboard'' 200 and topped the

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip-hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Luminate. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated January 30, ...

and sold 128,000 copies in its first week. By 2010, it sold 421,000 units in the US. Its lead single "No Better Love" peaked at number 36 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100.

Track listing

;Sample credits *Track 1 contains elements of "(Do It, Do It) No One Does It Better" by The Spinners. *Track 3 contains a sample of "Better Love" by

Luther Vandross Luther Ronzoni Vandross Jr. (April 20, 1951 – July 1, 2005) was an American Soul music, soul and Contemporary R&B, R&B singer, songwriter, and record producer. Over his career, he achieved eleven consecutive RIAA certification, RIAA-certified ...

. *Track 4 contains interpolations of "Peter Piper" by

Run-DMC Run-DMC (also formatted Run-D.M.C., RUN DMC, or some combination thereof) was an American hip-hop group formed in Hollis, Queens, New York City in 1983 by Joseph Simmons, Darryl McDaniels, and Jason Mizell. Run-DMC is regarded as one of the mos ...

and "Flash to the Beat" by

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were an American hip hop music, hip hop group formed in the South Bronx of New York City in 1978. The group's members were Grandmaster Flash, Kidd Creole (not to be confused with Kid Creole), Keef Cowboy, ...

. *Track 5 contains a sample of " Rich Girl" by

Hall & Oates Daryl Hall & John Oates, commonly known as Hall & Oates, were an American Rock music, rock duo formed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1970. Daryl Hall was generally the lead vocalist, while John Oates primarily supplied electric guitar and ba ...

. *Track 7 contains an interpolation of "I'd Rather Share You" written by D. Ervin. *Track 8 contains a sample of "Don't Stop Loving Me Now" by L.T.D. *Track 13 contains a sample of "I Need You" by

The Temptations The Temptations is an American vocal group formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1961 as The Elgins, known for their string of successful singles and albums with Motown from the 1960s to the mid-1970s. The group's work with producer Norman Whitfield ...

. *Track 14 contains a master sample use of the original recording of "All I Need Is Time" by First Choice. *Track 15 contains a sample of "

(They Long to Be) Close to You "(They Long to Be) Close to You" is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David with sections of the early version written by Cathy Steeves. The best-known version is that recorded by American duo the Carpenters for their second studio album ' ...

" by

Isaac Hayes Isaac Lee Hayes Jr. (August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008) was an American singer, songwriter, composer, and actor. He was one of the creative forces behind the Southern soul music label Stax Records in the 1960s, serving as an in-house songwr ...

. *Track 17 contains interpolations of "Gyrlz, They Love Me" by

Heavy D Dwight Arrington MyersCuda, Heidi Sigmund Keeping it reel. '' Vibe'' ("born Dwight Arrington Myers")Samuels, Anita M. (January 12' 1996)Heavy D, the C.E.O. ''New York Times'' (May 24, 1967 – November 8, 2011), known professionally as Hea ...

and "Superrappin'" by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.

Personnel

*Christopher "

Young Chris Christopher Francis Ries (born March 9, 1983), known professionally as Young Chris, is an American rapper. He rose to fame as one-half of the Philadelphia-based hip hop duo Young Gunz, which he formed with rapper Neef Buck in 2001. That same yea ...

" Ries – vocals *Hanif "

Neef Buck Young Gunz is an American hip hop duo from Philadelphia, composed of rappers Young Chris (born Chris Ries in March 9, 1983) and Neef Buck (born Hanif Muhammad in March 30, 1983). The group is part of Beanie Sigel's State Property collective and ...

" Muhammad – vocals *Dwight "

" Grant – vocals (track 2) *Gerrell " Rell" Gaddis – vocals (track 3) *LaRon "

" James – vocals (track 5) *Shawn "

" Carter – vocals (track 6), executive producer *Denim – vocals (tracks: 7, 15) *Cameron "

" Giles – vocals (track 10) *Kenneth "

" Johnson – vocals (track 11) *Leslie "

" Pridgen – vocals (track 13) *Howard "

" Bailey – vocals (track 17) * Steve Tirpak – trumpet (track 1) *Emma Kummrow – violin (track 1) *Igor Szwec – violin (track 1) *Gloria Justen – violin (track 1) *Larry Gold – cello, additional strings and horns (track 1) *E-Bass – keyboards and guitars (tracks: 4, 7) *Matt McCarrin – additional keyboards (track 9) *J. I. of Team PB – additional vocals (track 10) *Cosmic Kev – additional scratches (track 13) *Roosevelt " Bink!" Harrell III – producer (track 1) *Spunk Digga – co-producer (track 1) *Shane "Bermuda" Woodley – recording (tracks: 1, 3-5, 7, 10, 12, 14) *Jeff Chestek – recording (track 1) *Dragan "Chach" Cacinovic – mixing (tracks: 1, 3, 5, 9, 10, 16, 17) *Chad Hamilton – producer & recording (tracks: 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, 11, 13-15) *Doug Wilson – mixing (tracks: 2, 8, 11, 13-15) *Ryan Presson – co-producer (tracks: 3, 13-15) *Justin "

" Smith – producer (tracks: 4, 7) *Ken Lewis – mixing (tracks: 4, 7) *

– producer (track 6) *Gimel "

Young Guru Gimel Androus Keaton (born February 27, 1974), professionally better known by his pseudonym Young Guru, is an American audio engineer, record producer, disc jockey, and record executive from Wilmington, Delaware. In 2019, Young Guru won a Grammy ...

" Keaton – recording (track 6), mixing (track 12) *Kam Houff – mixing (track 6) *Melvin "Ruggedness" Carter – producer (track 10) *Alrad "Boola" Lewis – producer (track 12) *Caveman – recording (track 13) *Shane Boog – co-producer (track 15) *Lamont "Ez Elpee" Porter – producer (track 16) *The Thorobreads – additional producer(s) (track 16) *Carlisle Young – recording (tracks: 16, 17) *Darrell "Digga" Branch – producer (track 17) *

Tony Dawsey Tony Dawsey is an American mastering engineer at Masterdisk in New York City. He has been active since 1980.Damon "Dame" Dash – executive producer * Kareem "Biggs" Burke – executive producer *Andrew Huggins – recording administrator *Eric Weissman – sample clearance agent *Dawud West – art direction, design * Mark Mann – photography *Oluwaseye Olusa – additional photography *Patrick Reynolds – A&R administrator *Darcell Lawrence – A&R direction *Darrin Chandler – A&R direction *Ramses Francois – A&R coordinator *Travis Cummings – A&R coordinator *Gary "Big Face" Bien-Aime – A&R *Shalik Berry – A&R *Sherman Dudley – management *Jay Brown – management *Amber Noble – marketing *Girard Hunt – marketing *Shari Bryant – marketing *Jennifer Justice – legal

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2004 debut albums Young Gunz albums Def Jam Recordings albums Roc-A-Fella Records albums Albums produced by Just Blaze Albums produced by Scott Storch Albums produced by Bink (record producer)