Steve 'Flash' JuonEDITOR’S NOTE: It has been brought to my attention by a reader that “Streetz Krazy” is actually Young Scooter’s last album. Please keep that in mind when reading the article below and know that we’ll cover it in a future update.
I have many questions. First and foremost though rest in peace to Kenneth Edward Rashaad Bailey, better known professionally as Young Scooter. He was born on March 28, 1986 and departed this earth on the same day 39 years later. If you’re reading this review on the day it was published that’s just a few days ago, and if you’re not I need to emphasize that it changed the entire tone of this review. I was approaching it with the mindset that after being named dropped in several reviews as a guest star or as a top level Freebandz artist, it was overdue for us to discuss an entire album from Scooter. I did not plan for this review to be an epitaph. I never do. Sadly this happens in the rap game way more than it should, and the fact we’ve become accustomed to it should horrify us all.
“For My Hustlas (Street Lottery 3)” is a reference to the fact his 2013 “Street Lottery” mixtape was his national breakthrough. Even though it put him on the map for a lot of folks, he didn’t rest on the laurels of that release, often releasing multiple mixtapes a year for his hungry fanbase. In fact hunger is one of the prevalent themes of “No More Going Broke.” In the song he details how growing up without a father and dealing with stark poverty gave him the relentless drive that fueled such prolific releases and a “get rich or die trying” attitude throughout “Fast Life Juugin.”
“My daddy could die today and it still won’t mean shit to me
Six years old why I ain’t have shit to eat?
My stomach empty balled up, I can’t get no sleep
Couldn’t wait to go to school, that’s my meal all week
Used to watch from the nosebleeds, now I got floor seats
Used to catch rides, now its foreign four seats”
This leads directly to one of those many questions I have though. The fact that this song is listed as “remastered” and that some sources say the original mixtape came out in 2015 is confusing, even though when I check those sources “No More Going Broke” is conspicuous by its absence. What’s worse is that many of Scooter’s mixtapes were first uploaded to DatPiff and their entire archive was wiped two years ago. If I could go through it I could find an older version of “Fast Life Juugin” but right now that’s impossible. It’s clear to me though that a lot of material here like “Packs In” featuring Gucci Mane is recycled from prior releases.
The conspiracy minded might think that Black Migo Gang and Freebandz did this in a cynical attempt to cash in on his recent death (like Jadakiss said “dead rappers get better promotion”) but “Fast Life Juugin” was released two months ago on February 4th. A more reasonable explanation would be that Scooter had reached a point in his life where he in fact wanted to remaster older material and put it out with the best quality to earn royalties from it while simultaneously packaging it with brand new music. At least for tracks like “Death Before Dishonor” that’s how it looks since I made a concerted effort to find it on a prior mixtape and came up short.
That title raises another question though — what really happened to Kenneth Bailey? There’s something about the official accounts of his demise that doesn’t pass the smell test. They say he was running from the police after they showed up to a home in Atlanta where gunshots were fired. This isn’t a young kid with no life experience though. This is a grown ass man nearly 40 years of age. We don’t know who fired the shots (if that part is even true) or why a popular and successful rap artist would feel the need to flee the scene if cops showed up. You’re always at risk as a black man dealing with the cops, but you’re at an even greater risk running from the po-po. That’s just giving them more reasons to shoot your ass.
On top of that there’s the fact he died in custody at the hospital despite receiving treatment for a serious bleeding leg wound. That medical treatment was either ineffective or callously bad. How did he get that injury? Allegedly trying to climb a fence to escape. Again… what would make him panic that badly? You’re rich, you’re famous, you can afford a lawyer and fight the charges. Even if he did discharge a weapon in his or somebody else’s home, if nobody was hurt, that doesn’t rise to the level of a felony. The worst I can see is them slapping him with is unlawful discharge of a firearm, Bailey and his lawyer taking a plea, and Scooter having to serve probation. That’s nothing.
What could the cops have said or done to provoke this kind of flight from Mr. Bailey? They insist they did nothing wrong and that he injured himself. I’m no conspiracy theorist but I’m not buying this at all. There’s an autopsy pending but until we get a better explanation from all parties involved (including whoever else was in that house) I’m not buying what they’re selling. I can’t see Young Scooter throwing his life away this recklessly, especially if he was “remastering” his past work to properly profit from it after years of free mixtape downloads. Whatever went on March 28th it certainly wasn’t going to earn him “2 Life Sentences.”
This particular song is strange though because it doesn’t appear to be remastered in any meaningful way, having all of the same deejay drops that would have been on a Trapaholics mixtape (“real trap shit”). There are so many things going on here that make no kind of sense. What really happened to this popular Atlanta rapper? Why did he die on his 39th birthday, a day that should have been a celebration of his life and accomplishments? Why is “Fast Life Juugin” such a mixed up mish-mash of new music, old music, and allegedly remastered songs that really aren’t? Still as stated “dead rappers get better promotion” so don’t be surprised if something comes out posthumously. RIP Mr. Bailey.