Eat Pray Thug

Eat Pray Thug
Studio album by
Heems
ReleasedMarch 10, 2015 (2015-03-10)
GenreHip hop
Length39:48
LabelMegaforce
Producer
Heems chronology
Wild Water Kingdom
(2012) 		Eat Pray Thug
(2015) 		Lafandar
(2024)
Singles from Eat Pray Thug
  1. "Sometimes"
    Released: January 8, 2015[1]

Eat Pray Thug is the debut studio album by American hip hop artist Heems.[2] It was released on Megaforce Records on March 10, 2015.[3] Music videos were created for "Sometimes",[4] "Damn, Girl",[5] and "Pop Song (Games)".[6]

Critical reception[edit]

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic76/100[7]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[8]
The A.V. ClubB[9]
Consequence of SoundB−[10]
Cuepoint (Expert Witness)A[11]
Exclaim!8/10[12]
Pitchfork6.3/10[13]
PopMatters[14]
Rolling Stone[15]
The Skinny[16]
Spin8/10[17]

At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, Eat Pray Thug received an average score of 76, based on 12 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[7]

Colin Fitzgerald of PopMatters gave the album 7 stars out of 10, saying: "The beats on Eat Pray Thug are as wacky and irreverent as they were on Das Racist's mixtapes and their lone studio album Relax, but Heems is 180 degrees more serious on his own."[14] Max Mertens of Exclaim! called it "the soundtrack of a son of immigrant parents learning that while you might be able to return home, nothing will be the same as how you left it."[12]

Jayson Greene of Pitchfork said: "A handful of songs draw directly on his experiences as an Indian-American in a post–9/11 world, and they are sharply observed, painful, emotional, and deeply quotable."[13] Zach Schonfeld of The A.V. Club gave the album a grade of B, describing it as "an unfailingly direct set of meditations on post-9/11 racism and failed love, set to skeletal beats and bracing, plainspoken hooks."[9] Writing in Cuepoint, Robert Christgau gave the record an "A" and said "this is rapping that foregrounds the variegations of the ordinary speaking voice--its cracks, its rumbles, its anxious highs, its distracted lows, its deep-seated imperfections and insecurities. It's very American."[11]

Accolades[edit]

Publication Accolade Rank Ref.
PopMatters 80 Best Albums of 2015
63
[18]
Spin 50 Best Hip-Hop Albums of 2015
9
[19]
Vice Top 26 Overlooked Albums of 2015
N/A
[20]
The Village Voice Pazz & Jop
3
[21]

Track listing[edit]

No.TitleProducer(s)Length
1."Sometimes"Gordon Voidwell4:01
2."So NY"Harry Fraud3:40
3."Damn, Girl"Gordon Voidwell3:38
4."Jawn Cage" (featuring Rafiq Bhatia)Gordon Voidwell3:02
5."Flag Shopping"Bill Ding3:56
6."Pop Song (Games)"Gordon Voidwell4:19
7."Home" (featuring Dev Hynes)Dev Hynes3:57
8."Hubba Hubba"Boody B2:46
9."Al Q8a"Boody B3:27
10."Suicide by Cop"Keyboard Kid 2063:12
11."Patriot Act"Boody B3:50
Total length:39:48

Charts[edit]

Chart Peak
position
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)[22] 8
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[23] 24
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[24] 32
US Rap Albums (Billboard)[25] 21

References[edit]

  1. ^ Leight, Elias (January 8, 2015). "Heems Unveils New Single & 'Eat, Pray, Thug' Release Date". Billboard. Archived from the original on January 5, 2023. Retrieved January 5, 2023.
  2. ^ Coscarelli, Joe (March 6, 2015). "Heems Talks About 'Eat Pray Thug'". The New York Times. Retrieved April 14, 2015.
  3. ^ Shah, Beejoli (March 10, 2015). "Q&A: Heems on His Quest for Racial Identity and How Hip-Hop Gets Lost in Translation in Asia". Spin. Retrieved April 14, 2015.
  4. ^ Carley, Brennan (April 7, 2015). "Heems' 'Sometimes' Video Hawks a Faux Skin-Whitening Paste". Spin. Retrieved October 3, 2017.
  5. ^ Beauchemin, Molly (June 10, 2015). "Heems Dances Around An Art Gallery in "Damn, Girl" Video". Pitchfork. Retrieved October 3, 2017.
  6. ^ Breihan, Tom (September 25, 2015). "Heems – "Pop Song (Games)" Video + "Coconut Oil (London)"". Stereogum. Retrieved October 3, 2017.
  7. ^ a b "Eat Pray Thug - Heems". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved April 14, 2015.
  8. ^ Jeffries, David. "Eat Pray Thug - Heems". AllMusic. Retrieved April 14, 2015.
  9. ^ a b Schonfeld, Zach (March 10, 2015). "Heems goes deep with the surprisingly moving Eat Pray Thug". The A.V. Club. Retrieved April 14, 2015.
  10. ^ Levy, Pat (March 6, 2015). "Heems – Eat Pray Thug". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved April 14, 2015.
  11. ^ a b Christgau, Robert (March 6, 2015). "Expert Witness: March 2015". Robert Christgau. Retrieved April 10, 2016.
  12. ^ a b Mertens, Max (March 10, 2015). "Heems - Eat, Pray, Thug". Exclaim!. Retrieved April 14, 2015.
  13. ^ a b Greene, Jayson (March 11, 2015). "Heems: Eat Pray Thug". Pitchfork. Retrieved April 14, 2015.
  14. ^ a b Fitzgerald, Colin (March 13, 2015). "Heems: Eat Pray Thug". PopMatters. Retrieved April 14, 2015.
  15. ^ Weingarten, Christopher R. (March 10, 2015). "Eat Pray Thug - Ex-Das Racist MC makes an honest, emotional solo record". Rolling Stone. Retrieved April 14, 2015.
  16. ^ Gordon, Andrew (February 26, 2015). "Heems – Eat, Pray, Thug". The Skinny. Retrieved April 14, 2015.
  17. ^ Weiss, Dan (March 11, 2015). "Review: Heems Confronts His (And Hip-Hop's) Dualities on the Surprisingly Mournful 'Eat Pray Thug'". Spin. Retrieved April 14, 2015.
  18. ^ "80 Best Albums of 2015". PopMatters. August 12, 2020. Archived from the original on August 21, 2022. Retrieved January 5, 2023.
  19. ^ "The 50 Best Hip-Hop Albums of 2015 (page 2 of 2)". Spin. December 16, 2015. Archived from the original on March 24, 2017. Retrieved December 19, 2015.
  20. ^ "The Top 26 Overlooked Albums of 2015". Vice. December 23, 2015. Archived from the original on April 7, 2022. Retrieved January 5, 2023.
  21. ^ "Ballots: Robert Christgau". The Village Voice. Retrieved September 25, 2016.
  22. ^ "Heems - Chart history - Heatseekers Albums". Billboard. Retrieved April 10, 2016.
  23. ^ "Heems - Chart history - Independent Albums". Billboard. Retrieved April 10, 2016.
  24. ^ "Heems - Chart history - Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums". Billboard. Retrieved April 10, 2016.
  25. ^ "Heems - Chart history - Rap Albums". Billboard. Retrieved April 10, 2016.

External links[edit]

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