Innercity Griots

Innercity Griots
Studio album by
Freestyle Fellowship
ReleasedApril 28, 1993 (1993-04-28)[1]
GenreHip hop
Length65:25
Label
Producer
Freestyle Fellowship chronology
To Whom It May Concern...
(1991) 		Innercity Griots
(1993) 		Temptations
(2001)
Singles from Innercity Griots
  1. "Bullies of the Block"
    Released: 1992
  2. "Hot Potato"
    Released: 1993

Innercity Griots is the second studio album by American hip hop group Freestyle Fellowship. It was released on April 28, 1993 on 4th & B'way Records and distributed through Island Records.

Critical reception

[edit]
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Christgau's Consumer Guide(neither)[3]
Entertainment WeeklyA−[4]
Pitchfork9.0/10[5]
Q[6]
The Source[7]
Tom Hull – on the WebB+ ((2-star Honorable Mention)(2-star Honorable Mention))[8]

Nathan Bush of AllMusic gave the album 5 stars out of 5, praising the group's creativity and range as well as the album's production, which he felt showed an improvement from their previous effort.[2] Jihad Hassan Muhammad of The Dallas Weekly commented that "they gave an unlikely musical offering at the time when everything was gangs and sets thrown as far as hip-hop was concerned in Los Angeles."[9]

In 2012, The Daily Californian included it on the "10 Albums for the Hip-Hop Layman" list.[10] In 2013, Spin included it on its list of the 50 best rap albums of 1993.[11] In 2015, NME placed it at number 51 on its list of the "100 Lost Albums You Need to Know".[12]

Track listing

[edit]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Bullies of the Block"
4:55
2."Everything's Everything"
  • Freestyle Fellowship
  • The Earthquake Brothers
  • L. McCann
3:47
3."Shammy's"
  • Freestyle Fellowship
  • The Earthquake Brothers
  • Daddy-O
4:16
4."Six Tray"
4:39
5."Danger"
  • Freestyle Fellowship
  • The Earthquake Brothers
3:58
6."Inner City Boundaries" (featuring Daddy-O)
  • Freestyle Fellowship
  • Daddy-O
  • R. Willis
4:39
7."Cornbread"E. Hayes, Jr.4:21
8."Way Cool"
  • Freestyle Fellowship
  • G. Redd
  • R. Bell
  • R. Mickens
  • D. Thomas
  • R. Westfield
  • G. Brown
  • C. Smith
4:22
9."Hot Potato"
4:30
10."Mary"
3:45
11."Park Bench People"
  • M. Troy
  • The Earthquake Brothers
4:59
12."Heavyweights" (featuring Cockney "O" Dire, Archie, Volume 10, Spoon, and Ganja K Chronic)
  • Freestyle Fellowship
  • The Heavyweights
  • The Earthquake Brothers
6:11
13."Respect Due"
  • Freestyle Fellowship
  • The Earthquake Brothers
3:53
14."Pure Thought" (CD bonus track)
3:04
Total length:65:25

Personnel

[edit]

Information taken from the liner notes.[13]

  • Freestyle Fellowship – vocals, production, mixing
  • The Earthquake Brothers – production, mixing
  • Bambawar – production, mixing
  • Daddy-O – vocals, production, engineering
  • Edman – production
  • JMD – bass guitar, timpani, drums, percussion, production
  • Kevin O'Neal – upright bass, production
  • Kim Buie – executive production
  • Kedar Massenburg – executive production, mixing
  • Matt Hyde – engineering, mixing
  • Rich Herrera – engineering, mixing
  • Dawud – engineering
  • Aceyalone – mixing
  • Ed Lawson – mixing
  • Robert Harris – bass guitar
  • Don Littleton – percussion
  • Marvin McDaniel – acoustic guitar
  • Rodney Millon – guitar
  • Onaje Murray – vibraphone
  • Tom Ralls – trombone
  • Christy Smith – bass guitar, upright bass
  • Alfred Threats – bass guitar
  • Jon Williams – trumpet
  • Randall Willis – tenor saxophone, saxophone, flute
  • DJ Kiilu – turntables
  • Mathmattiks – turntables
  • Spoon – vocals
  • Cockney "O" Dire – vocals
  • Archie – vocals
  • Volume 10 – vocals
  • Ganja K Chronic – vocals

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Madden, Sidney (April 28, 2015). "Today in Hip-Hop: Freestyle Fellowship Drop 'Innercity Griots' Album". XXL. Retrieved May 20, 2017.
  2. ^ a b Bush, Nathan. "Inner City Griots - Freestyle Fellowship". AllMusic. Retrieved May 9, 2010.
  3. ^ Christgau, Robert. "Consumer Guide: Freestyle Fellowship". Robert Christgau. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
  4. ^ Fox, Marisa (July 23, 1993). "Innercity Griots (1993)". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on December 21, 2009. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
  5. ^ Pemberton, Rollie (11 October 2020). "Freestyle Fellowship: Innercity Griots Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  6. ^ "Q review". Q: 88. July 1993.
  7. ^ "The Source review". The Source: 79. March 1993.
  8. ^ Hull, Tom (April 19, 2021). "Music Week". Tom Hull – on the Web. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
  9. ^ Muhammad, Jihad Hassan (February 14, 2013). "Hip-Hop's Black History Album List Part 2". The Dallas Weekly. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
  10. ^ Bell, James (September 19, 2012). "Goin' Off: 10 Albums for the hip-hop layman". The Daily Californian. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
  11. ^ "Freestyle Fellowship, Innercity Griots (4th & B'way/Island/Polygram)". Spin. November 21, 2013. Retrieved May 20, 2017.
  12. ^ "100 Lost Albums You Need To Know". NME. March 6, 2015. Retrieved May 20, 2017.
  13. ^ Freestyle Fellowship (1993). Innercity Griots.
[edit]
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