Apollo Kids (album)

Apollo Kids
Studio album by Ghostface Killah
Released December 21, 2010
Recorded 2010
Red Bull Studios, Starks Studios
(Staten Island, New York)
Genre Hip hop
Length 40:53
Label Def Jam
Producer Sean C & LV, Jake One, Pete Rock, Chino Maurice, Scram Jones, Frank Dukes, Yakub, Big Mizza, Shroom, Anthony Acid
Ghostface Killah chronology
Wu-Massacre
(2010)		 Apollo Kids
(2010)		 Blue & Cream
(2011)
Wu-Tang Clan solo chronology
Meth, Ghost & Rae:
Wu-Massacre
(2010)		 Apollo Kids
(2010)		 Raekwon: Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang
(2011)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [1]
The A.V. Club (A-)[2]
Entertainment Weekly (A-)[3]
Los Angeles Times [4]
Pitchfork Media (7.3/10)[5]
PopMatters (7/10)[6]
Rolling Stone [7]
Slant Magazine [8]
Spin (7/10)[9]
USA Today [10]

Apollo Kids is the ninth studio album by American rapper and Wu-Tang Clan-member Ghostface Killah, released on December 21, 2010 on Def Jam Recordings.[11] The album's first single "2getha Baby" was released on November 8, 2010.

Guests on the album include several Wu-Tang members and affiliates, as well as Redman, Black Thought, Busta Rhymes, Joell Ortiz, and Game, among others. Apollo Kids is the follow-up to Ghostface's R&B-oriented Ghostdini: Wizard of Poetry in Emerald City (2009) and serves as a return to the characteristic "Wu-Tang Sound".

Contents

Reception

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number 128 on the US Billboard 200 chart,[12] with first-week sales of 13,000 copies in the United States.[13] It also entered at number 28 on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and at number 10 on its Rap Albums chart.[14][15] The album moved up to number 120 on the Billboard 200 in its second week.[16]

Critical response

Apollo Kids received general acclaim from music critics.[17] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 84, based on 17 reviews, which indicates "universal acclaim".[17] Allmusic writer David Jeffries gave it four out of five stars and called it "a return to the grimey soul and stream-of-consciousness street flow of the man’s best work".[1] The A.V. Club's Nathan Rabin gave Apollo Kids an A- rating and stated "The disc’s tightness, cohesion, and quality are even more surprising: Ghostface hasn’t sounded this hungry or focused since Fishscale [...] At its best, Ghostface’s music is about raw, visceral emotion and unfiltered rage".[2] Steve Juon of RapReviews praised his "boastful lyrics, strong personality and impeccable delivery".[18] Brandon Soderberg of Spin called the album "Forty-plus minutes of gritty, soul-sampling beats soundtracking bizarro street tales".[9] Boston Phoenix writer Michael C. Walsh gave the album three-and-a-half out of four stars and complimented its "gritty, tip-of-the-tongue, soul-sampling", writing that "Ghost emblazes every beat with a fire that hasn't burned this widespread since 2006's Fishscale".[19] Entertainment Weekly's Simon Vozick-Levinson viewed it as a timeless addition to Ghostface's catalogue and complimented its "jittery pulp fiction and zany free-associative zingers over scratchy soul, funk, and rock samples".[3] ARTISTdirect's Rick Florino gave the album five out of five stars and wrote that Ghostface "squeezes out some of the most engaging, enthralling, and epic raps that New York City has ever produced".[20]

David Amidon of PopMatters stated "it feels like a work of boundless energy", but commented that "Apollo Kids is, essentially, the safest and most accessible album yet from Ghostface Killah, often hinting at the associative insanity he’s capable of without ever fully taking us there".[6] Pitchfork Media's Ian Cohen noted a "lack of any sort of organizational principle" and commented that "basically arbitrary sequencing never allows too much momentum to build", but commended Ghostface's "harried intensity" and stated "he's still an incredibly ostentatious lyricist, just one that's easier to parse".[5] Rolling Stone writer Jonah Weiner stated "On track after track, he blows dust off some dirty-soul loop, with boasts as inspired as ever [...] and street-crime storytelling as vivid as ever".[7] Steve Jones of USA Today gave the album three-and-a-half out of four stars and found it reminiscent of hip hop music's "gloriously gritty past", writing that Ghostface "unleashes a torrent of typically vivid verses over vintage soul samples that also help recall rap's roots".[10] Los Angeles Times writer Jeff Weiss commended Ghostface's "straightforward boasts" and commented that he "hews closely to the bloody-nostril boom-bap the Wu-Tang Clan pioneered a decade ago".[4] Slant Magazine's Huw Jones complimented the album's "back-to-basics approach" and called it "a compact release that celebrates the staples of vintage rap music and, more specifically, vintage Wu".[8]

Track listing

No. Title Writer(s) Producer(s) Length
1. "Purified Thoughts" (featuring Killah Priest & GZA) Dennis Coles, Gary Grice Frank Dukes 3:31
2. "Superstar" (featuring Busta Rhymes) Coles, Trevor Smith Shroom 3:08
3. "Black Tequila" (featuring Cappadonna & Trife Diesel) Coles Frank Dukes 3:43
4. "Drama" (featuring Joell Ortiz & Game) Coles, Levar Coppin, Joell Ortiz Sean C & LV 4:28
5. "2getha Baby"   Coles Yakub 3:01
6. "Starkology"   Coles, Marc Shemer Scram Jones 2:25
7. "In tha Park" (featuring Black Thought) Coles, Tariq Trotter Frank Dukes 3:47
8. "How You Like Me Baby"   Coles, Pete Phillips Pete Rock 3:14
9. "Handcuffin' Them Hoes" (featuring Jim Jones) Coles, Stanley Lewis Chino Maurice 2:30
10. "Street Bullies" (featuring Shawn Wiggs, Sheek Louch & Sun God) Coles, Sean Jacobs, S. Ramsey Big Mizza 3:17
11. "Ghetto" (featuring Raekwon, Cappadonna & U-God) Anthony Caputo, Coles, Lamont Hawkins Anthony Acid 4:09
12. "Troublemakers" (featuring Raekwon, Redman & Method Man) Coles, Reggie Noble, Clifford Smith, Jake Dutton, Jake One 3:40
Sample credits

Personnel

Credits for Apollo Kids adapted from Allmusic.[21]

  • Anthony "Acid" Caputo – engineer, mixing, producer
  • Big Mizza – producer
  • Leesa D. Brunson – A&R
  • Sean C. – producer
  • Munk Le Cinq – fonts
  • Dennis Coles – A&R, executive producer
  • Tony Dawsey – mastering
  • Frank Dukes – mixing, producer
  • Javon Greene – A&R
  • Joe "Thelonius" Harley – bass, keyboards
  • Patrick Hegarty – art direction
  • Jake One – producer
  • Scram Jones – producer
  • Deborah Mannis-Gardner – sample clearance
  • Chino Maurice – producer
  • Leon Michels – organ
  • Mike Caruso – A&R, executive producer, management
  • Nick Movshon – drums
  • Briana Perkins – marketing
  • Antonio "L.A." Reid – executive producer
  • Pete Rock – mixing, producer
  • Lenny S. – A&R
  • Supa Engineer "Dura" – mixing
  • Doug Wilson – mixing
  • Yakub – producer
  • Kristen Yiengst – art coordinator
  • Adam Zia – legal counsel

Charts

Chart (2010-2011) Peak
position
US Billboard 200[22] 120
US Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Albums[23] 28
US Billboard Rap Albums[24] 10

References

  1. ^ a b Jeffries, David (December 20, 2010). Review: Apollo Kids. Allmusic. Retrieved on 2010-10-22.
  2. ^ a b Rabin, Nathan (December 21, 2010). Review: Apollo Kids. The A.V. Club. Retrieved on 2010-12-21.
  3. ^ a b Vozick-Levinson, Simon (December 30, 2010). Review: Apollo Kids. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved on 2010-12-31.
  4. ^ a b Weiss, Jeff (December 21, 2010). Review: Apollo Kids. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved on 2010-12-21.
  5. ^ a b Cohen, Ian (January 3, 2011). Review: Apollo Kids. Pitchfork Media. Retrieved on 2011-01-03.
  6. ^ a b Amidon, David (January 13, 2011). Review: Apollo Kids. PopMatters. Retrieved on 2011-01-13.
  7. ^ a b Weiner, Jonah (December 21, 2010). Review: Apollo Kids. Rolling Stone. Retrieved on 2010-12-21.
  8. ^ a b Jones, Huw (December 20, 2010). Review: Apollo Kids. Slant Magazine. Retrieved on 2010-12-20.
  9. ^ a b Soderberg, Brandon (December 21, 2010). Review: Apollo Kids. Spin. Retrieved on 2010-12-21.
  10. ^ a b Jones, Steve (December 21, 2010). Review: Apollo Kids. USA Today. Retrieved on 2010-12-22.
  11. ^ Apollo Kids Track listing. Def Jam. Retrieved 2010-12-03.
  12. ^ Billboard 200: Week of January 08, 2011 – Chart Position: 121-140. Billboard. Retrieved on 2010-12-30.
  13. ^ Jacobs, Allen (December 29, 2010). Hip Hop Album Sales: The Week Ending 12/26/2010. HipHopDX. Retrieved on 2010-12-29.
  14. ^ R&B/Hip-Hop Albums – Week of January 08, 2011: Chart Position: 21-30. Billboard. Retrieved on 2010-12-30.
  15. ^ Rap Albums – Week of January 08, 2011. Billboard. Retrieved on 2010-12-31.
  16. ^ Billboard 200: Week of January 15, 2011 – Chart Position: 101-120. Billboard. Retrieved on 2011-01-06.
  17. ^ a b Apollo Kids Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2010-11-21.
  18. ^ Juon, Steve (December 22, 2010). Review: Apollo Kids. RapReviews. Retrieved on 2010-12-22.
  19. ^ Walsh, Michael C. (January 5, 2010). Review: Apollo Kids. Boston Phoenix. Retrieved on 2011-01-06.
  20. ^ Florino, Rick (December 28, 2010). Review: Apollo Kids. ARTISTdirect. Retrieved on 2010-12-29.
  21. ^ Credits: Apollo Kids. Allmusic. Retrieved on 2010-12-20.
  22. ^ Ghostface Killah Album & Song Chart History – Billboard 200. Billboard. Retrieved on 2010-12-31.
  23. ^ Ghostface Killah Album & Song Chart History – R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. Billboard. Retrieved on 2010-12-31.
  24. ^ Ghostface Killah Album & Song Chart History – Rap Albums. Billboard. Retrieved on 2010-12-31.

External links

Ghostface Killah
Studio albums
Compilations
Collaborations
Singles
Featured singles
Related articles