Albert Einstein (album)

Albert Einstein
Studio album by Prodigy and The Alchemist
Released	June 11, 2013
Recorded	2012-2013
Genre	Hip hop
Length	47:45
Label	Infamous Records
Producer	The Alchemist, Adrian Younge
Prodigy and The Alchemist chronology
Return of the Mac (2007) Albert Einstein (2013)

Albert Einstein is the second collaborative studio album by American hip hop recording artist Prodigy of Mobb Deep and American record producer The Alchemist. The album was released on June 11, 2013 by Infamous Records. The album features guest appearances from Roc Marciano, Domo Genesis, The Alchemist, Havoc, Raekwon and Action Bronson.

Background

On November 27, 2012 Prodigy announced an upcoming collaboration album with producer The Alchemist via his Twitter account, along with the title of Albert Einstein. He also would say the album was scheduled for an early 2013 release. It would be their second collaboration album after 2007's Return of the Mac.^[1] In November 2012, when speaking about the album with Complex Prodigy said:

"The last album we did together was Return of the Mac, so we figured it was about time to go ahead and do the next one. That was our first project together and it did real good. It had a nice little concept. The concept was it had a blaxploitation '70’s feel to the album. So this new one that we doing, once again there’s gonna be a concept. And we gonna surprise people with what it is this time, but it's basically the same type of thing, though. Al doing all the beats and I’m just going in and painting a picture of what the whole thing is gonna be."^[2]

On April 7, 2013 The Alchemist would reveal via Twitter that the album had been completed.^[3] Then on April 12, 2013, the album's official track listing would be revealed. The tracklist would reveal that the album would contain 16 tracks and would feature guest appearances Roc Marciano, Domo Genesis, Havoc, Raekwon, and Action Bronson.^[4][5]

Release and promotion

The first single, "Give Em Hell" was released on January 28, 2013 via Prodigy's SoundCloud page. The song features vocals by Prodigy and was produced by The Alchemist.^[6][7] The album was originally scheduled to be released on May 14, 2013, but Amazon.com would later reveal a release date for the album of June 11, 2013.^[8] The second song released in promotion of the album would be "Dough Pildin" on May 12, 2013.^[9] On June 4, 2013, the music video was released for "Y.N.T." featuring Domo Genesis.^[10] The music video for "Dough Pildin" was released on June 17, 2013.^[11] On June 25, 2013, the music video was released for "Give Em Hell".^[12] On February 3, 2014, the music video was released for "IMDKV".^[13]

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number 175 on the Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 3,000 copies in the United States.^[14] The following week it fell off the chart.

Critical response

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	73/100[15]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllHipHop	8/10[16]
Allmusic	[17]
Exclaim!	6/10[18]
HipHopDX	[19]
Pitchfork Media	8.2/10[20]
PopMatters	7/10[21]
RapReviews	8.5/10[22]
XXL	(L)[23]

Albert Einstein was met with generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 73, based on 7 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[15] Reed Jackson of XXL gave the album an L, saying "The album never reaches jaw-dropping levels because the envelope’s never pushed, but that’s not the point. Albert Einstein is about two artists doing what they do best, and for one of them, it’s a return to form. It’s the type of rough and witty realism people loved from P in the ’90s, and hopefully it’s here to stay for projects to come."^[23] Logan Smithson of PopMatters gave the album a seven out of ten, saying "Albert Einstein has plenty of memorable beats, but the lyrics don’t match that same level of success. Prodigy provides a nice compliment to the audaciously visual production of the Alchemist, but his limited range of energy and lack of ability to make good hooks puts Albert Einstein behind some of the Alchemist’s other collaboration albums with a single rapper. That’s not to say Albert Einstein is bad, it’s definitely worth listening to for most hip-hop fans. You might not be blown away by the album, but Prodigy and Alchemist have put together a highly enjoyable album."^[21] Jaroslav Lavick of RapReviews gave the album an 8.5 out of ten, saying "This album is Prodigy and Alchemist giving long time fans exactly what they want. I personally don't need P to be dropping conscious or uplifting rhymes and if he suddenly started doing that at this point in his career it would be as strange as when he thought he was Luther Vandross on H.N.I.C. 3. I'd rather him keep telling us how deadly he is, using his cocksure swagger and top notch MC credentials to deliver his threats and boasts."^[22]

Peter Marrack of Exclaim! gave the album a six out of ten, saying "Prodigy is a master of talking slick, delivering gruff street tales as if he was on the corner jiving with his homies. He's casual, not always sincere, but dangerously convincing; his bars haven't faltered since his early Mobb Deep days and Einstein is no exception."^[18] Jesse Fairfax of HipHopDX gave the album three and a half stars out of five, saying "Sharing his first name with the famed genius, Prodigy breaks his advanced expertise down to a science on Albert Einstein. Mediocre moments occur far and few in between quality tracks, as “Dough Pildin” is outweighed by the strong composure and focus contained within “Breeze” and “Say My Name.” Though his synergy with Alchemist hasn’t quite matched that of his former duo, and the album is repetitive in nature (a sure complaint for anyone highly critical of his solo work), Prodigy continues his largely consistent reign as a still thriving pioneer of New York’s once thugged-out era."^[19] Matthew Sanderson of AllHipHop gave the album an eight out of ten, saying "This album is for the fans of the original Mobb sound of the late 90s. To me, Alchemist is the unofficial third member. His sound fits perfectly to the Mobb lyrical directive. Solid P of old. For the most part sick signature Alchemist beats, with the addition of some new sounds that are just right."^[16] Nate Patrin of Pitchfork Media gave the album an 8.2 out of 10, saying "Albert Einstein is so casually visceral and immediately gettable that it feels like a recent high point for both of them. Lyrically, Prodigy's delivery is enough to make the constant pile-on of relentless violence blur into something more lifelike and experience-driven than empty threats.^[20]

Track listing

• All songs solely produced by The Alchemist except track 13, co-produced by Adrian Younge.^[24]

Personnel

Credits for Albert Einstein adapted from Allmusic.^[26]

References