Dirty Gold

Dirty Gold
Studio album by Angel Haze
Released	December 30, 2013 (2013-12-30)
Recorded	January–June 2013[1]
Genre	Hip hop
Length	53:15
Label	Island Republic
Producer	Markus Dravs A Tribe Called Red Mike Dean Greg Kurstin Malay Jake Gosling Rudimental The 83rd
Angel Haze chronology
New York EP (2012) Dirty Gold (2013) Singles from Angel Haze "Echelon (It's My Way)" Released: October 15, 2013 (2013-10-15) "Battle Cry" Released: January 9, 2014 (2014-01-09)

Dirty Gold is the debut studio album by American rapper Angel Haze, released on December 30, 2013 through Island Records and Republic Records.^[2] The 12-song effort features production from Markus Dravs, Mike Dean, Greg Kurstin, Malay, Rudimental and A Tribe Called Red, and a track written by Australian singer-songwriter Sia.^[3][4][5] The album was supported by the singles "Echelon (It's My Way)" and "Battle Cry", along with the promotional single "No Bueno".

Background

Angel Haze released their EP Reservation for free online in July 2012. It was met with critical acclaim, receiving a 88/100 score at Metacritic.^[6] In the same year, they took part in the BET Hip Hop Awards' Cypher. They were also featured on Funk Volume artist Dizzy Wright's mixtape Free SmokeOut Conversations, on the remixed track for "Can't Trust Em". On their 2012 mixtape Classick, Haze recorded a cover of Eminem’s 2002 song, "Cleanin' Out My Closet". Earbuddy's John Downey wrote, "Haze’s take on Slim Shady’s classic tune might be the superior product."^[7] It was announced that Universal Republic Records was going defunct, making artists including Haze to move from its roster to the revived Republic Records.^[8]

Release and promotion

In May 2013, Haze debuted a track that is not included in their debut album Dirty Gold, titled "No Bueno", at a performance in London.^[9] On June 2, 2013, the song was released as the first promotional single.^[10]

On December 18, 2013, Haze leaked their album in its entirety on their SoundCloud page. The leak happened following a dispute with their record label which Haze wrote about in a series of tweets expressing their outrage. Executives for the record company told Haze that if they finished recording their album before the summer, they would release Dirty Gold in 2013.^[11] It was supposedly scheduled for a January 2014 release, but was later pushed back to March 3, 2014.^[12][13]

Hours after they leaked their album without the approval of the label, who had allegedly taken it down soon after the songs had spread across the Internet, Angel Haze stated on Twitter that after talking with the executives, they have agreed to release Dirty Gold on December 30, 2013 in the United States and the United Kingdom.^[14] Island Records followed up with a statement of their own: "Expressing frustration and upset about not being able to get her album out to fans in 2013 as previously promised, Angel Haze took matters into her own hands leaking the record via Twitter. Haze's actions have forced her label's hand who've since announced they will make the digital version of Dirty Gold available."^[13] The album debuted on the UK Albums Chart (5 January 2014) at number 196.

The record company also confirmed it was starting work towards a physical release of the album, which is now due early in 2014 as it could not be manufactured by the end of December 2013.^[15] It added Haze "wasn't comfortable" with plans to release the album in 2014: "She figured the record's ready, she's really proud and wants to get it out there as soon as possible."^[15]

Singles

On August 27, 2013, the album's lead single, titled "Echelon (It's My Way)", premiered on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 show.^[16] On October 2, 2013, its music video premiered on Angel Haze's VEVO.^[17] The Markus Dravs-produced song was made available for purchase on October 15, 2013.^[18]

On January 9, 2014, "Battle Cry" featuring Sia was serviced to urban contemporary radio in the United Kingdom as the album's second single.^[19]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	66/100[20]
Review scores
Source	Rating
The A.V. Club	C[21]
Clash	6/10[22]
Consequence of Sound	C+[23]
The Guardian	[24]
Now	[25]
Pitchfork Media	5.9/10[26]
Spin	5/10[27]
Tiny Mix Tapes	[28]
XXL	(M)[29]

Dirty Gold has received generally mixed to positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received a 66 score based on 19 reviews.^[20] Rowan Savage of Tiny Mix Tapes gave the album four and a half stars out of five, saying "Dirty Gold feels like a statement, an arrival."^[28] In a mixed review, Spin gave the album a five out of ten, saying "Haze's attempt to appear undefinable and resist categorization (as Dirty Gold‍ '​s conversational interludes attest) is a laudable pursuit, but it leaves the record unfocused."^[27] In a more negative review, Kevin Ritchie of Now gave the album two out of five stars, saying "Haze is positioning herself as a top 40 infiltrator, which is fine, but she’s also diluted her uniqueness."^[25] Alexis Petridis of The Guardian gave the album four out of five stars, saying "It's a flawed debut, but it's also a brave and individual one: its best bits are flatly great, its attempt to harness pop-rap to serious topics is a pretty intrepid move. It deserves better than to be buried by the label: after all, everyone does stupid, rash things just before Christmas."^[24]

Evan Rytlewski of The A.V. Club gave the album a C, saying "A labored crossover grab that mistakes conviction for substance, Dirty Gold marks Haze as just the latest in a long line of promising mixtape rappers to whiff a major-label debut."^[21] Eric Diep of XXL gave the album an M, saying "Haze's album is a reflection of her constantly changing tastes. The 22-year-old is ridiculously talented—just listen again to the beautifully crafted 'Planes Fly'. But Dirty Gold‍ '​s shortcomings overshadow the shining moments on the album as Haze struggles to find her identity, somewhere between underground rebel and mainstream player. Her first-week sales of 857 copies in the UK and her reported low numbers of 1,115 units in the U.S. show she’s not quite ready to move to the top tier and that unfortunately, not all that glitters is gold."^[29]

Mike Madden of Consequence of Sound gave the album a C+, saying "Dirty Gold is plenty inviting, sonically speaking, with patches of rock, EDM, and pop. It's problematic, however, that the album zones in on those genres with about as much specificity as those designators have. In short, Dirty Gold sounds too much like Coldplay to function as a rap album — and yes, producer Markus Dravs worked with the English band on a couple of their recent albums."^[23]

Commercial performance

In the United States, the album debuted at number 15 on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart in its first week of release, failing to appear on the Billboard 200.^[30] It would sell less than 1,000 copies in the United States in its first week.^[31] In the UK, it debuted at number 196 on the UK Album Charts, selling 857 copies.^[32] The album debuted at number 22 on the UK R&B Albums.

Track listing

Notes

• "Black Synagogue" features uncredited vocals from Wynter Gordon.
• "April's Fool" features uncredited vocals from UK singer-songwriter Benedict.^[38][39]
• "Black Dahlia" features an uncredited speech from Natalia Kills.

Chart positions

Release history

References