''51'' is the second solo mixtape by

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

Kool A.D., formerly of the rap group

Das Racist Das Racist was an American alternative hip hop group based in Brooklyn, composed of MCs Heems and Kool A.D. and hype man Ashok Kondabolu (a.k.a. Dapwell or Dap). Known for their use of humor, academic references, foreign allusions, and unconven ...

. The mixtape, released in April 2012, is a follow-up to Kool A.D.'s debut solo mixtape, '' The Palm Wine Drinkard,'' which was released in January 2012.

Recording

Unlike previous

efforts, Kool A.D. recorded ''51'' in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

, which resulted in a more confident sound according to many critics. A.D. recruited many Bay Area producers and rappers to assist him with the creation of the mixtape, though fellow New York-based Das Racist member

Heems Himanshu Kumar Suri (born July 6, 1985), better known by his stage name Heems, is an American rapping, rapper from Queens in New York City. Best known for being part of the alternative hip hop group Das Racist, Suri is also the founder of Greedh ...

appears on one track.

Content

A variety of references are made throughout the lyrics of ''51.'' Kool A.D. disparagingly references the feud between

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals * A male duck People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name * Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * ...

and

Common Common may refer to: Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Common, common land area in Cambridge, Massachusetts * Clapham Common, originally com ...

by commenting, "Who cares?" on the track "La Pinata." Other references in the mixtape include boxer

Manny Pacquiao Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao Sr. (; born December17, 1978) is a Filipino politician and former professional boxer. Nicknamed "PacMan", he is regarded as one of the greatest professional boxers of all time. He served as a Senator of the Philip ...

, artist

Damien Hirst Damien Steven Hirst (; né Brennan; born 7 June 1965) is an English artist, entrepreneur, and art collector. He is one of the Young British Artists (YBAs) who dominated the art scene in the UK during the 1990s. He is reportedly the United Kingd ...

, musician Al Green, and

Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...

's song "Poker Face." The tracks "Oooh" and "No" sample

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo ar ...

Reception

''51'' received mostly positive reviews from critics. Many compared the album positively to Kool A.D.'s less well-received previous effort, '' The Palm Wine Drinkard''. ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

'' applauded the fact that "Kool A.D. is actually rapping for the most part on this one rather than further pursuing the robo-tripping path of ''Palm Wine Drinkard,''" noting that ''51'' is "the most consistently listenable thing out of the Greedhead camp since ''

Sit Down, Man ''Sit Down, Man'' is the second mixtape by American hip hop trio Das Racist. It was released as a free download by Greedhead Music, Mishka, and Mad Decent on September 14, 2010. It gained over 40,000 downloads in its first week of release. An alb ...

'' probably because it's the most effortlessly fun since ''

Shut Up, Dude ''Shut Up, Dude'' is the first mixtape by American hip hop trio Das Racist. It was released as a free download by Greedhead Music and Mishka on March 29, 2010. Music videos A music video was created for "Who's That? Brooown!". The video linked t ...

''." In a positive review, ''Prefix Magazine'' described the mixtape as "a damn fine mixtape—album, release, whatever. It’s a trip down into Kool A.D.’s psyche, a demonstrable showing that while Das Racist might be based in New York, one of their members is spiritually Bay." ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

s Matthew Trammell, in a mixed review, wrote that "the project veers off course when A.D. taps Bay Area-beatmaker Young L, and derails entirely (and possibly intentionally) when the rapper steps behind the boards for songs like the grinding, non-sensical 'Power/Refinement Knowledge,'" though Trammell noted that the mixtape as a whole "suggest that Kool A.D should record in the Bay Area more often."

Track listing

References

{{Authority control 2012 mixtape albums Kool A.D. albums