''And the Anonymous Nobody...'' (stylized as ''and the Anonymous Nobody...'') is the ninth full-length

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

hip hop group

De La Soul De La Soul () is an American hip hop trio formed in 1988 in the Amityville area of Long Island, New York. They are best known for their eclectic sampling, quirky lyrics, and their contributions to the evolution of the jazz rap and alternative ...

, their first full-length album since ''

The Grind Date ''The Grind Date'' is the seventh studio album by American hip hop group De La Soul, released on October 5, 2004. The album was originally intended to be the final album of the ''Art Official Intelligence'' (''AOI'') trilogy, but as the album qui ...

''. It was released on August 26, 2016, on A.O.I. Records,

executive produced Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

by Jordan Katz. The group announced the track list on May 20, 2016. The album has guest features from

2 Chainz Tauheed K. Epps (born September 12, 1977), known professionally as 2 Chainz (or Tity Boi), is an American rapper. Born and raised in College Park, Georgia, he initially gained recognition as one-half of the Southern hip hop duo Playaz Circle, al ...

Damon Albarn Damon Albarn (; born 23 March 1968) is an English-Icelandic musician, singer-songwriter and composer, best known as the frontman and primary lyricist of the rock band Blur and as the co-creator and primary musical contributor of the virtual ...

David Byrne David Byrne (; born 14 May 1952) is a Scottish-American singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, writer, music theorist, visual artist and filmmaker. He was a founding member and the principal songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist of ...

, Estelle,

Little Dragon Little Dragon are a Swedish electronic music band from Gothenburg, Sweden, formed in 1996. The band consists of Yukimi Nagano (vocals, percussion), Erik Bodin (drums), Fredrik Wallin (bass) and Håkan Wirenstrand (keyboards). Little Dragon's ...

Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. (born October 20, 1971), known professionally as Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg and briefly Snoop Lion), is an American rapper. His fame dates back to 1992 when he featured on Dr. Dre's debut solo single, " ...

, Jill Scott,

Justin Hawkins Justin David Hawkins (born 17 March 1975) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, and YouTube personality best known for being the founder, lead singer, and lead guitarist of The Darkness. He was influenced by rock bands of the 1970s and 1 ...

Pete Rock Peter O. Phillips (born June 21, 1970), better known by his stage name Pete Rock, is an American record producer, DJ and rapping, rapper. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest hip hop producers of all time, and is often mentioned alongs ...

, and

Roc Marciano Rahkeim Calief Meyer (born February 11, 1978), better known by his stage name Roc Marciano, is an American rapper, songwriter, and producer. Career Roc Marciano started his career in 1999 when he joined Busta Rhymes' collective the Flipmode S ...

. It received positive reviews by critics, and peaked at 12 on the ''Billboard'' 200. The album was nominated for

Best Rap Album The Grammy Award for Best Rap Album is an award presented to recording artists for quality albums with rapping at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors in several categories ...

at the

2017 Grammy Awards The 59th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held on February 12, 2017. The CBS network broadcast the show live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The ceremony recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, ...

Background

In early 2015, De La Soul created a

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

in order to fund the album. In under ten hours, it surpassed the projected goal of $110,000. Initially, the group announced that the album would be released on April 29, 2016. Subsequently, releasing a new EP titled ''For Your Pain & Suffering'' on April 29, 2016, the group rescheduled the release of the album for August 26, 2016. The first single, "Pain" (featuring Snoop Dogg), was released on June 1, 2016.

Critical reception

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 77, based on 28 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Writing for ''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...

'', Kyle Mullin gave the album a rave review, calling it "one of the most thrilling, wide-ranging rap releases of the year."

Commercial performance

In the United States, ''And the Anonymous Nobody...'' debuted at number 12 on the ''Billboard'' 200, with 23,000

album-equivalent unit The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, is a measurement unit in music industry to define the consumption of music that equals the purchase of one album copy. This consumption includes streaming and song downloads in addition to traditi ...

s, marking the fifth highest debut of the week. It was the seventh best-selling album of the week, selling 21,000 copies in its first week. ''And the Anonymous Nobody...'' was the first De La Soul album to debut at number one on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Top Rap Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated Jan ...

. The album was also streamed 2 million times in the first week. It was nominated at the

59th Grammy Awards The 59th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held on February 12, 2017. The CBS network broadcast the show live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The ceremony recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, ...

for

Track listing

; Notes *On the Kickstarter Exclusive edition of the album "You Go Dave (A Goldblatt Presentation)" contains the hidden track "Unfold" after it. * signifies a co-

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control 2016 albums De La Soul albums Rough Trade Records albums Albums produced by Pete Rock Kickstarter-funded albums Albums recorded at Electro-Vox Recording Studios Albums recorded at Westlake Recording Studios