''August Greene'' is a collaborative studio album by American rapper

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 ...

and record producers Robert Glasper and

Karriem Riggins Karriem Riggins is an American jazz drummer, hip hop producer, DJ and songwriter. Biography Riggins was born in Detroit, Michigan, United States, son of keyboardist Emmanuel Riggins. As a child, he would often watch his father perform with G ...

, recording as a

supergroup Supergroup or super group may refer to: * Supergroup (music), a music group formed by artists who are already notable or respected in their fields * Supergroup (physics), a generalization of groups, used in the study of supersymmetry * Supergroup ...

of the same name, self-released on March 9, 2018. Recording sessions took place at Electric Lady Studios, Red Bull Studios and Brooklyn Recording in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, and at Henson Recording Studios and

NRG Studios NRG Recording Studios is a recording facility located in North Hollywood, California, that was created by producer and mixer Jay Baumgardner in 1992. Facilities The facility consists of three studio consoles: *Studio A console: custom vintage N ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. It features contributions from Samora Pinderhughes,

Brandy Brandy is a liquor produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35–60% alcohol by volume (70–120 US proof) and is typically consumed as an after-dinner digestif. Some brandies are aged in wooden casks. Others are coloured with ...

Bilal __NOTOC__ Bilal may refer to: People * Bilal (name) (a list of people with the name) * Bilal ibn Rabah, a companion of Muhammad * Bilal (American singer) * Bilal (Lebanese singer) Places *Bilal Colony, a neighbourhood of Korangi Town in Karachi, ...

, Estelle, Jeremiah Abiah and James Hall Worship & Praise Choir on vocals, Burniss Travis on bass,

Patrick Warren Patrick Warren (born March 26, 1957) is an American musician, composer, and record producer. He is known for his work on the films ''Magnolia'', ''Fifty Shades of Grey'', ''Boogie Nights'' and ''Red State'', as well as the television series '' ...

on keyboards and strings, Elena Pinderhughes on flute and

Roy Hargrove Roy Anthony Hargrove (October 16, 1969 – November 2, 2018) was an American jazz musician and composer whose principal instruments were the trumpet and flugelhorn. He achieved worldwide acclaim after winning two Grammy Awards for differing styles ...

on trumpet.

Critical reception

''August Greene'' was met with generally favorable reviews from music critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

score of 72, based on five reviews. ''

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 ...

'' reviewer praised tha album writing, "optimistic but never mawkish, ''August Greene'' distinguishes itself from other socially conscious albums with its practical approach. It's motivational music that, for once, makes change feel less elusive". Peter A. Berry of '' XXL'' described it as "a project filled with rich, jazzy vibes and all the tight lyricism we've come to expect from one of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

's very best".

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

's Andy Kellman wrote: "the set's predominantly reflective mood and nuanced composites of jazz,

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

, and hip-hop make it sound like an extension of Glasper's ''

Black Radio ''Black Radio'' is the fifth studio album by American jazz pianist/hip hop producer Robert Glasper, recorded with his electric quartet, the Robert Glasper Experiment. Released on February 28, 2012, on the Blue Note label, the album won Best R&B Al ...

Recovered'', '' Everything's Beautiful'', and reinterpretation of Kendrick Lamar's "I'm Dying of Thirst" as much as the trio's meetings on ''

Black America Again ''Black America Again'' is the eleventh studio album by American rapper Common. It was released on November 4, 2016, by ARTium Recordings and Def Jam Recordings. ''Black America Again'' was supported by two singles: "Love Star" and "Black America ...

''". Phillip Mlynar of '' Pitchfork'' wrote: "just as the album looks like it's about to settle and prosper in this zone, in comes "Piano Interlude", and the tone of August Greene shifts messily". In a mixed review, Josh Hurst of '' Slant'' stated, "the album is admirable and at times rewarding for its sense of experimentation, but only for those willing to meet it on its own terms".

Track listing

Personnel

*Lonnie "

" Lynn – main artist, vocals *

– main artist, drums (tracks: 1-6, 8-11), guitar (track 9), producer * Robert Glasper – main artist, piano (track 1), keyboards (tracks: 2-11), producer *Samora Pinderhughes – vocals (tracks: 1-6, 8, 9, 11) *Burniss Earl Travis II – vocals (tracks: 2, 11), bass (tracks: 1-6, 8-11), mellotron (track 1) *Jeremiah Abiah – vocals (track 4) *

Bilal Oliver Bilal Sayeed Oliver (born August 23, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is an independent artist, noted for his wide vocal range, work across multiple genres, and intense live performances. Starting out at a major ...

– vocals (tracks: 6, 11) *

Brandy Norwood Brandy Rayana Norwood (born February 11, 1979), better known by her mononym Brandy, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, actress and model. She is known for her distinctive sound, characterized by her peculiar timbre, voice-layer ...

– vocals (tracks: 9-11) * Elena Pinderhughes – vocals (track 9), flute (tracks: 9, 11) * Estelle Fanta Swaray – vocals (track 11) *James Hall Worship & Praise Choir – backing vocals (track 10) *

– keyboards and strings (track 5) *

– trumpet (track 11) *Phil Joly – recording *Michael "Law" Thomas – recording (tracks: 1-9, 11) *Gosha Usov – recording (tracks: 1-6, 9-11) *Kyle Hoffmann – recording (tracks: 2, 3, 9) *

Chris Tabron Chris Tabron is a Grammy award-winning American record producer, mixer, and engineer, based in New York City. As a producer or mixer, Tabron has worked on records by Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, Mary J. Blige, Common, The Strokes, Robert Glasper, an ...

– recording (tracks: 3, 9) *Beatriz Artola – recording (tracks: 9, 10) *Billy Cumella – recording assistant *Tate McDowell – recording assistant (tracks: 1-9, 11) *Barry McCready – recording assistant (tracks: 1-3, 5) *Evan Sutton – recording assistant (tracks: 3, 9) *Jeff Citron – recording assistant (tracks: 8, 9) *

Manny Marroquin Manny Marroquin (born September 21, 1971) is an American mixing engineer.Daley, Dan (May 2005).Manny Marroquin. ''Sound on Sound''. Retrieved February 10, 2007 He has received ten Grammy awards for his professional audio work. Life and career M ...

– mixing *Chris Galland – engineering *Robin Florent – engineering assistant *Scott Desmarais – engineering assistant *Emerson Mancini – mastering *Gravillis Inc. – art direction, design * Brian "B+" Cross – photography

References

External links

* {{Robert Glasper Robert Glasper albums Common (rapper) albums 2018 collaborative albums Albums produced by Karriem Riggins Albums recorded at Electric Lady Studios