''Blood in My Eye'' is the fifth studio album by American rapper
Ja Rule
Jeffrey Bruce Atkins (born February 29, 1976), better known by his stage name Ja Rule (), is an American rapper and actor. Born and raised in New York City, he debuted in 1999 with '' Venni Vetti Vecci'' and its lead single " Holla Holla". Dur ...
, released on November 4, 2003, by
Murder Inc. and
Island Def Jam Music Group
The Island Def Jam Music Group (IDJMG) was an American recording music unit, formed on New Year's Eve 1998 by the Universal Music Group. It consists of labels devised and consisted under the basic operations of Island Records and Def Jam Recordin ...
. The album was originally planned to be released as a
mixtape. The release took place during the feud with
Shady/
Aftermath
Aftermath may refer to:
Companies
* Aftermath (comics), an imprint of Devil's Due Publishing
* Aftermath Entertainment, an American record label founded by Dr. Dre
* Aftermath Media, an American multimedia company
* Aftermath Services, an America ...
rappers
50 Cent,
G-Unit
G-Unit (short for Guerilla Unit) was an American hip hop group formed by longtime friends and East Coast rappers 50 Cent, Tony Yayo, and Lloyd Banks. After amassing a string of self-released mixtapes in the early 2000s, the group released t ...
,
Eminem,
D12
D12 (an initialism for The Dirty Dozen) was an American hip hop collective from Detroit, Michigan. Formed in 1996, the group achieved mainstream success with its lineup of ''de facto'' leader Eminem, Proof, Bizarre, Mr. Porter, Kuniva and Swift ...
,
Dr. Dre,
Obie Trice, along with artists including
DMX and
Busta Rhymes and was entirely dedicated to dissing them. The album was named after
George Jackson's radical
book of the same name.
Hussein Fatal of Outlawz,
Cadillac Tah, James Gotti,
Sizzla
Miguel Orlando Collins (born 17 April 1976), known by his stage name Sizzla Kalonji or Sizzla, is a Jamaican reggae musician. He is one of the most commercially and critically successful contemporary reggae artists and is noted for his high num ...
,
Black Child
Ramel Leroy Gill, (born October 18, 1973) better known by his stage name Black Child, is an American rapper from New York City. He is best known for his time being signed to Irv Gotti's Murder Inc. Records and being affiliated with Irv Gotti, ...
, Young Merc, D.O. Cannon, Shadow, and Sekou 720 are listed as
guest appearance
In show business, a guest appearance is the participation of an outsider performer (such as a musician or actor) in an event such as a music record or concert, show, etc., when the performer does not belong to the regular band, cast, or other ...
s on this album. Reviews for the record were mixed, with critics skeptical of Ja's lyrical skills as a hardcore rapper. ''Blood in My Eye'' debuted at number 6 on the
''Billboard'' 200 chart, with first-week sales of 140,000 copies in the United States.
Critical reception
''Blood in My Eye'' garnered mixed reviews from
music critics. At
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that 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 average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, which assigns a
normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, 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 45, based on 8 reviews.
Beccy Lindon of ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' called the record "a rough, back-to-basics rap album", noting that it is filled with guest verses from hardcore rappers and devoid of R&B artists, concluding that it is "more concerned with answering critics and continuing the backbiting with the
Death Row camp."
Jon Caramanica
Jon Caramanica (born 1975) is an American journalist and pop music critic who writes for ''The New York Times''. He is also known for writing about hip hop music.
Biography
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Caramanica received his bachelor's degree ...
, writing for ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'', commended Ja for breaking away from his usual love duet formula to deliver shots at other rappers but said that "the boasts here feel utterly tired. And so does the attitude."
Michael Endelman of ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...
'' found the album to be "a dull slog with a dearth of hooks and a surfeit of gangsta clichés."
Steve 'Flash' Juon of ''RapReviews'' criticized the narrow-minded lyrical takedowns and suggested that Ja stick to mainstream R&B/hip-hop duets, despite crediting the production and collaborations with Hussein Fatal, saying that, "All things considered though, this short 45 minute album will not solve Ja's problems, nor will it restore him to chart dominance."
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 databa ...
editor Jason Birchmeier called it "a very focused and heartfelt album", much more than his debut ''
Venni Vetti Vecci
''Venni Vetti Vecci'' is the debut studio album by American rapper Ja Rule. It was released on June 1, 1999, by Def Jam Recordings and Irv Gotti's Murder Inc. Records. It was the first album to be released on Murder Inc. Production was mostly ha ...
'', but felt that Ja worked better as a mainstream rapper crafting "catchy pop-rap tracks with grimy posturing and singalong hooks." He added that listeners would not get much out of the record, saying "there are only two quality songs, a lot of redundant trash-talking, and an overall sense of ridiculousness that pervades."
Track listing
Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.
(co.) Co-producer
Sample credits
* "The Crown" contains a sample of "Solid as a Rock", written by
Miguel Collins and
Bobby Dixon
Bobby Dixon or Ali Muhammed (born April 10, 1983), is an American-born naturalized Turkish professional basketball former player who played at the point guard position. He also represented the senior Turkish national basketball team, as he holds ...
, performed by
Sizzla
Miguel Orlando Collins (born 17 April 1976), known by his stage name Sizzla Kalonji or Sizzla, is a Jamaican reggae musician. He is one of the most commercially and critically successful contemporary reggae artists and is noted for his high num ...
.
* "Blood In My Eye" contains a sample of "Slippin' Into Darkness", written by
Thomas Allen,
Harold Brown,
Morris Dickerson,
Leroy Jordan,
Lee Levitin,
Charles Miller, and
Howard Scott
Howard Scott (April 1, 1890 – January 1, 1970) was an American engineer and founder of the Technocracy movement. He formed the Technical Alliance and Technocracy Incorporated.
Early life
Little is known about Scott's background or his early ...
, performed by
War
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
.
* "The Wrap (Freestyle)" contains a sample of "Learning Burn", written by
Albert Johnson,
Kejuan Muchita, and
Tajuan Perry, performed by
Mobb Deep.
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
See also
*
List of Billboard number-one R&B albums of 2003
References
{{Authority control
2003 albums
Ja Rule albums
Def Jam Recordings albums
Albums produced by Scott Storch
Albums produced by Irv Gotti