''Black on Blonde'' (stylized as ''BLack on BLonde'') is the fifth studio album by
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
rapper
k-os
Kevin Brereton (born February 20, 1972), better known by his stage name k-os (; "chaos"), is a Canadian alternative rapper, singer, songwriter and producer. His given name may also be cited as Kheaven, a spelling he later adopted.
The alias "k ...
, released January 23, 2013 on Crown Loyalist and
EMI Records
EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company of the same name in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succ ...
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 ...
'', October 2, 2012. A
double album
A double album (or double record) is an audio album that spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically either records or compact disc. A double album is usually, though not always, released as such because the recording i ...
, ''BLack on BLonde'' is divided into two discs, one consisting of hip hop songs (''BLack'') and one consisting of
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
songs (''BLonde'').
Guest musicians on the album include
Emily Haines
Emily Savitri Haines (born 25 January 1974) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She is the lead singer, keyboardist and songwriter of the rock band Metric and a member of the musical collective Broken Social Scene. As a solo artist, she has pe ...
,
Black Thought
Tariq Luqmaan Trotter (born October 3, 1973), better known as Black Thought, is an American rapper, actor and the lead MC of the Philadelphia-based hip hop group the Roots, which he co-founded with drummer Questlove (Ahmir Thompson). Regarded ...
,
Sebastien Grainger
Sebastien Alexandre Grainger (born 11 April 1979) is a Canadian singer and musician, best known as drummer and singer of the alternative rock duo Death from Above and the singer and guitarist for his band Sebastien Grainger and The Mountains. H ...
,
Travie McCoy
Travis Lazarus "Travie" McCoy (born August 5, 1981) is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He is the co-founder and former lead vocalist of the rap rock band Gym Class Heroes, in addition to having a solo career. McCoy became involved w ...
Jay Malinowski
Jay Malinowski (born 1982) is a Canadians, Canadian singer, songwriter, visual artist and writer. He was born in Montreal, Quebec, and grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia. He is best known as the vocalist and guitarist for reggae group Bedo ...
,
Saukrates
Karl Amani Wailoo (born March 6, 1978), better known by his stage name Saukrates (; "Socrates"), is a Canadian rapper, singer, and record producer. He is the co-founder of Capitol Hill Music, and lead singer of the hip-hop/ R&B group Big Black L ...
George Stroumboulopoulos
George Mark Paul Stroumboulopoulos (; Greek: Γεώργιος Μάρκος Παύλος Στρουμπουλόπουλος; born August 16, 1972) is a Canadian media personality. He is one of Canada's most popular broadcasters and best known as fo ...
also provides a spoken intro to the track "The Dog Is Mine".
Reception
''Black on Blonde'' received mixed to positive reviews from critics. On
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 ...
, the album holds a score of 66/100 based on 4 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".