''Chilltown, New York'' is the sixth solo studio album by American rapper and producer
Erick Sermon
Erick Sermon (born November 25, 1968) is an American rapper, musician, and record producer. He is best known as one-third—alongside PMD & DJ Scratch—of 1980s/1990s hip hop group EPMD and for his production work.
Career
Sermon started prof ...
. It was released on June 22, 2004 via
Def Squad
Def Squad is an American rap supergroup consisting of Erick Sermon, Redman, Keith Murray, Hurricane G, and Jamal. Before officially forming as a group to release an album in 1998, they had each been featured on tracks by each other. The Def ...
/
Universal Motown Records Group
Universal Motown Republic Group (UMRG) was an umbrella label founded in 1999 by Universal Music Group to oversee the labels assigned to its unit. UMRG was formed in 1999 by pooling together Universal Records, Motown Records, and Republic Records, ...
. Recording sessions took place at L.I.T.E. Recording Studios in
Long Island,
New York.
Production
Production may refer to:
Economics and business
* Production (economics)
* Production, the act of manufacturing goods
* Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services)
* Production as a stati ...
was handled solely by Sermon. The album features
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 from Sy Scott,
Redman, 11/29, Dahlia Anderson,
Keith Murray
Keith Omar Murray (born May 29, 1974) is an American rapper from New York. Murray grew up on Carleton Ave, in Central Islip, which is located on the South Shore of Long Island in Suffolk County. Murray was a known member of a local rap collec ...
, Khari,
Slimkid3
Trevant Hardson (born October 5, 1970), best known by his stage name Slimkid3 (Slim Kid Tre; sometimes stylized as SlimKid3), is an American rapper from Los Angeles. He is a founding member of The Pharcyde.
Career
Tre Hardson began his career ...
,
Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli Greene (; born October 3, 1975) is an American rapper. He earned recognition early on through his collaboration with fellow Brooklyn rapper Mos Def in 1997, when they formed the group Black Star. Kweli's musical career continued with ...
and Whip Montez. The album spawned two
singles
Singles are people not in a committed relationship.
Singles may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series
* ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe
* ''Singles'' ...
: "Relentless"/"I'm Not Him" and "Feel It".
The album peaked at number 61 on the
''Billboard'' 200 albums chart in the United States.
Critical reception
''Chilltown, New York'' received generally positive reviews from 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 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 74, based on 8 reviews.
Lee Henderson of ''
PopMatters
''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...
'' stated, "As strong as anything Sermon's done".
Steve Juon of RapReviews praised the album saying, "''Chilltown, New York'' proves itself a worthy successor not only to 2002's ''
React REACT or React may refer to:
Science and technology
*REACT (telescope), a telescope at Fenton Hill Observatory, New Mexico, US
Computing
* React (JavaScript library) , a JavaScript library for building user interfaces, from Facebook
** React Nati ...
'' but to the rest of Sermon's long and storied rap career".
Jamin Warren of ''
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 ...
'' said, "No doubt, ''Chilltown'' consistently delivers solid hip-hop cuts. But in comparison to his 2002 release ''React'', Sermon's well of creativity might be running dry".
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 ...
reviewer Andy Kellman said, "''Chilltown'' won't be thought of as a classic down the line, but it hardly weakens the MC/producer's reputation".
Track listing
;Sample credits
Relentless
*"Real Fright" by
Iron Butterfly
Iron Butterfly is an American rock band formed in San Diego, California, in 1966. They are best known for the 1968 hit " In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida", providing a dramatic sound that led the way towards the development of hard rock and heavy metal musi ...
Street Hop
*"
Made You Look" by
Nas
Nas (born 1973) is the stage name of American rapper Nasir Jones.
Nas, NaS, or NAS may also refer to:
Aviation
* Nasair, a low-cost airline carrier and subsidiary based in Eritrea
* National Air Services, an airline in Saudi Arabia
** Nas Air ( ...
Chillin'
*"
Top Billin'
"Top Billin'" is a single for American hip-hop duo Audio Two, released as the B-side of the single "Make It Funky" from the album '' What More Can I Say?'' It was released before First Priority Music inked a distribution deal with Atlantic Reco ...
" by
Audio Two
*"
Bring the Noise" by
Public Enemy
"Public enemy" is a term which was first widely used in the United States in the 1930s to describe individuals whose activities were seen as criminal and extremely damaging to society, though the phrase had been used for centuries to describe ...
I'm Not Him
*"
Bring the Noise" by
Public Enemy
"Public enemy" is a term which was first widely used in the United States in the 1930s to describe individuals whose activities were seen as criminal and extremely damaging to society, though the phrase had been used for centuries to describe ...
Feel It
*"Like Glue" by
Sean Paul
*"Here We Go (Live)" by
Run-DMC
Do You Know
*Contains an interpolation of "
Theme from Mahogany" by
Diana Ross
Can U Hear Me Now
*"AJ Scratch" by
Kurtis Blow
Kurtis Walker (born August 9, 1959), professionally known by his stage name Kurtis Blow, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record/film producer, b-boy, DJ, public speaker and minister. He is the first commercially successful rapper ...
*"
Bring the Noise" by
Public Enemy
"Public enemy" is a term which was first widely used in the United States in the 1930s to describe individuals whose activities were seen as criminal and extremely damaging to society, though the phrase had been used for centuries to describe ...
Chart history
References
External links
Chilltown, New Yorkon
Bandcamp
Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...
*
{{Authority control
2004 albums
Erick Sermon albums
Albums produced by Erick Sermon
Motown albums