''Citizens Activ'' is the fourth studio album by the Christian rapper

Manafest Christopher Scott Greenwood (born July 19, 1979), known by his stage name Manafest, is a Canadian Christian rapper and rock artist from Pickering, Ontario, Canada. He has won multiple awards for the GMA Canada Covenant Awards, GMA Dove Award ...

. It was released on May 28, 2008 in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and shortly after released globally on June 24, under

BEC Recordings BEC (Brandon Ebel Company) Recordings is a Christian rock record label that is an imprint of Tooth & Nail Records. The label was formed in 1997 in partnership with the EMI Christian Music Group. The label promotes bands with more adult Christia ...

. The release contains the singles "4-3-2-1", "So Beautiful", and "Good Day".

Critical reception

The album received positive to average reviews overall, with only a few musical sites being negative in their evaluations. Both staff reviews from New Release Tuesday praised the album heavily. Kevin McNeese stated "this album takes everything we love about

KJ-52 Jonah Kirsten Sorrentino (born June 26, 1975), better known by his stage name KJ-52, is a Christian rapper from Tampa, Florida. The "KJ" part of his name refers to his old rap alias, "King J. Mac,"

, everything we hate about , and wraps it in an extremely tight package that glorifies God, has some fun with everyday relationships and gives Christian rap a new tent-pole project to tout." Nathan of NRT went on to add that "even people who are not fans of the rap genre may find themselves hopping on Manafest's band wagon -- at least for ''Citizens Activ''. His tunes are just diverse enough to move past basic rap, and the rock he sprinkles in is also helpful. Add his meaningful lyrics and you have got a solid album despite the repetitive beats." Justin Mabee of Jesus Freak Hideout conquered by saying "while ''Citizens Activ'' may not be as up to par as his last release, Manafest has definitely matured since his debut and showcases those changes on this new release. Rock-infused raps abound, and fans of the rapper will likely find plenty to love here, adding on another record to their collection." Finally, Andy Argyrakis of

Crosswalk.com Crosswalk.com is a Christian website, operated by the Salem Web Network, a division of Salem Communications Salem Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: SALM; formerly Salem Communications Corporation) is an American radio broadcaster, Internet content p ...

plainly said when complementing the spiritual depth of the album: "Manafest shines with a meaningful centering and corresponding soundtrack he can just as easily take to church youth group kids as he can the inner city streets." On the flip side,

Rapzilla Rapzilla is a Christian hip hop online magazine. The website contains many sections such as latest news, album reviews, articles, interviews, music downloads, videos, release dates, and columns. Rapzilla is known for its up-to-date news. The we ...

stated frankly in a more neutral opinion on the album: "''Citizens Activ'' has a plethora of musical styles ranging from pop, rock, and rap. I would think that this will be as successful as his critically acclaimed '' Glory'' disc, commercially. But after listening to it, I can't really find myself attracted to this new manifestation of Manafest's manifesto." Omar Mouallem of

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 ...

went on to say in a very negative opinion that "lyrically, he (Manafest) is about as innocuous as a bobble-head, which may or may not have something to do with his status as Christian rap. Manafest delivers the type of rap you wouldn't mind your children listening to, so long as they outgrow it before high school."

Awards

The album was nominated for "Best Hip-Hop/Rap Album of the Year" at the 40th annual

GMA Dove Award A Dove Award is an accolade by the Gospel Music Association (GMA) of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the Christian music industry. The awards are presented annually. Formerly held in Nashville, Tennessee, the Dove Awards ...

s. The song "So Beautiful" off the release was also nominated for "Rap/Hip-Hop Recorded Song of the Year". The album was also nominated for "Rap/Hip Hop Album of the Year" at the 30th annual

GMA Canada The Gospel Music Association of Canada or GMA Canada (formerly known as the CGMA) is a not for profit association, founded in 1974, whose purpose is to promote Christian music in Canada. History GMA Canada is created in 1974 in Ontario with ...

Covenant Awards The Covenant Awards are awarded to the Canadian gospel music industry by GMA Canada, the Gospel Music Association of Canada. The association is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote the growth and ministry of Christian music in C ...

. The song "Good Day" off the release was also nominated for "Rap/Hip Hop Song of the Year" the same year. The following year, the song "4-3-2-1" won "Rap/Hip Hop Song of the Year". Manafest himself was also nominated for Artist of the Year for his work with ''Citizens Activ'' in 2009.

Track listing

Personnel

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

executive producer 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 ...

Trevor McNevan Trevor McNevan is a Canadian singer who is best known as the lead singer, songwriter and rapper of Thousand Foot Krutch, lead singer and songwriter of pop punk side project FM Static along with Steve Augustine (the third Thousand Foot Krutch dr ...

- additional vocals on tracks 2 & 8 *Stacey Kaniuk -

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

on track 4 *Madison Jefferson -

on track 10 *Eden Jefferson -

on track 10 *Aubrey "Bre" Noronha -

on tracks 11 & 13 * Promise -

on track 12 *

Adam Messinger Adam "Messy" Messinger is a Grammy Award-winning Canadian songwriter, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist currently based in Los Angeles, California. He is a producer for Canadian reggae band Magic!, but was initially a producer/songwriter ...

- mixing (all tracks), mastering *Rob Berger - mixing on tracks 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11 & 13 * Zale "Zalezy" Epstein - additional production on track 5 *Al-Khaaliq (Nick Brongers) - additional production on track 10 *Charles "DJ Versatile" Sabota - cuts;

Scratching Scratching, sometimes referred to as scrubbing, is a DJ and turntablist technique of moving a vinyl record back and forth on a turntable to produce percussive or rhythmic sounds. A crossfader on a DJ mixer may be used to fade between two record ...

on track 10 *Jeff Carver - A&R *Melanie Greenwood -

art direction Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the visi ...

, photography *Donna Milanka - photography *Janice Kim -

illustration An illustration is a decoration, interpretation or visual explanation of a text, concept or process, designed for integration in print and digital published media, such as posters, flyers, magazines, books, teaching materials, animations, vid ...

Music videos

* *

Notes

*In 2009, Manafest began to release a series of album

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...

s for many of his releases. ''Citizens Activ'' was the first to receive such a version. *In 2013, the two bonus tracks featured on the Japanese release of the album were re-released on the deluxe edition of Manafest's previous album '' Glory''. *In 2018, the song "4-3-2-1" appeared in "What the Puck", the eighth episode of Season 3 of the ''

Lethal Weapon ''Lethal Weapon'' is a 1987 American buddy cop action comedy film directed and co-produced by Richard Donner, written by Shane Black, and co-produced by Joel Silver. It stars Mel Gibson and Danny Glover alongside Gary Busey, Tom Atkins, Darle ...

'' TV series.

References

{{Authority control 2008 albums Albums produced by Boi-1da BEC Recordings albums Tooth & Nail Records albums Manafest albums