''Innercity Griots'' is the second studio album by American hip hop group

Freestyle Fellowship Freestyle Fellowship is an American hip hop group from Los Angeles, California. It consists of Aceyalone, Myka 9, P.E.A.C.E., and Self Jupiter. The group was a prominent part of the Good Life Cafe collective, and are part of the Project Blowed col ...

. It was released on April 28, 1993 on 4th & B'way Records and distributed through

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...

Critical reception

Nathan Bush of

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 ...

gave the album 5 stars out of 5, praising the group's creativity and range as well as the album's production, which he felt showed an improvement from their previous effort. Jihad Hassan Muhammad of ''

The Dallas Weekly The ''Dallas Weekly'' is a newspaper headquartered in Dallas, Texas. It is one of the major Dallas-Fort Worth black newspapers African-American newspapers (also known as the Black press or Black newspapers) are news publications in the Unite ...

'' commented that "they gave an unlikely musical offering at the time when everything was gangs and sets thrown as far as hip-hop was concerned in Los Angeles." In 2012, ''

The Daily Californian ''The Daily Californian'' (''Daily Cal'') is an independent, student-run newspaper that serves the University of California, Berkeley, campus and its surrounding community. It formerly published a print edition four days a week on Monday, Tuesd ...

'' included it on the "10 Albums for the Hip-Hop Layman" list. In 2013, '' Spin'' included it on its list of the 50 best rap albums of 1993. In 2015, ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' placed it at number 51 on its list of the "100 Lost Albums You Need to Know".

Track listing

Personnel

Information taken from the liner notes.Freestyle Fellowship (1993). ''Innercity Griots''. *

Myka 9 Michael Lafayette Troy (born January 15, 1969), better known by his stage name Myka 9, is a rapper from Los Angeles, California. He is a member of Freestyle Fellowship, Haiku d'Etat and Magic Heart Genies. Known for years as Mikah Nine, he chang ...

Aceyalone Edwin Maximilian "Eddie" Hayes, Jr. (born September 30, 1970), better known by his stage name Aceyalone, is an American rapper from Los Angeles, California, United States. He is a member of Freestyle Fellowship, Haiku D'Etat and The A-Team. He is ...

Peace Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups. ...

, and

Self Jupiter Ornette Glenn (born March 16, 1970), better known by his stage name Self Jupiter, is an American rapper from Los Angeles, California. He is a member of Freestyle Fellowship alongside Myka 9, P.E.A.C.E., and Aceyalone. He is also one half of The ...

. * The Earthquake Brothers: The Jamm Messenger D, Mathmattiks, and The Mighty O-Roc. * Freestyle Fellowship – vocals, production, mixing * The Earthquake Brothers – production, mixing * Bambawar – production, mixing *

Daddy-O ''Daddy-O'' is a 1958 B-movie starring Dick Contino, Sandra Giles and Bruno VeSota. It was directed by Lou Place and written by David Moessinger. The film is notable for its soundtrack as being the debut film score for John Williams. The fil ...

– vocals, production, engineering * Edman – production * JMD – bass guitar, timpani, drums, percussion, production * Kevin O'Neal – upright bass, production * Kim Buie – executive production *

Kedar Massenburg William "Kedar" Massenburg (born 1963) is an American record producer and record label executive, who was the president of Motown Records from 1997 to 2004. Massenburg is best known for bringing Erykah Badu to fame. He trademarked the term "neo so ...

– executive production, mixing * Matt Hyde – engineering, mixing * Rich Herrera – engineering, mixing * Dawud – engineering * Aceyalone – mixing * Ed Lawson – mixing * Robert Harris – bass guitar * Don Littleton – percussion * Marvin McDaniel – acoustic guitar * Rodney Millon – guitar * Onaje Murray – vibraphone * Tom Ralls – trombone * Christy Smith – bass guitar, upright bass * Alfred Threats – bass guitar * Jon Williams – trumpet * Randall Willis – tenor saxophone, saxophone, flute * DJ Kiilu – turntables * Mathmattiks – turntables * Spoon – vocals * Cockney "O" Dire – vocals * Archie – vocals * Volume 10 – vocals * Ganja K Chronic – vocals

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1993 albums Freestyle Fellowship albums 4th & B'way Records albums Island Records albums