Knock Madness
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''Knock Madness'' is the third studio album by American rapper
Hopsin Marcus Jamal Hopson (born July 18, 1985), known professionally as Hopsin, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer from Los Angeles. In 2007, he was signed to Ruthless Records, and had founded his own record label, Funk Volume, i ...
. It was released on November 24, 2013, by
Funk Volume Funk Volume was an American independent record label founded by American rapper Hopsin. The label was home to artists Dizzy Wright, Jarren Benton, SwizZz, and producers DJ Hoppa and Kato. The label is defunct due to a feud between co-founders ...
and distributed by
EMPIRE An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
. Hopsin has said that the overall vibe of the album is different from his previous album ''
Raw Raw is an adjective usually describing: * Raw materials, basic materials from which products are manufactured or made * Raw food, uncooked food Raw or RAW may also refer to: Computing and electronics * .RAW, a proprietary mass spectrometry dat ...
'' and that he has said all he needs to about leaving Ruthless Records. The album contains guest appearances from rappers
SwizZz Justin Ritter (born September 28, 1987), known professionally as SwizZz, is an American rapper and songwriter. He is best known for significantly collaborating with childhood friend Hopsin, and being signed to their record label Funk Volume, whic ...
,
Dizzy Wright La'Reonte Wright (born November 26, 1990), known professionally as Dizzy Wright, is an American rapper and record producer. In December 2011, Wright signed to rapper Hopsin's independent record label, Funk Volume. After signing, he released his ...
,
Jarren Benton Jarren Giovanni Benton (born October 26, 1981), is an American rapper from Decatur, Georgia. In early 2012, he signed to rapper Hopsin's independent record label Funk Volume and released a mixtape titled, ''Freebasing with Kevin Bacon'' in June ...
, and
Tech N9ne Aaron Dontez Yates (born November 8, 1971), better known by his stage name Tech N9ne (pronounced "tech nine"), is an American rapper. In 1999, he and business partner Travis O'Guin founded the record label Strange Music. He has sold over two ...
, among others. Like its predecessors, the album's
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 entirely handled by Hopsin himself. ''Knock Madness'' was supported by three singles, "Old Friend", " Hop Is Back", and "Rip Your Heart Out", the last of which features Tech N9ne. Hopsin also supported the album with the Fuck It Tour with
Yelawolf Michael Wayne Atha (born December 30, 1979), better known by his stage name Yelawolf, is an American rapper. Born in Alabama and raised in Tennessee, he embarked on his career independently in 2005, releasing one extended play (EP) and four mixta ...
, and the Knock Madness Tour. ''Knock Madness'' was met with generally positive reviews from
music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...
. The album also peaked at number 76 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 and, as of December 2013, has sold 16,000 copies according to Nielsen SoundScan.


Background

Hopsin spoke about the album in an interview with ''
HipHopDX ''HipHopDX'' is an online magazine of hip hop music criticism and news. The website's current president and publisher is Sharath Cherian and the Head Of Content is Jerry L. Barrow. ''HipHopDX'' is the flagship publication of Cheri Media Group. ...
'' on August 12, 2011, where he said that he was aiming to make the production quality of ''Knock Madness'' sound just as good, if not better, than his perception of
Dr. Dre Andre Romelle Young (born February 18, 1965), known professionally as Dr. Dre, is an American rapper and record producer. He is the founder and CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics, and previously co-founded, co-owned, and ...
's upcoming album, ''
Detox Detoxification or detoxication (detox for short) is the physiological or medicinal removal of toxic substances from a living organism, including the human body, which is mainly carried out by the liver. Additionally, it can refer to the period of ...
''. He also stated that the album would have a "positive message" and that when people listen to the album he wants them to feel "inspired to be better in life". On January 20, 2012, he stated via his
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
account that ''Knock Madness'' was his main priority in life. He later spoke on the background of the album's sound, saying,
I'm 28 years old, and I see that I'm kind of in this weird position. I don't have many friends in my personal life, but I have so many fans. So when I go outside and people recognize me, it's kind of a bittersweet feeling, like I don't recognize the fans. I don't really have it like they probably think I have it. I'm really still a loser guy, but I'm just really popular now. I don't have a girlfriend no more, and I have this money, but I'm not satisfied with my life. It's this weird feeling of being incomplete, and I need to find myself. So that's kind of what it did to me, and the album just came out with me just fucking rapping some dark shit.


Recording and production

Following the RAW Tour in mid-2011, Hopsin begun working on ''Knock Madness'', though not very heavily. On January 17, 2012, fellow
Funk Volume Funk Volume was an American independent record label founded by American rapper Hopsin. The label was home to artists Dizzy Wright, Jarren Benton, SwizZz, and producers DJ Hoppa and Kato. The label is defunct due to a feud between co-founders ...
rappers SwizZz and Dizzy Wright were confirmed to make appearances on the album. In a March 2012 interview, Hopsin said that he talked to
Tech N9ne Aaron Dontez Yates (born November 8, 1971), better known by his stage name Tech N9ne (pronounced "tech nine"), is an American rapper. In 1999, he and business partner Travis O'Guin founded the record label Strange Music. He has sold over two ...
about appearing on the album, which Tech N9ne agreed to. He also stated in 2012 that he wanted
Yelawolf Michael Wayne Atha (born December 30, 1979), better known by his stage name Yelawolf, is an American rapper. Born in Alabama and raised in Tennessee, he embarked on his career independently in 2005, releasing one extended play (EP) and four mixta ...
on the album. In September 2012, Hopsin confirmed that he would self-produce the majority of the album, with drummer
Travis Barker Travis Landon Barker (born November 14, 1975) is an American musician who serves as the drummer for the rock band Blink-182. He has also performed as a frequent collaborator with hip hop artists, is a member of the rap rock group Tran ...
producing one or two tracks. Later that month, Hopsin would indicate interest in working with Childish Gambino. In addition, Hopsin approached
Macklemore Benjamin Hammond Haggerty (born June 19, 1983), better known by his stage name Macklemore ( ; (formerly Professor Macklemore), is an American rapper and songwriter. A native of Seattle, Washington, he has collaborated with producer Ryan Lewi ...
in January 2013 to get him featured in the album. In February 2013, Hopsin stated in an interview that he was currently recording the album, having recorded 18 songs, and that he hoped to have the album completed by June. Hopsin begun heavily recording ''Knock Madness'' in March 2013 following the end of a long-term relationship, which gave him more time to record and focus on his music. He also indicated the album would be released with a bonus CD that will have all the 'Ill Mind of Hopsin' songs remastered, however this ultimately did not take place. In October 2013, Hopsin confirmed that he had finished recording the album and had turned it in to Funk Volume, stating he had personally re-mastered the album 20-30 times to get the sound just right.


Music and lyrics

Hopsin detailed the album to ''
The Source ''The Source'' is an American hip hop and entertainment website, and a magazine that publishes annually or . It is the world's longest-running rap periodical, being founded as a newsletter in 1988 by Jonathan Shecter. David Mays was the ma ...
'' saying,
There's a variety of music on there. There's crazy, wild lyrics. There's sad, emotional lyrics and even funny lyrics. I got serious songs and sad songs. Just a big variety of everything. I wanted to show the full me. I have a lot of people who love me, but I have a lot of haters as well. There are at least one or two songs for someone that doesn't really like me or what I put out. I think they'll stumble across a couple songs that will make them go, oh ok, I fucks with him now. I kinda wanted to make an album to show my wide range of music that I can do. I just wanted to show the full me.
In the
lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...
"Hop Is Back", Hopsin pokes fun at
Kendrick Lamar Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper and songwriter. Known for his progressive musical styles and socially conscious songwriting, he is often considered one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generat ...
and disses
Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...
's newer music. Hopsin clarified his statements in an interview with ''HipHopDX'' saying he had no ill feelings towards Kendrick Lamar, and that he dissed West because he disliked his new music. "Tears to Snow" is an emotional song about him and his ex-girlfriend having relationship issues and breaking up. In the song he explains how she would assume he would cheat on her. The second verse is also partly about how Hopsin's former colleagues have changed and turned against him. For "Rip Your Heart Out" featuring Tech N9ne, Hopsin created what he called a "weird, funky, dope beat that you can just bop your head to." Hopsin spoke on "Hip Hop Sinister" saying, "That's probably the most intense rap song on the album. It's not a song that's going to slowly change anybody's life. It's just a rap song just have bars and sound dope. The energy on that, you'll probably hear it and want to cut somebody's throat. The song just amps you up so much. It's so hyped to where you want to punch a hole in somebody's head or punch a hole through the wall." "Good Guys Get Left Behind" is a love song, that features multiple twists and turns. "Old Friend" is based around a friend of his that became addicted to methamphetamine and the personal issues which he suffered from it. Hopsin has said the meaning of the song was "to show what early wrong decisions can do to youngsters in the long run", as well as "what they can possibly miss out on." "Lunch Time Cypher" was meant to give the feeling of a high school cypher, complete with beatboxing, random, crazy lyrics from Hopsin, and featured artists Passionate MC and G-Mo Skee. The song "What's My Purpose" is, according to Hopsin, "about a human born into this current dark society. How everybody is doing the same thing. Nobody is really different. And the government has us here to just make money." He also touches on his race-related arrest after a concert in Orlando, Florida. The album's outro "Caught In the Rain" discusses about how Hopsin is soul-searching and needing to find himself.


Release and promotion

In July 2012, Hopsin released the fifth installment of his " Ill Mind of Hopsin" video series. It received over one million views in less than 24 hours and currently has over 104 million views. In "
Ill Mind of Hopsin 5 "Ill Mind of Hopsin 5" is a song by American hip hop recording artist Hopsin. It is the fifth installment in the "Ill Mind" series and was released on July 18, 2012 by Funk Volume. In the self-produced song, Hopsin raps about his frustration with ...
", Hopsin expresses his frustration with jaded youth and disenchantment towards other rappers who are unrelatable. The song itself charted at number 17 on '' Billboard''s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Digital songs chart. In December 2012, Hopsin hinted on his Facebook and Twitter pages that him and Travis Barker were working on a project together, though further details were withheld at the time. Then, in late December, Travis Barker revealed that a collaboration EP would be released in 2013. Then, on February 5, 2013, Hopsin announced that production for the EP had been finished. In February 2013, Hopsin said the album would be released around September 2013. The album cover for ''Knock Madness'', as well as the album's release date of November 26, 2013, was revealed at the end of the music video for " Ill Mind Six: Old Friend". The cover artwork depicts Marcus Hopson burying his rap alter ego Hopsin. On September 11, 2013, Hopsin debuted a new
vlog A video blog or video log, sometimes shortened to vlog (), is a form of blog for which the medium is video. Vlog entries often combine embedded video (or a video link) with supporting text, images, and other metadata. Entries can be recorded i ...
series about the making of the album. The series focused on how he got inspired, came up with lyrics, and mixed the songs for ''Knock Madness''. On November 7, 2013, Hopsin released the album's track listing.


Touring

Hopsin, with the rest of the Funk Volume artists, went on a two-month worldwide tour in late 2012, which included 58 shows in 60 days throughout the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
,
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
and Australia. From November 14 to November 23, 2013, Hopsin toured with
Shady Records Shady Records is an American record label founded by rapper Eminem and his manager Paul Rosenberg, after the highly successful release of Eminem's ''The Slim Shady LP'' (1999). Shady has seen negative times when being part of the unsuccessful ...
artist
Yelawolf Michael Wayne Atha (born December 30, 1979), better known by his stage name Yelawolf, is an American rapper. Born in Alabama and raised in Tennessee, he embarked on his career independently in 2005, releasing one extended play (EP) and four mixta ...
in promotion of ''Knock Madness'' on The Fuck It Tour. They toured the West Coast of the United States and Hopsin performed material from the album for the first time. The Knock Madness World Tour began on December 12, 2013, in Australia. On January 18, 2014, the tour moved to North America, starting in
Santa Cruz, California Santa Cruz ( Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 62,956. Situated on the northern edge of Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz is a po ...
. The leg of the tour ran through March 22, 2014. Dizzy Wright and DJ Hoppa joined Hopsin on select dates during the North American run of the tour.


Singles

In an interview with ThisIs50, Hopsin released information on the album, stating that the first single would be named "Hop Madness". Hopsin confirmed via his Facebook and Twitter on January 5, 2012, that he would be shooting the "Hop Madness" video that month. On February 16, 2012, Hopsin stated that the music video would be released within the next month. The video was officially released on March 15, 2012. The song was ultimately excluded from the album. On July 17, 2013, Hopsin released the music video for "Old Friend" on both his YouTube channel, and the single to iTunes. He later confirmed that the song is not the sixth in the "Ill Mind of Hopsin" series but rather the first single from ''Knock Madness''. On August 18, 2013, Hopsin confirmed in a Facebook status that the
lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...
from ''Knock Madness'', titled " Hop Is Back", would be released in a couple of weeks. However, the single's release, with its accompanying music video, was delayed until October 22, 2013. "Rip Your Heart Out", featuring
Tech N9ne Aaron Dontez Yates (born November 8, 1971), better known by his stage name Tech N9ne (pronounced "tech nine"), is an American rapper. In 1999, he and business partner Travis O'Guin founded the record label Strange Music. He has sold over two ...
, was released as the album's third single on November 12, 2013. The same day, Hopsin and Tech N9ne filmed the music video for "Rip Your Heart Out". The music video for "I Need Help" was released on April 6, 2014.


Critical reception

''Knock Madness'' received generally positive reviews from music critics. On
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 77, based on 5 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Omar Burgess of ''
HipHopDX ''HipHopDX'' is an online magazine of hip hop music criticism and news. The website's current president and publisher is Sharath Cherian and the Head Of Content is Jerry L. Barrow. ''HipHopDX'' is the flagship publication of Cheri Media Group. ...
'' classified the album as "Pop-tinged
Horrorcore Horrorcore, also called horror hip hop, horror rap, death hip hop, or death rap, is a subgenre of hip hop music based on horror-themed and often darkly transgressive lyrical content and imagery. Its origins derived from certain hardcore hip h ...
of the highest order", praising its "catchy hooks, accessible production and subject matter" as well as "Hopsin's raw technical ability" with regards to lyricism and wordplay. In the end Burgess said, "When he
opsin Animal opsins are G-protein-coupled receptors and a group of proteins made light-sensitive via a chromophore, typically retinal. When bound to retinal, opsins become Retinylidene proteins, but are usually still called opsins regardless. Most ...
strikes the perfect balance between shock value, raw emotion and his immense skill set, that moment may yield a classic album." Sheldon Pierce of '' XXL'' called ''Knock Madness'' "a stepping stone album, one that can only produce even better music in the future", and noted that the album did well to "serve as a peek into the wildly entertaining thought process of one of hip-hop's most misunderstood characters." Jordan Sowunmi of '' Exclaim!'' stated that the album excels when Hopsin "focuses on external obsessions: ode to amateur skating 'Nollie Tre Flip' has the most enticingly offbeat rapping on the album, as well as a dizzying internal rhyme scheme, while 'Turn on the Lights' analogue 'Dream Forever' is heartfelt and raw." David Jeffries 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 databa ...
praised the album's consistency for providing "shocking lyrics and infectious hooks", highlighting 'Rip Your Heart Out' featuring Tech N9ne as a standout track. Dominick Grillo of DJBooth noted that Hopsin's "technical passionate wordplays offer constant comparisons to Eminem", concluding that the album is "a dark, often violent creative response to the pressure now resting on Hopsin's shoulders", conceding that there are moments when Hopsin "weighs himself (and the audience) down with layers upon layers of negativity", though admitting that the album "works best when Hopsin is either angrily fighting or humorously poking fun at some sort of ludicrosity."


Commercial performance

After only being released for three days, ''Knock Madness'' debuted at number 132 on the US ''Billboard'' 200, selling 4,000 copies in the United States. In its first full week the album rose to number 76 on the ''Billboard'' 200, selling 12,000 more copies, bringing its total album sales to 16,000 according to Nielsen SoundScan. The album has sold 58,000 copies in the US as of April 2015.


Track listing

*All songs produced by
Hopsin Marcus Jamal Hopson (born July 18, 1985), known professionally as Hopsin, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer from Los Angeles. In 2007, he was signed to Ruthless Records, and had founded his own record label, Funk Volume, i ...
.


Personnel

Album credits adapted from
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 ...
. * Hopsin - executive producer, mixing, primary artist * Jarren Benton - featured artist * Passionate MC - featured artist * G-Mo Skee - featured artist * SwizZz - featured artist * Tech N9ne - featured artist * Dizzy Wright - featured artist * Connor Tingley - art direction


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Release history

Though the album's release date was originally scheduled for November 26, 2013, Funk Volume announced on their Facebook page on November 18 that it would be very hard to find ''Knock Madness'' in stores the first week of its release, due to a delay and few stores placing orders for the album. However, instead of pushing back the release date as announced, Funk Volume decided to release the album on its initial date of November 26, for digital download and compact disc format through their website. The album was then released in compact disc format in retail stores on December 3, 2013.


References

{{Authority control 2013 albums Hopsin albums Funk Volume albums Empire Distribution albums