''My Grandma's Basement'' is the debut studio album by American rapper

Jarren Benton Jarren Giovanni Benton (born October 26, 1981), is an American rapper from Decatur, Georgia. He signed with California rapper Hopsin's independent record label Funk Volume in 2012, and released his third mixtape, ''Freebasing with Kevin Bacon' ...

. The album was released on June 11, 2013, through

Funk Volume Funk Volume was an American independent record label founded by American rapper Hopsin and Damien Ritter in 2007. The label was home to artists Dizzy Wright, Jarren Benton, SwizZz, and producers DJ Hoppa and Kato before its 2016 dissolution. I ...

and was supported by the single "Razor Blades and Steak Knives". The album features

guest appearance The term guest appearance generally denotes the appearance of a guest in an artistic or pop-culture setting. The guests themselves (referred to as guest artists, featured artists, guest stars, or guest fighters, depending on context), are disting ...

s from

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 ...

Hopsin Marcus Jamal Hopson (born July 18, 1985), known professionally as Hopsin, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer from Los Angeles, California. He is known for his use of white colored eye contacts in his music videos and perform ...

, RA the Rugged Man,

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, wh ...

Vinnie Paz Vincenzo Luviner ( Luvineri born October 5, 1977), better known as Vinnie Paz (formerly known as Ikon the Verbal Hologram), is an Italian-born American rapper and producer behind the Philadelphia underground hip hop group Jedi Mind Tricks. He ...

among others, along with production from Kato, SMKA,

Planet VI R. City (short for Rock City; and formerly Planet VI and 2Ekwip) is an American hip-hop recording and production duo, formed in 2003 by the brothers Theron "Uptown AP" Thomas and Timothy "A.I." Thomas. Primarily known as a songwriting and recor ...

, and Spitzwell among others.

Background

After releasing three mixtapes, ''The Beatgods Present Jarren Benton'', ''Huffing Glue With Hasslehoff'' and ''Freebasing With Kevin Bacon'', Jarren Benton signed to

's record label

and begun work on his debut album, which would be titled, ''My Grandma's Basement''. Benton explained his mindset going into his debut album saying, "This album has a different vibe. It’s a lot more personal stuff so people can learn who Jarren is." He also said it will feature a more refined production sound that translates more to his ambitions of being a household name.

Release and promotion

In late 2012, Benton toured internationally with Funk Volume label mates, Hopsin,

and

DJ Hoppa DJ Hoppa (born, April 28, 1983) is an American DJ and producer from Panorama City, Los Angeles. He was signed to rapper Hopsin's now defunct record label Funk Volume, and CEO of the San Fernando Valley independent label Broken Complex located ...

for two-months, which included 54 shows in 60 days in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Following the album's release, he released music videos for multiple songs including "Go Off", "Life In the Jungle" and "We On (My Own Dick)" among others. From August 1–19, 2013 Benton toured the United States on the ''Grandma's Basement Tour'', his first solo headlining tour.

Commercial performance

''My Grandma's Basement'' debuted and peaked at number 152 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and number four on the ''Billboard''

Heatseekers Albums The Heatseekers charts were "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The Heatseekers Albums and the Heatseekers Songs charts were introduced by ''Billboard'' in 1991 with the purpose of highlighting the sales b ...

chart.

Critical reception

''My Grandma's Basement'' was met with generally positive reviews from

music critic '' The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of m ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

gave the album a three out of five star rating saying, "With most of his lyrics lapsing into the violent specifics of how he deals with the people who cross him, but as much as shock value plays a role in the rhymes, unlike similar-minded artists like

Earl Sweatshirt Thebe Neruda Kgositsile (born February 24, 1994), known professionally as Earl Sweatshirt, is an American rapper and record producer. Kgositsile was originally known by the moniker Sly Tendencies when he began rapping in 2008, but changed his na ...

and the

Odd Future Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All, better known as Odd Future and often abbreviated as OF or OFWGKTA, was an American alternative hip-hop Musical collective, music collective formed in Los Angeles, California in 2007. The group consisted of rap ...

crew, Benton's brand of horrorcore features trap beats that are made for booming speakers rather than creeping out listeners."My Grandmas Basement - Jarren Benton , Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards , AllMusic
/ref> Homer Johnsen of

HipHopDX ''HipHopDX'' is an online magazine of Hip hop music, hip hop music criticism and news. ''HipHopDX'' has over 3.5M monthly readers, the website encompassing hip hop news, interviews, music, and reviews. The website's founder and CEO is Sharath C ...

also gave a three out of five star review stating, "Benton’s array of flows is very impressive, but his rhymes are oftentimes more for shock value than true creativity. For some, this will likely limit the album’s replay value. It is as if his darker motives are justified by these flashes of artistic ingenuity, and his occasional touches of humor keep the listener interested."

Track listing

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2013 debut albums Jarren Benton albums Funk Volume albums