''My Own Thing'' is the debut 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 independently released on December 2, 2003. The release attracted the notice of

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 ...

of the Ontario-based rock band

Thousand Foot Krutch Thousand Foot Krutch (often abbreviated TFK) is a Canadian Christian rock band formed in Peterborough, Ontario, in 1997. The band has released eight studio albums, two live albums, and three remix albums. The band currently consists of foundin ...

and led shortly after to Manafest's signing with

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 ...

under the Uprok Records label for his next album. Later after its initial release, the 2005 track "Skills" (off ''

Epiphany Epiphany may refer to: * Epiphany (feeling), an experience of sudden and striking insight Religion * Epiphany (holiday), a Christian holiday celebrating the revelation of God the Son as a human being in Jesus Christ ** Epiphany season, or Epiph ...

'') was added as track 5 on the album.

Critical reception

The release only garnered a few glances from professional music sites and reviews. They were however, generally positive.

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 ...

praised the album saying "Manafest does an excellent job at sharing the message of Christ throughout ''My Own Thing'', for peeps inside and outside of the four walls. This record is definitely worth adding to your collection. I wouldn’t doubt if you continue to hear strong efforts from Manafest in the future".

Cross Rhythms Cross Rhythms is a Christian media organisation based in Stoke-on-Trent, England. It operates an FM and online radio station, produces radio shows sent internationally, and its website has resources about contemporary Christian music. Hi ...

positively noted "Manafest (aka Chris Greenwood), brings an unusual and varied offering from the northern climes of Canada.... Overall, a strong album with a gritty East Coast edge and heavy rock grooves". Finally,

RationaL Rationality is the quality of being guided by or based on reasons. In this regard, a person acts rationally if they have a good reason for what they do or a belief is rational if it is based on strong evidence. This quality can apply to an abili ...

went on to state: "I get the feeling, after numerous listens, that ''My Own Thing'' had the makings of something special. Very little promotion or hype was put into this release, which is somewhat of a disappointment, when it is clear that Manafest is a talented artist with loads of potential. Nonetheless, the LP was a nice refreshment from the everyday hip-hop album, and, despite the lack of hype surrounding this release, you can expect big things from the Canadian kid in the very near future. ''My Own Thing'' is just a taste of things to come".

Track listing

Personnel

-Numbers in parenthesis symbolize track numbers *

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 ...

*Jusachyl - additional vocals on track 11 *Relic the Oddity (Mark Morley) - additional vocals on track 14,

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 ...

(1, 6, 7, 9) *Aubrey "Bre" Noronha - vocals (track 13) *Charles "DJ Versatile" Sabota -

(2, 3, 9, 18, 19) *

- additional vocals on bonus track 5 *John Gillard - guitar (track 14 only) *

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 (select tracks) *Rob Berger - vocals (track 5), mixing (select tracks) *That Brotha Lokey (Gerhard Thomas) - producer *Melanie Greenwood - photography, graphic design

Music videos

* ;Lyric videos *

Notes

*Track 4, 6, 7, 8, 17 & 19 off the album were re-released on Manafest's 2005 album ''

''. *"Childs of Light" is an old song from Under One King, the hip-hop group started by Chris Greenwood and his fellow rapper Jusachyl before he became Manafest. *In 2004, Manafest released a ''My Own Thing'' vinyl EP which included the tracks "What I Got to Say", "Slang Talkin'", "Down Town", an alternate mix of "Down Town", and a few instrumental versions of the songs. The EP was released under Frontline Records.

References

{{Authority control 2003 debut albums Manafest albums