''Purple Haze'' is the fourth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...

rapper

Cam'ron Cameron Ezike Giles (born February 4, 1976), better known by his stage name Cam'ron, is an American rapper, record executive, and actor from Harlem, New York City. Beginning his career in the mid-1990s as Killa Cam, Giles signed to Lance "Un" ...

. The album was released on December 7, 2004, by Cam'ron's

Diplomat Records Diplomat Records is an American hip hop record label co-founded by Harlem rappers Jim Jones and Cam'ron. History In the early 2000s, Dipset was very popular for having star rappers with radio hits like Juelz Santana and Cam'ron, as well as t ...

Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one of ...

Damon Dash Damon Anthony Dash (born May 3, 1971) is an American entrepreneur and record executive. Dash is best known as co-founder of Roc-A-Fella along with Jay-Z and Kareem Burke. Early life Born in New York City, Dash swept the floors of a local barbe ...

Roc-A-Fella Records Roc-A-Fella Records was an American hip hop record label and music management company founded by record executives and entrepreneurs Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter, Damon "Dame" Dash, and Kareem "Biggs" Burke in 1994. History 1994–2000: Formation ...

distributed by

Def Jam Recordings Def Jam Recordings (also simply known as Def Jam) is an American multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It is based in Manhattan, New York City, specializing predominantly in hip hop, contemporary R&B, soul and pop. The ...

. The release of this album was delayed several times from November 2003, the first single "Get Em Girls" was released a year prior to the actual album release. The album debuted at number 20 on the ''Billboard'' 200 with 123,000 copies sold in its first week. The album was

certified Gold Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

(RIAA).

Critical reception

''Purple Haze'' received 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 mus ...

s. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, 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 arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, 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 72, based on 7 reviews. David Drake of ''

Stylus Magazine ''Stylus Magazine'' was an American online music and film magazine, launched in 2002 and co-founded by Todd L. Burns. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog. Addi ...

'' praised the album for its "bombastic production and surreal lyricism" and Cam's "unique brand of idiosyncratic gangsta" being wildly engaging because of his absurd, poker-faced delivery, concluding that "''Purple Haze'' is such a twisted take on gangsta that it has to be heard to be believed." ''

Blender A blender (sometimes called a mixer or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen appliance, kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsion, emulsify food and other substances. A stationary blender consists of a blender ...

'' contributor Jonah Weiner noted how the production throughout the record moves between "aggressively insane ("Shake")" to "adore pop (the

Cyndi Lauper Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper Thornton (born June 22, 1953) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and activist. Her career has spanned over 40 years. Her album ''She's So Unusual'' (1983) was the first debut album by a female artist to achi ...

-interpolating "

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" is a song written, recorded and performed by American musician Robert Hazard, who released it as a single in 1979. It is best known for the version of American singer Cyndi Lauper, who covered the song in 1983. I ...

")" while Cam matches that balance with wordplay that's " Missy gibberish swathed in

50 Cent Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975), known professionally as 50 Cent, is an American rapper, actor, and businessman. Born in the South Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, Jackson began pursuing a musical career in 2000, when he produced ...

menace," concluding that he "writes pop hooks and avant-garde rhymes while staying as close to the streets as a manhole cover." Chris Ryan from ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

'' gave credit to Cam for tightening his signature flow, choosing quality and risk-worthy beats, and maintaining listener interest while delivering "Harlem symbolism and non-sensical muttering" throughout the album.

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 ...

editor Andy Kellman was mixed about the tracks on the record, finding "Girls" and "Harlem Streets" to be weak inclusions but praised the contributions from Kanye West ("Down and Out"), Pop & Versatile ("Soap Opera") and the Heatmakerz ("More Gangsta Music"). He also commented that the "Diplomat-affiliated material" being released alongside it that year may cause their fanbase to suffer burnout from too much content.

Nathan Rabin Nathan Rabin (; born April 24, 1976) is an American film and music critic. Rabin was the first head writer for ''The A.V. Club'', a position he held until he left the ''Onion'' organization in 2013.

of ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' commended the album for adopting the hyper-soul style of Roc-A-Fella's sound throughout the track listing but criticized Cam's lyric delivery for being similar to nursery rhymes, saying that it "lumbers drearily through a sea of gangsta-rap clichés." Online music magazine ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

'' placed ''Purple Haze'' at number 114 on their list of the Top 200 Albums of the 2000s. ''Pitchfork'' writer Sean Fennessey said, "Call this a personal project for a relentlessly distant artist; an asshole's lament. ''Purple Haze'' is simultaneously a refined, perfectly A&R-ed follow-up and one of the most confusing, crude full-lengths ever."

Track listing

Sample credits *"More Gangsta Music" contains a sample of "Woman I Need You" by

Sizzla Miguel Orlando Collins (born 17 April 1976), known by his stage name Sizzla Kalonji or Sizzla, is a Jamaican reggae musician. He is one of the most commercially and critically successful contemporary reggae artists and is noted for his high num ...

. *"Get Down" contains a sample of "Life's Opera" by

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo ar ...

. *"Leave Me Alone Pt. 2" contains a sample of "Bajo Fuego" by

Jerry Goldsmith Jerrald King Goldsmith (February 10, 1929July 21, 2004) was an American composer and conductor known for his work in film and television scoring. He composed scores for five films in the ''Star Trek'' franchise and three in the Rambo (franchise) ...

. *"Down And Out" contains a sample of "Strung Out" by William Bell &

Mavis Staples Mavis Staples (born July 10, 1939) is an American rhythm and blues and gospel singer, actress, and civil rights activist. She rose to fame as a member of her family's band The Staple Singers (she is the last surviving member of that band). Durin ...

. *"Harlem Streets" contains a sample of "Theme from Hill Street Blues" by

Mike Post Mike Post (born Leland Michael Postil, September 29, 1944) is an American composer, best known for his TV theme music for various shows, including ''Law & Order''; '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit''; ''The A-Team''; ''NYPD Blue''; ''Renegade ...

. *"Girls" contains a sample of "

Girls Just Want to Have Fun "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" is a song written, recorded and performed by American musician Robert Hazard, who released it as a Single (music), single in 1979. It is best known for the version of American singer Cyndi Lauper, who covered the s ...

" by

. *"Soap Opera" contains a sample of "Merry-Go-Ride" by

Smokey Robinson William "Smokey" Robinson Jr. (born February 19, 1940) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and former record executive director. He was the founder and front man of the Motown vocal group the Miracles, for which he was also chief ...

. *"Bubble Music" contains a sample of "Blues Dance Raid" by

Steel Pulse Steel Pulse are a roots reggae band from the Handsworth area of Birmingham, England. They originally formed at Handsworth Wood Boys School, and were composed of David Hinds (lead vocals, guitar), Basil Gabbidon (lead guitar, vocals), and Ron ...

. *"More Reasons" contains a sample of "

Reasons In the most general terms, a reason is a consideration which justifies or explains an action, a belief, an attitude, or a fact. ''Normative reasons'' are what people appeal to when making arguments about what people should do or believe. For exa ...

" by

Earth, Wind & Fire Earth, Wind & Fire (EW&F or EWF) is an American band whose music spans the genres of jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, big band, Latin, and Afro pop. They are among the best-selling bands of all time, with sales of over 90 million re ...

. *"The Dope Man" contains a sample of "

Funky Worm "Funky Worm" is a song by American funk group the Ohio Players, from their album ''Pleasure''. It peaked at number one on the U.S. ''Billboard'' R&B chart in 1973 and also peaked at number fifteen on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. ''Billboard'' ran ...

" by

Ohio Players Ohio Players is an American funk band, most popular in the 1970s. They are best known for their songs "Fire (Ohio Players song), Fire" and "Love Rollercoaster", and for their erotic album covers that featured nude or nearly nude women. Many of t ...

. *"Hey Lady" contains a sample of "

I Want to Be Your Man "I Want to Be Your Man" is a song by American funk singer-songwriter Roger Troutman, from his third studio album '' Unlimited!''. It was released as the lead single from the album in September 1987 by Reprise Records. The song was co-written b ...

" by

Roger Troutman Roger Troutman (November 29, 1951 – April 25, 1999), also known as Roger, was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, multi-instrumentalist and the founder of the band Zapp who helped spearhead the funk movement and heavily influenc ...

. *"Get 'Em Girls" contains a sample of "Carmina Burana - O Fortuna" by

Carl Orff Carl Orff (; 10 July 1895 – 29 March 1982) was a German composer and music educator, best known for his cantata ''Carmina Burana'' (1937). The concepts of his Schulwerk were influential for children's music education. Life Early life Car ...

. *"Dip-Set Forever" contains a sample of "Forever" by

Chuck Cissel Charles Cissel (born October 3, 1948) is an American singer, dancer, director, choreographer and producer. He was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma and graduated from Booker T. Washington High School. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Universi ...

Personnel

Credits for ''Purple Haze'' adapted from

. *Cam'ron – executive producer *Kareem "Biggs" Burke – executive producer *Traxster – mixing *

Tony Dawsey Tony Dawsey is an American mastering engineer at Masterdisk in New York City. He has been active since 1980.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 ...

– producer *Chad Hamilton – producer *Traxster – producer *

The Heatmakerz The Heatmakerz is a hip-hop production started by Rsonist (Gregory Green) originally from Kingston, Jamaica, now living in New York. The duo, consisting of Rsonist (Gregory Green) and Thrilla (Sean Thomas), rose to fame after providing beats to ...

– producer *Versatile – producer *

Skitzo Skitzo is a thrash metal band from Santa Rosa, California, United States. The band was formed in 1981 in Healdsburg, California, when Lance Ozanix and several other people joined together and called their band Venom. The name was later changed to ...

- producer *Ryan Press – producer *Duke Dagod – A&R *Nasty Beatmakers – producer * Stay Gettin' productions – producer *Robert Sims – art direction *Antwan "Amadeus" Thompson – producer *Travis Cummings – artist coordination *Ty Tracks – producer *Jamel George – artist coordination *Monica Morrow – stylist *Shalik Berry – artist coordination *Mike Peters – vocals *Rick Patrick – creative director *

Jim Jones James Warren Jones (May 13, 1931 – November 18, 1978) was an American preacher, political activist and mass murderer. He led the Peoples Temple, a new religious movement, between 1955 and 1978. In what he called "revolutionary suicide", ...

– vocals *Juelz Santana – vocals *Mike T. – engineer *Jaconda "Ms" Blunt – vocals *Carlisle Young – engineer *Latrice "Grease" Carter – vocals *Eric "Ebo" Butler – engineer *Sarah Hinds – vocals *Mike Peters – engineer *Steven "Opera Steve" Santiago – vocals *Milwaukee "Protools King" Buck – engineer *Dave Irving – vocals *Damon Dash – executive producer

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Purple Haze (Album) 2004 albums Cam'ron albums Def Jam Recordings albums Albums produced by Kanye West Albums produced by The Legendary Traxster Albums produced by the Heatmakerz Roc-A-Fella Records albums Diplomat Records albums