''The Pretty Toney Album'' 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 ...

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

hip hop artist Ghostface. The album was released on April 20, 2004, by

Def Jam 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 ...

. It is the only album from the artist to be released solely under the title of "Ghostface" ("Killah" is entirely omitted in any reference to his name on the packaging), but it is otherwise a normal Ghostface Killah release in line with the rest of his catalogue. The album cover is a photograph taken from his performance of the song "Summertime" with Beyoncé at Jay-Z's farewell concert at Madison Square Garden in November 2003. It is an interpolation of the cover of

Doug E. Fresh Doug E. Fresh (born September 17, 1966) is a Barbados-born American rapper, record producer, and beatboxer, also known as the "Human Beat Box". The pioneer of 20th-century American beatboxing, Fresh is able to accurately imitate drum machines an ...

's album

The World's Greatest Entertainer ''The World's Greatest Entertainer'' is the second album released by Doug E. Fresh. It was released in 1988 on Reality Records, a short-lived subsidiary of Fantasy Records, and was produced by Doug E. Fresh, Eric "Vietnam" Sadler, Ollie Cotton and ...

. The oversized jewelry he is seen wearing in the photograph was given to him prior to his performance by rapper

Slick Rick Richard Martin Lloyd Walters (born January 14, 1965), better known as Slick Rick, is an English-American rapper and record producer. He rose to prominence with Doug E. Fresh & the Get Fresh Crew in the mid-1980s. Their songs " The Show" and " ...

, as seen in the film "Fade to Black."

Critical reception

''The Pretty Toney Album'' received critical acclaim 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 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 84, which indicates "universal acclaim", based on 14 reviews. 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 databas ...

said, "''The Pretty Toney Album'' has a lack of Wu-related references on it. It's Ghostface's album entirely and all the better for it." ''

Tiny Mix Tapes ''Tiny Mix Tapes'' (also ''TMT'' or ''tinymixtapes'') is an online music and film webzine that focuses primarily on new music and related news. In addition to its reviews, it is noted for its subversive, political, and sometimes surreal news, a ...

'' said, "It exemplifies all of the elements that Ghostface has been successful with in the past. Unfortunately, ''The Pretty Toney Album'' falls short in replacing what Raekwon had contributed to Ghost's previous album releases, causing the album to feel essentially incomplete."

Rollie Pemberton Roland "Rollie" Pemberton, better known by his stage name Cadence Weapon, is a Canadian-American rapper based in Toronto, Ontario. Born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta, Pemberton released his first album, ''Breaking Kayfabe'', in 2005 with positi ...

of ''

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'' said, "Expectedly, minor shortcomings hold the record back from classic status. The lack of his usual obligatory Raekwon collaboration hurts ''Pretty Toneys variety, and the skits, despite featuring topics and idiosyncratic raps far above the standards of his contemporaries, tend to bog down the album's progress. But all things considered, ''Pretty Toney'' far surpasses 2001's ''Bulletproof Wallets'', finally finding the missing link between street cred and commercial respect."

Track listing

;Sample credits *"Intro" contains a sample of "

Tobacco Road Tobacco Road may refer to: Prose * ''Tobacco Road'' (novel) (1932), by Erskine Caldwell ** ''Tobacco Road'' (play) (1933), by Jack Kirkland ** ''Tobacco Road'' (film) (1941), directed by John Ford Music * "Tobacco Road" (song) (1960s), by John D. ...

" by Tommy Youngblood. *"Biscuits" contains a sample of "I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down" by

Sam & Dave Sam & Dave were an American soul and R&B duo who performed together from 1961 until 1981. The tenor (higher) voice was Sam Moore (born 1935) and the baritone/tenor (lower) voice was Dave Prater (1937–1988). Nicknamed "Double Dynamite", "The ...

. *"Kunta Fly Shit" contains a sample of "Survival" by

Annette Peacock Annette Peacock is an American composer, musician, songwriter, producer, and arranger. She is a pioneer in electronic music who combined her voice with one of the first Moog synthesizers in the late 1960s. Biography Annette Peacock was writing ...

. *"Beat The Clock" contains a sample of "Since I Fell For You" by

Laura Lee Laura Lee can refer to: * Laura Lee (singer-songwriter) (born 1945), American soul and gospel singer-songwriter * Laura Lee (sex worker) (1973–2018), Irish-born sex worker and activist based in the UK * Laura Lee (bassist) (born 1986), Mexican-Ame ...

. *"Metal Lungies" contains a sample of "Nobody Knows" by Operation Breadbasket Orchestra and Choir. *"Bathtub" (skit) contains a sample of "Not On The Outside" by The Moments. *"Save Me Dear" contains a sample of "(You) Got What I Need" by

Freddie Scott Freddie Scott (April 24, 1933 – June 4, 2007) was an American soul singer and songwriter. His biggest hits were " Hey, Girl", a top ten US pop hit in 1963, and " Are You Lonely for Me", a no. 1 hit on the R&B chart in early 1967. Life and car ...

. *"It's Over" contains a sample of "I'm Afraid The Masquerade Is Over" by David Porter. *" Tush" contains a sample of "Naked Truth" by The Best of Both Worlds. *"Last Night" (skit) contains a sample of "Last Night Changed It All" by Esther Williams. *"Holla" contains a sample of "La La (Means I Love You)" by

The Delfonics The Delfonics were an American R&B/soul vocal group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Delfonics were most popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Their most notable hits include "La-La (Means I Love You)", "Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This ...

. *"Ghostface" contains a sample of "AJ Scratch" by

Kurtis Blow Kurtis Walker (born August 9, 1959), professionally known by his stage name Kurtis Blow, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record/film producer, b-boy, DJ, public speaker and minister. He is the first commercially successful rapper a ...

. *"Be This Way" contains a sample of "(We'll Always Be) Together" by

Billy Stewart William Larry Stewart II (March 24, 1937 – January 17, 1970) was an American rhythm and blues singer and pianist who was popular during the 1960s. Biography Stewart was 12 years old when he began singing with his younger brothers Johnny, James ...

. *"The Letter" (skit) contains a sample of "Sunday" by Silvia Robinson. *"Tooken Back" contains a sample of "Take Me Back" by

The Emotions ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

. *"Run" contains a sample of "Hogin Machine" by

Les Baxter Leslie Thompson "Les" Baxter (March 14, 1922 – January 15, 1996) was a best-selling American musician and composer. After working as an arranger and composer for swing bands, he developed his own style of easy listening music, known as exotica ...

. *"Love" contains a sample of "Statue of a Fool" by

David Ruffin David Eli Ruffin (born Davis Eli Ruffin;Ribowsky, p. 88 January 18, 1941 – June 1, 1991) was an American soul singer and musician most famous for his work as one of the lead singers of the Temptations (1964–68) during the group's "Clas ...

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pretty Toney Album 2004 albums Ghostface Killah albums Def Jam Recordings albums Albums produced by Nottz Albums produced by No I.D. Albums produced by K-Def Albums produced by RZA Albums produced by Emile Haynie Albums produced by True Master