''The Villain in Black'' is the second album by rapper

MC Ren Lorenzo Jerald Patterson (born June 16, 1969), better known by his stage name MC Ren, is an American rapper, songwriter and record producer from Compton, California. He is the founder and owner of the record label Villain Entertainment. MC Ren ...

, released April 9, 1996, on

Ruthless Records Ruthless Records was an American record label founded by Eric "Eazy-E" Wright and Jerry Heller in Compton, California in 1986, where all of the Ruthless trademarks have been owned by Comptown Records, Inc. since 1997. Several artists on the la ...

and distributed by

Relativity Records Relativity Records was an American record label founded by Barry Kobrin at the site of his company, Important Record Distributors (IRD) in metro New York. Relativity released music that covers a wide variety of musical genres. When it entered in ...

Background

After the release and success of his critically acclaimed debut

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 ...

Shock of the Hour ''Shock of the Hour'' is the debut album by rapper MC Ren, released November 16, 1993, on Ruthless Records and distributed by Relativity Records. Background After the success of his debut EP ''Kizz My Black Azz'', a follow-up album was promised ...

'' in late 1993,

immediately began working on his sophomore album. The deaths of DJ Train and

Eazy-E Eric Lynn Wright (September 7, 1964 – March 26, 1995), known professionally as Eazy-E, was an American rapper who propelled West Coast rap and gangsta rap by leading the group N.W.A and its label, Ruthless Records. He is often referred t ...

would however prove to be a huge setback and Ren stepped off the scene for a while. Meanwhile, he continued his work with the

Nation of Islam The Nation of Islam (NOI) is a religious and political organization founded in the United States by Wallace Fard Muhammad in 1930. A black nationalist organization, the NOI focuses its attention on the African diaspora, especially on African ...

, and visited

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

in mid-1995. Following his return from

continued to work on his album, this time however scrapping all the material he recorded with DJ Train. Enlisting

Cold 187um Gregory Fernard Hutchison (born August 4, 1967), known as Big Hutch and Cold 187um, is an American rapper and producer, and leader of the rap group Above the Law. He currently records for his self-founded label. Biography Hutchison is ...

and Dr. Jam to produce his album, Ren began recording new material.

Content

Lyrics

While making ''The Villain in Black'', MC Ren was closely affiliated with the

, which had a large impact on the some parts of the album's content. Khalid Muhammad appeared in the track "Muhammad Speaks," where he spoke about the history of the rights of

African-Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

. He also made an appearance on the closing track "Bring It On".

Production

The majority of the album's production was handled by

of Above the Law and Dr. Jam. It also features production by Madness 4 Real and Big Jessie.

Album title

The album titles is a reference to

's nickname, The Villain.

Singles

Two singles were released from the album: "Mad Scientist" and " Keep It Real".

Release and reception

Critical reception

Commercial performance

The album debuted number 31 on ''Billboard'' 200, with the first-week sales of 31,000 copies.

Track listing

Personnel

* Harold Moore Jr. - Spoken word * Gregory Fernan Hutchinson - Production, lyrics, vocals *

Lorenzo Jerald Patterson Lorenzo Jerald Patterson (born June 16, 1969), better known by his stage name MC Ren, is an American rapper, songwriter and record producer from Compton, California. He is the founder and owner of the record label Villain Entertainment. MC Ren ...

- Primary artist, lyrics, vocals * Big Rocc, KMG The Illustrator, Triggerman - Guest vocals * Dr. Jam, Big Jessie Willard, Madness 4 Real - Additional production

Charts

Album

Singles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Villain in Black MC Ren albums 1996 albums Ruthless Records albums Relativity Records albums G-funk albums