''The Formula'' is the second collaborative studio album by American rapper

Buckshot A shotgun shell, shotshell or simply shell is a type of rimmed, cylindrical (straight-walled) cartridges used specifically in shotguns, and is typically loaded with numerous small, pellet-like spherical sub-projectiles called shot, fired throu ...

and record producer

9th Wonder Patrick Denard Douthit (born January 15, 1975),
better known as 9th Wonder, is a Duck Down Music Duck Down Music Inc is a New York City based record label, talent management, music-marketing, and consulting company founded by Drew "Dru-Ha" Friedman and Kenyatta "Buckshot" Blake in 1995. In Duck Down's 20-year existence, the Company has rel ...

. Recording sessions took place at De Stu at

North Carolina Central University North Carolina Central University (NCCU or NC Central) is a public historically black university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by James E. Shepard in affiliation with the Chautauqua movement in 1909, it was supported by private funds from b ...

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...

Production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

was handled entirely by 9th Wonder, with Buckshot and Drew "Dru-Ha" Friedman serving as executive producers. It features

guest appearance In show business, a guest appearance is the participation of an outsider performer (such as a musician or actor) in an event such as a music record or concert, show, etc., when the performer does not belong to the regular band, cast, or other p ...

s from Carlitta Durand, Arafat Yates, Big Chops, Keisha Shontelle, Swan,

Talib Kweli Talib Kweli Greene (; born October 3, 1975) is an American rapper. He earned recognition early on through his collaboration with fellow Brooklyn rapper Mos Def in 1997, when they formed the group Black Star. Kweli's musical career continued with ...

, Tyler Woods and the Formula Crew. The album debuted at #137 on the ''Billboard'' 200 album chart, opening with 5,874 units sold. A

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for the album's

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

"Go All Out" was directed by Drew "Dru-Ha" Friedman and Rik Cordero and features an appearance from comedian Charlie Murphy. Music videos were also shot for the tracks "Hold It Down" and "The Formula".

Critical reception

''The Formula'' was met with generally favorable reviews. 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 publications, 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 58, based on ten reviews. Emilee Woods of RapReviews praised the album, saying "minor complaints aside, 9th and Buck have definitely upped the ante on their debut, so much so that a re-naming might be in order". Writing for ''

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 ...

'', Mosi Reeves stated "despite its title, ''The Formula'' has its charms". ''

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 ...

'' reviewer

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.

said "''The Formula'' should please 9th Wonder and

Boot Camp Clik Boot Camp Clik is an American hip hop supergroup from Brooklyn, New York City, which is composed of Buckshot (of Black Moon), Smif-N-Wessun ( Tek and Steele), Heltah Skeltah (Rock and Sean Price) and O.G.C. (Starang Wondah, Top Dog, and Louievi ...

cultists, but hip-hop heads eager to hear 9th Wonder collaborate with rappers worthy of his talents are better off waiting for his next album with

Murs Murs may refer to: People * Marc Athanase Parfait Œillet des Murs (1804-1878), French ornithologist * Olly Murs (born 1984), English singer-songwriter * Murs (rapper) (born 1978), American rapper Places * Murs, Indre, France * Murs, Vaucluse, Fr ...

--or praying for a reunion with Little Brother". Evan McGarvey of ''

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 ...

'' said "...but even with 9th's craftsmanship, the melodies, like Buckshot's lyrics are vacuum-sealed. There's a pianissimo modesty that positively sucks the album dry".

Track listing

All Tracks Produced by Patrick "

9th Wonder Patrick Denard Douthit (born January 15, 1975),
better known as 9th Wonder, is a

Personnel

* Kenyatta "

" Blake – main artist, executive producer * Patrick "

9th Wonder Patrick Denard Douthit (born January 15, 1975),
better known as 9th Wonder, is a (track 3) * Carlitta Durand – featured artist (tracks: 4, 13) *

– featured artist (track 6) * Tyler Woods – featured artist (track 6) * Keisha Shontelle – featured artist (track 7) * Arafat Yates – featured artist (track 12) * Big Chops of M1 Platoon – featured artist (track 12) * Beat Justice – additional vocals (track 1) * Brittany B – additional vocals (track 1) * Chi Chi – additional vocals (track 1) * The World Famous Danny Boy – additional vocals (track 1) * Ian Schreier – mixing * Michael Sarsfield – mastering * Drew "Dru-Ha" Friedman – executive producer * Skrilla – design, layout * Robert Adam Mayer – photography * Noah Friedman – project coordinator, marketing direction

Charts

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Formula, The 2008 albums 9th Wonder albums Duck Down Music albums Buckshot (rapper) albums Albums produced by 9th Wonder