''Unforgiven'' is the third album by rapper,
X-Raided
Anerae Veshaughn Brown (born July 30, 1974), better known by his stage name X-Raided, is an American rapper from Sacramento, California, United States. In 1992, Brown was sentenced to 31 years in prison on murder charges, which Brown denied, ma ...
. It was released in 1998 for
Blackmarket Records and features production from X-Raided, The Verbal Tek/Bomb Productions, RAW and DJ Shareil. ''Unforgiven'' was X-Raided's first album to make it to the
Billboard charts
The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in '' Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...
, reaching number 14 on the
Top Heatseekers
Top Heatseekers are "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The Heatseekers Albums and the Heatseekers Songs charts were introduced by ''Billboard'' in 1991 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new an ...
and number 54 on the
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated ...
.
X-Raided worked on ''Unforgiven'' while serving 31-years to life for murder at
Salinas Valley State Prison in Soledad, California. Unlike his previous album which contained low quality vocal tracks recorded over the phone, X-Raided used a
DAT recorder for ''Unforgiven''. The DAT recordings were then taken to a studio by the producer so that beats could be added.
Background
X-Raided recorded vocals for his previous album, ''
Xorcist'', over the phone from Sacramento County Jail. The clarity of the vocal recordings that went into ''The Unforgiven'' album suggest that it was made using more sophisticated equipment. It later turned out that this was due to a guard(s) helping X-Raided by sending messages to the outside, bringing him beats to hear and taking his tracks that were recorded while in prison to Black Market Records. ''Vibe'' (August 1998) reported, "''The Unforgiven ''is culled from 65 tracks recorded onto a DAT, with beats added afterwards at a studio." Post-production was done at a house by producer DJ VerbalTek. He sent the music equipment necessary for recording; a microphone used to clip on in interviews, a tape recorder and an electronic metronome.
The final album featured only fourteen completed songs from the previously reported "65 tracks." The state of California targeted the album and tried to have it pulled from stores, claiming that it fell under the
Son of Sam law
A Son of Sam law (also known as a notoriety-for-profit law) is an American English term for any law designed to keep criminals from profiting from the publicity of their crimes, for instance by selling their stories to publishers. Such laws often ...
. In retaliation, X-Raided surreptitiously released, under the pseudonym Nefarious, a compilation album of out-takes and tracks recorded during the aforementioned ''The Unforgiven'' tracking sessions. X-Raised chose the moniker Nefarious because the prosecutor in his trial referred to him as nefarious in attempts to paint him in a negative light to the jury. The album, titled ''
Speak of the Devil: The Unreleased Verses'', features tracks that were recorded during the original ''The Unforgiven'' sessions but weren't included on the original ''Volume I''.
Track listing
#"Madman Intro"- 0:37
#"Misanthropy"- 5:36
#"Unforgiven"- 3:30
#"Who Is Ya'll Niggas"- 4:23
#"Spitten Venom"- 3:20
#"Mortal Combat"- 4:31
#"Macaframa"- 5:26
#"Take Flight"- 4:48
#"Cemetery Fulla G's"- 3:16
#"Dead On Arrival Pt. 1"- 4:26
#"Land Of The Lost"- 4:40
#"Kick It 2-Nite"- 3:14
#"Mama's Pride & Joy"- 4:35
#"Whatever It Took"- 3:34
#"On The Rise"- 4:48
#"Outro"- 1:05
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Unforgiven Vol 1
1998 albums
X-Raided albums