''Welcome to America'' is an album by the rapper

Schoolly D Jesse Bonds Weaver Jr. (born June 22, 1962), better known by the stage name Schoolly D (sometimes spelled Schooly D), is an American rapper from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Career Schoolly D teamed up with DJ Code Money in the mid-1980s. His ...

(Schooly D on the album cover), released in 1994 via

Ruffhouse Records Ruffhouse Records is an American record label founded in 1989 by Chris Schwartz and Joe Nicolo as a joint venture with Columbia Records. In 1999, Schwartz and Nicolo closed the label, and Schwartz and Kevon Glickman continued with RuffNation Re ...

. It was a commercial disappointment. Two singles were released: “Welcome to America” and “Another Sign”.

Production

The album was created with the assistance of Ruffhouse's house band, and was recorded at Studio 4, in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Joe Nicolo The Butcher Bros. is an American music production team made up of brothers Phil and Joe Nicolo, originally based out of Philadelphia in the mid-to-late '80s. Together and individually, the brothers have produced albums for a wide variety of ban ...

helped to produce and mix ''Welcome to America''. The beat on "Wanna Get Dusted" is a slower version of the one used on " PSK What Does It Mean?"

Critical reception

Westword ''Westword'' is a free digital and print media publication based in Denver, Colorado. ''Westword'' publishes daily online coverage of local news, restaurants, music and arts, as well as longform narrative journalism. A weekly print issue cir ...

'' wrote that "the focus is on dark, bass-driven grooves that give the title track and chillingly effective street fables such as 'I Know You Want to Kill Me' an undeniable immediacy." ''

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference to ...

'' deemed the album "a hardcore record that sounds miles better than any others Schoolly's made, strapped with psychedelic guitar, thundering bass grooves, tense rhythms, bits of horn, piano and sound effects." ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...

'' wrote that "the most interesting tracks on ''Welcome to America'' use creative drum-machine loops as well as live drums, wah-wah guitar and jazz piano to create tense, unusually rich textures that overshadow the narratives of 'No Good Nigga' and 'I Know You Want to Kill Me'."

Track listing

#“Intro” – 1:14 #“I Wanna Get Dusted” – 4:14 #“I Know You Want to Kill Me” – 3:56 #“Welcome to America” – 4:10 #“Niggas Like Me” – 4:19 #“Gangsta Trippin” – 4:37 #“Gimme Your Shit Nigga” – 2:52 #“No Good Nigga” – 3:46 #“I Shot da Bitch” – 4:27 #“Motherfuckin D” – 4:32 #“Stop Frontin” – 4:22 #“Peace of What” – 2:22 #“Another Sign” – 4:31

Samples

*"Gimme Your Shit Nigga" **"More Bounce to the Ounce" by Zapp *"Stop Frontin'" **"Latoya" by

Just-Ice Joseph Williams Jr. (born June 22, 1965), better known by the stage name Just-Ice, is an American rapper from New York City. A former bouncer at punk clubs, Williams was the first of the New York rappers to embrace gangsta rap, and when he bur ...

References

1994 albums Schoolly D albums Ruffhouse Records albums {{1990s-hiphop-album-stub