''When Rappers Attack'' is the first solo studio album by American hip hop artist

Tame One Rahem Ross Brown (March 20, 1970 – November 6, 2022), better known by his stage name Tame One, was an American hip hop recording artist and graffiti artist from New Jersey. He was a member of Artifacts, Leak Bros, and the hip-hop supergroup ...

. It was released by

Eastern Conference Records Eastern Conference Records is an independent record label based in New York City. It is owned and operated by DJ Mighty Mi, the DJ/producer for the High & Mighty. During the label's brief heyday, it represented underground rappers such as Cage, ...

on March 25, 2003.

Background

Tame One was one half of Artifacts along with

El Da Sensei William E. Williams, also known as El Da Sensei is an American rapper from Newark, New Jersey. During the 1990s he was a member of the hip hop duo, Artifacts. Since then he has released several solo albums. In 2015, at The 14th Annual Indepen ...

. After the breakup of the group in 1997, he linked up with

DJ Mighty Mi The High & Mighty is an American hip hop duo from Philadelphia, composed of rapper Mr. Eon ("The High", b. Erik Meltzer on February 16, 1972) and music producer DJ Mighty Mi ("The Mighty", b. Milo Berger on September 1, 1972). Career Their ...

and company, and signed a deal with the record label Eastern Conference Records. Having contributed several tracks to the ''Eastern Conference All Stars'' compilation albums, he set out to develop his solo album, ''When Rappers Attack''. Produced by

Camu Tao Tero Smith (June 26, 1977 – May 25, 2008), better known by his stage name Camu Tao, was an American rapper, singer, and producer. Early life Tao was born Tero Smith in Columbus, Ohio, on June 26, 1977. Career Tao was signed to Definitive Jux ...

J-Zone Jay Mumford (born February 26, 1977), better known by his stage name J-Zone, is an American record producer, drummer, multi-instrumentalist, rapper, and writer from New York City. Career Known for his quirky lyrics and trash talk style of rapp ...

RJD2 Ramble Jon Krohn (born May 27, 1976), better known by his stage name RJD2, is an American musician based in Columbus, Ohio. He is the owner of record label RJ's Electrical Connections. He has been a member of groups such as Soul Position, MHz Lega ...

, Reef, Johnny Dangerous, and Maliq "DJ P*rno" Griffin, it featured a guest appearance from

Cage A cage is an enclosure often made of mesh, bars, or wires, used to confine, contain or protect something or someone. A cage can serve many purposes, including keeping an animal or person in captivity, capturing an animal or person, and displayin ...

Critical reception

Jason MacNeil 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 databa ...

gave the album 3 stars out of 5, stating, "A '70s soul tempo on 'Dreamz' is the record's highlight, a song that brings to mind

2Pac Tupac Amaru Shakur ( ; born Lesane Parish Crooks, June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known as 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper. He is widely considered one of the most influential rappers of all time. Shakur is among the b ...

." J-23 of ''

HipHopDX ''HipHopDX'' is an online magazine of hip hop music criticism and news. The website's current president and publisher is Sharath Cherian and the Head Of Content is Jerry L. Barrow. ''HipHopDX'' is the flagship publication of Cheri Media Group. ...

'' gave the album a 7 out of 10, commenting that "Being a part of the Eastern Conference squad comes with some privileges, most notably their top-notch production team." Pete Babb of ''

XLR8R ''XLR8R'' (pronounced "accelerator") is a website that covers music, culture, style, and technology. It was originally also a print magazine. History and profile ''XLR8R'' was founded as a newsprint zine in 1993 by publisher Andrew Smith in Sea ...

'' wrote, "It's a shame Tame couldn't be backed with better beats to make this a complete package, but as a rhyming exposition, ''When Rappers Attack'' succeeds admirably." In 2015, '' Fact'' placed it at number 74 on the "100 Best Indie Hip-Hop Records of All Time" list.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes. *

– vocals, graffiti, executive production *

– production (1, 3), additional programming (7) *

– production (2, 4, 5), turntables (4) *

– production (6) *

– vocals (7) *

– production (7, 10), turntables (7), executive production * Reef – production (8) * Johnny Dangerous – production (9, 11) * Maliq "DJ P*rno" Griffin – production (12) * Kieran Walsh – mixing * Michael Sarsfield – mastering * Merge One – art direction, design * Jeru – art direction, design * MA*D – photography, executive production * Manuel Acevedo – photography * Swiftflix – photography * Killah Kev – graphics

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2003 debut albums Tame One albums Eastern Conference Records albums Albums produced by J-Zone Albums produced by RJD2