''The Devil Made Me Do It'' is the debut studio album by American rapper

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. It was released on October 9, 1990, on

Tommy Boy Records Tommy Boy Entertainment is an American independent record label and multimedia brand founded in 1981 by Tom Silverman. The label is credited with helping and launching the music careers of Queen Latifah, Afrika Bambaataa, Stetsasonic, Digital U ...

. Paris toured the US and Europe that year to promote the record. The album eventually sold over 300,000 copies according to the emcee.

Release

The title track was banned on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

. Some record stores refused to carry a version of the album, due to a cover image of a police officer putting a Black boy in a chokehold.

Critical reception

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 ...

'' praised the "diverse, imaginative and burningly intense self-produced tracks."

Track listing

# "Intro" – 0:40 # "Scarface Groove" – 4:35 # "This Is a Test" – 2:47 # "Panther Power" – 3:58 # "Break the Grip of Shame" 3:34 # "Warning" – 1:07 # "Ebony" – 3:56 # "Brutal" – 3:53 # "On the Prowl" – 1:10 # "The Devil Made Me Do It" – 4:12 # "The Hate That Hate Made" – 1:09 # "Mellow Madness" – 4:50 # "I Call Him Mad" – 4:17 # "Escape from Babylon" – 5:18 # "Wretched" – 3:32 # "Break the Grip of Shame (The Final Call)" (Bonus track) – 8:06 # "Devil Made Me Do It (Poach a Pig Mix)" (Bonus track) – 5:44

Samples

Break the Grip of Shame *"Hot Pants (Bonus Beats)" by

Bobby Byrd Bobby Howard Byrd (August 15, 1934 – September 12, 2007) was an American rhythm and blues, soul and funk singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, bandleader and talent scout, who played an integral and important part in the development ...

Brutal *"Uphill Peace of Mind" by Kid Dynamite Panther Power *"Timebomb" by

Public Enemy "Public enemy" is a term which was first widely used in the United States in the 1930s to describe individuals whose activities were seen as criminal and extremely damaging to society, though the phrase had been used for centuries to describe p ...

Scarface Groove *"

Synthetic Substitution "Synthetic Substitution" is a 1973 song by Melvin Bliss. Originally starting life as a throwaway B-side, with "Reward" as the A-Side, the song failed to chart anywhere on its initial release because of the collapse of Opal Productions, the parent c ...

" by

Melvin Bliss Melvin McClelland (June 1, 1945-July 26, 2010) was a rhythm and blues singer known for his 1973 in music, 1973 song "Reward/Synthetic Substitution", the B-side of which was heavily sampled

The Devil Made Me Do It *"Funky Drummer" by

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honor ...

*"Hihache" by

Lafayette Afro Rock Band Lafayette Afro Rock Band was an American funk rock band formed in Roosevelt, Long Island, New York in 1970. Shortly after their formation, they relocated to France. Though little-known in their native United States during their recording period, t ...

Warning *"Chicken Yellow" by Miami I Call Him Mad *"Funky Drummer" by

Ebony *"Boogie Nights" by

Heatwave A heat wave, or heatwave, is a period of excessively hot weather, which may be accompanied by high humidity, especially in oceanic climate countries. While definitions vary, a heat wave is usually measured relative to the usual climate in the ...

Mellow Madness *"Siempre Hay Esperanza" by

Sade Sade may refer to: People * Marquis de Sade (1740–1814), French aristocrat, writer, and libertine * Sade (singer) (born 1959, Helen Folasade Adu), British Nigerian musician and lead singer of the eponymous band * Sade Baderinwa (born 1969), WAB ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Singles

References

External links

* Paris (rapper) albums 1990 albums Tommy Boy Records albums Political music albums by American artists Race-related controversies in music {{1990s-hiphop-album-stub