''Authentic'' is the thirteenth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

hip hop

recording artist A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wr ...

LL Cool J James Todd Smith (born January 14, 1968), known professionally as LL Cool J (short for Ladies Love Cool James), is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is one of the earliest rappers to achieve commercial success, along ...

. The album was released on April 30, 2013, by S-BRO Music Group,

429 Records 429 Records was an American record label. It was a subsidiary label of Savoy Label Group/ Nippon Columbia focusing on indie rock and adult album alternative performers. In addition to releasing new material from musicians such as Dr. John, Littl ...

. It is his first album since 2008's ''

Exit 13 ''Exit 13'' is the twelfth studio album by American rapper LL Cool J. It was released on September 9, 2008, on the record label Def Jam Recordings. This would be his last album release with the label. Production This album is the first LL Cool J ...

'' and his first to not be released on

Def Jam Def Jam Recordings (also simply known as Def Jam) is an American multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It is based in Manhattan, New York City, specializing predominantly in hip hop, contemporary R&B, soul and pop. The l ...

. The album 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 ...

s from

Fitz and The Tantrums Fitz and the Tantrums are an American indie pop and neo soul band from Los Angeles, California, that formed in 2008. The band consists of Michael Fitzpatrick (lead vocals), Noelle Scaggs (co-lead vocals and percussion), James King (saxophone, ...

Eddie Van Halen Edward Lodewijk Van Halen ( , ; January 26, 1955 – October 6, 2020) was an American musician and songwriter. He was the guitarist, keyboardist, backing vocalist, and primary songwriter of the rock band Van Halen, which he co-founded along ...

Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. (born October 20, 1971), known professionally as Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg and briefly Snoop Lion), is an American rapper. His fame dates back to 1992 when he featured on Dr. Dre's debut solo single, " ...

Fatman Scoop Isaac Freeman III (born August 6, 1971), better known by his stage name Fatman Scoop, is an American rapper, promoter and radio personality famed for his on-stage rough, raw loud voice. He is known for the song " Be Faithful", which topped the c ...

Seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to imp ...

, Charlie Wilson,

Melody Thornton Melody Thornton (born September 28, 1984) is an American singer and television personality. After graduating high school, Thornton became one the main vocalists of the pop girl group the Pussycat Dolls and released the albums '' PCD'' (2005) a ...

Earth, Wind & Fire Earth, Wind & Fire (EW&F or EWF) is an American band whose music spans the genres of jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, big band, Latin, and Afro pop. They are among the best-selling bands of all time, with sales of over 90 million reco ...

Bootsy Collins William Earl "Bootsy" Collins (born October 26, 1951) is an American bass guitarist and singer. Rising to prominence with James Brown in the early 1970s, and later with Parliament-Funkadelic, Collins established himself as one of the leading ...

Travis Barker Travis Landon Barker (born November 14, 1975) is an American musician who serves as the drummer for the rock band Blink-182. He has also performed as a frequent collaborator with hip hop artists, is a member of the rap rock group Tran ...

Chuck D Carlton Douglas Ridenhour (born August 1, 1960), known professionally as Chuck D, is an American rapper, best known as the leader and frontman of the hip hop group Public Enemy, which he co-founded in 1985 with Flavor Flav. Chuck D helped crea ...

Tom Morello Thomas Baptist Morello (born May 30, 1964) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, and political activist. He is best known for his tenure with the rock band Rage Against the Machine and then with Audioslave. Between 2016 and 2019, More ...

Z-Trip Zach Sciacca (born July 22, 1971), better known as DJ Z-Trip, is an American DJ and producer. He is a pioneer of the mashup movement. He was the 2009 recipient of the "America's Best DJ Award". As a producer he has worked with artists across di ...

, Mickey Shiloh, Monica and

Brad Paisley Bradley Douglas Paisley (born October 28, 1972) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Starting with his 1999 debut album ''Who Needs Pictures'', he has released eleven studio albums and a Christmas compilation on the Arista Nashvil ...

Background

By June 2012, LL Cool J had begun work on his thirteenth studio album. He stated, "I'm going to be doing a little bit of the album on the y Connect Studio make sure that it is official." On January 20, 2013, he announced on his Twitter account that the album had been pushed back from its original February 12, 2013 release date. On February 8, 2013, it was announced the album title would be changed from ''Authentic Hip-Hop'' to ''Authentic'' with a new release date of May 7, 2013, and a new cover. On February 14, 2013, the album's release date was pushed up to April 30, 2013. On March 14, 2013,

posted a photo of himself with LL Cool J in front of a mix board. The photo was captioned with "Authentic 4.30.13", suggesting that Eddie would be involved in some way with the album release.

Singles

The first single "Whaddup" was debuted during the live

2013 Grammy Awards The 55th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 10, 2013, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2011 through September 30, 2012. The show was broadcast on CBS at 8 p.m. ET ...

telecast, which features

and

. On March 18, 2013, the second single "We Came to Party" was released featuring

and

. On April 16, the third single "Live for You" featuring

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

singer

was released.

Critical response

''Authentic'' received generally mixed reviews from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that 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 average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, 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 46, based on 9 reviews. David Jeffries of

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...

gave the album two and a half stars out of five, saying "LL sounds rusty and a bit under-rehearsed as he belts out his iffy punch lines and motivational anthems, but he pours his heart into the pop numbers and sounds at home during the nostalgic throwbacks." Gerrick Kennedy of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'' gave the album one star out of four, saying "LL Cool J has completely lost touch with what launched him into superstardom: rapping. That startling disconnection is what bogs down his 13th album, ''Authentic''. Ted Scheinman of

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New Yo ...

gave the album three out of five stars, saying "Older listeners will find a wistful pleasure in hearing what may be the most heartfelt effort of LL's career." Cristina Jaleru of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

'' gave the album two and a half stars out of five, saying "There's nothing wrong with pandering when one tries to hang on to artistic relevance, especially when producing a balanced, intriguing album. Who knows, maybe that's the future of music and Cool James is still a pioneer." Steve Jones of

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

gave the album two stars out of four, saying "He has an eclectic bunch of guests and while he's obviously not aiming at the teen market, there seems to be a conscious effort to expand the fan base. The result is a mixed bag of party anthems and the rap ballads he pioneered years ago." Julia LeConte of ''

Now Now most commonly refers to the present time. Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to: Organizations * Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization * National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization * Now ...

'' gave the album one star out of five, saying "Authentic is ridiculous right down to the heavy-breathing interludes, which worked for Usher circa 2003. LL says he's "hot like 'Pac when he first popped out of prison." I think he's delusional. As far as comedy albums go, however, ''Authentic'' is the year's best." Jay Balfour 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 two and a half stars out of five, saying "Unfortunately, ''Authentic'' suffers the same fate as LL's other late-career missteps: too many features and a superficial brand of R&B bog down another release from one of rap's earliest superstars." Jody Rosen of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' gave the album three out of five stars saying, "On Authentic, LL's first LP not released by Def Jam, the guest list is a testament to open-mindedness and crossover ambitions. The beats are unfussy and direct; the choruses are built for radio." Ken Capobianco of ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' gave the album a seven out of ten, saying "Metal hip-hop is more compromise than authentic, but much of this disc sounds genuine."

Commercial performance

In its first week of release the album debuted at number 23 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and sold 14,000 copies in the United States. In its second week the album sold 5,500 more copies. In its third week the album sold 3,400 more copies. In its fourth week the album sold 2,700 more copies bringing its total sales to 26,000.

Track listing

*(co) co-producer ;Sample credits *"Closer" contains samples of Guy's " I Like". *"Whaddup" contains samples of

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 ...

's "Welcome to the Terrordome". *"Take It" contains samples of

The Jones Girls The Jones Girls were an American R&B vocal trio of sisters from Detroit, Michigan, United States. Consisting of Brenda, Shirley and Valorie Jones, the Jones Girls first signed and recorded for GM Records in 1970. The trio were best known for th ...

' "When I'm Gone".

Personnel

Cey Adams Cey Adams (b. New York, 1962) is an American visual artist, graphic designer and author. He was the founding creative director of Def Jam Recordings and is known for his work with Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, LL Cool J, Jay-Z, and Mary J. Blige. ...

– creative director *Travis Barker – featured artist *Samuel J. Barnes – producer *Janette Beckman – photography *Matt Brownlie – assistant *Bootsy Collins – featured artist *Martin Cooke – engineer *Chuck D – featured artist *Josh Drucker – assistant *Earth, Wind & Fire – featured artist *Nicolas Essig – assistant *Fatman Scoop – featured artist *

Doug Fenske Doug Fenske (born January 11, 1982) is an American record producer, recording engineer, mix engineer, and remixer from suburban Chicago, Illinois. He has worked in Los Angeles since 2005, and has been involved in several aspects of record product ...

– engineer, mixing *Stu Fine – A&R *Fitz & the Tantrums – featured artist *Jason Goldstein – engineer *Chris Holmes – engineer *Jaylien – producer *David Alan Kogut – art direction, package design *Miguel Lara – assistant *LL Cool J – liner notes, primary artist *Jared Lynch – assistant *Glen Marchese – engineer, mixing *Monica – featured artist *Tom Morello – featured artist *Jean Claude "Poke" Olivier – producer *Jeremiah Olvera – assistant *Brad Paisley – featured artist *Neal H. Pogue – mixing *Herb Powers – mastering *Richard Rich – assistant *David Rodriguez – assistant *Seal – featured artist *Mickey Shiloh – featured artist *James Todd Smith – executive producer, producer *Snoop Dogg – featured artist *Nancie Stern – sample clearance *Kyle Stevens – assistant *C. "Tricky" Stewart – engineer, producer *Melody Thornton – featured artist *Eddie Van Halen – featured artist, producer *David Wild – transcription *Charlie Wilson – featured artist *Andrew Wuepper – mixing *Sound Z – producer *Z-Trip – featured artist, producer, scratching

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2013 albums LL Cool J albums Albums produced by LL Cool J Albums produced by Trackmasters