''Authentic'' is the thirteenth studio album by

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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 w ...

LL Cool J. 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. The album features

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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, Snoop Dogg,

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 ...

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, Charlie Wilson,

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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,

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,

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 ...

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, 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, Eddie Van Halen 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 telecast, which features Chuck D,

and

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

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score of 46, based on 9 reviews. David Jeffries 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 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 ''

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'' 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 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 ''

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'' 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

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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 ''

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'' 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 ''

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'' 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. Bli ...

– 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