''The Darkside Vol. 1'' is the tenth

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 ...

by American rapper

Fat Joe Joseph Antonio Cartagena (born August 19, 1970), better known by his stage name Fat Joe, is an American rapper from New York City. He began his music career as a member of hip hop group Diggin' in the Crates Crew (D.I.T.C.), then forged a sol ...

. The album was released July 27, 2010 by Terror Squad Entertainment and

E1 Music MNRK Music Group (pronounced "monarch", formerly known as Koch Records and eOne Music) is a New York City-based independent record label and music management company. It was formed in 2009 from the music assets of Koch Entertainment, which had ...

. The album's production was handled by

Cool & Dre Cool & Dre are a record production and songwriting duo from North Miami, Florida, consisting of Marcello "Cool" Antonio Valenzano and Andre "Dre" Christopher Lyon. The duo are best known for their work with Terror Squad founder Fat Joe, first ...

, Streetrunner,

DJ Infamous Marco Antonio Rodriguez-Diaz, Jr. (born June 19, 1980), better known by his stage name Infamous or DJ Infamous, is an American Grammy award winning record producer, and three time world champion winning DJ. Infamous, was a founding member of Th ...

Just Blaze Justin Gregory Smith (born January 8, 1978), known professionally as Just Blaze, is an American hip hop record producer and DJ. Born in Paterson, New Jersey, Blaze attended Rutgers University for three years before dropping out to pursue his mu ...

Scram Jones Marc Shemer, (born November 5, 1977), better known by his stage name Scram Jones, is a producer, DJ and rapper from New Rochelle, New York. He has produced music for Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Styles P, Tragedy Khadafi, Jadakiss, Saigon, Dip ...

DJ Premier Christopher Edward Martin (born March 21, 1966), known professionally as DJ Premier (also known as Preemo), is an American record producer and DJ. He is considered one of the greatest hip hop producers of all time. He was half of the hip hop du ...

, Raw Uncut, and

Scoop DeVille Elijah Blue Molina (born October 15, 1987), better known by his stage name Scoop DeVille, is an American record producer, rapper and DJ. DeVille has produced records for rappers such as Kendrick Lamar, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Nipsey Hussle, 50 Cen ...

, among others. The album also featured guest appearances came from

Trey Songz Tremaine Aldon Neverson (born November 28, 1984), known professionally as Trey Songz, is an American R&B singer and rapper. His debut album, ''I Gotta Make It'', was released in 2005 through Atlantic Records. His follow-up album, ''Trey Day'', ...

Too Short Todd Anthony Shaw (born April 28, 1966), better known by the stage name Too Short (stylized as Too $hort), is an American rapper and record producer. He became famous in the West Coast hip hop scene in the late 1980s, with lyrics often based on ...

, R. Kelly,

Cam'ron Cameron Ezike Giles (born February 4, 1976), better known by his stage name Cam'ron, is an American rapper, record executive, and actor from Harlem, New York City. Beginning his career in the mid-1990s as Killa Cam, Giles signed to Lance "Un" ...

Clipse Clipse, also known as The Clipse, is an American hip hop duo, chiefly active from 1994 to 2010. It consists of brothers Gene "No Malice" and Terrence "Pusha T" Thornton. Pusha T was known as Terrar during the group's early years, while No Mal ...

Lil Wayne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September 27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. His career began in 1995, at the age of 12, when he was signed by rapper Birdman, joining ...

and

Young Jeezy Jay Wayne Jenkins (born September 28, 1977), known by his stage name Jeezy (or Young Jeezy), is an American rapper. Signing to Def Jam Recordings in 2004, his major label debut, '' Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101'', was released the followin ...

Background

The album was announced in January 2010 by Fat Joe saying that "he was working on a new album, The Darkside: Volume 1". MTV News reported that Fat Joe intended "all the material...to be much harsher" than his previous album. On March 28, 2010, Fat Joe signed a record deal with

and announced that he would release ''The Darkside Vol. 1'' through the label in July.Paine, Jake (March 29, 2010)
"Fat Joe Heads To E1, Readies "The Dark Side""
HipHopDX. Cheri Media Group. Fat Joe stated The Darkside Vol. 1 is all about: showin' the world that I'm a legend, and just furtherin' the legacy." Fat Joe stated that he returned to his

hardcore hip hop Hardcore hip hop (also hardcore rap) is a genre of hip hop music that developed through the East Coast hip hop scene in the 1980s. Pioneered by such artists as Run-DMC, Schoolly D, Boogie Down Productions and Public Enemy, it is generally ch ...

roots and considers this album to be a classic.

Singles

The first single from ''The Darkside'' is " (Ha Ha) Slow Down", which features rapper

. The song peaked at number 54 on US

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

and number 23 on their

Hot Rap Songs Hot Rap Songs (formerly known as Hot Rap Tracks and Hot Rap Singles) is a chart released weekly by ''Billboard'' in the United States. It lists the 25 most popular hip-hop/rap songs, calculated weekly by airplay on rhythmic and urban radio stati ...

chart. The second single is " If It Ain't About Money" featuring

. The song charted on US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, peaking at number 57, and also charted at 25 on the US Hot Rap Songs chart.

Critical reception

''The Darkside Vol. 1'' received positive reviews from music critics. On

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 ...

, the album has a score of 70 out of 100, based on 6 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

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 it 3½ out of 5 stars, stating "instead of sounding uninspired on topics he's visited, revisited, and then some, he sounds on fire, as if this were his grand debut."Jeffries, David. "The Darkside Vol. 1 - Fat Joe"

. Retrieved July 28, 2010.

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 4 out of 5 stars, praising its "Hardcore lyricism backed by the conviction that has been lacking since the '90s," also calling it his "best-produced album in over a decade."Kuperstein, Slava (July 27, 2010)
"Fat Joe - The Darkside Vol. 1"
HipHopDX. Retrieved November 12, 2011. RapReviews gave it a 7/10 rating, writing "Reputation now restored, Joe finds himself comfortably back in the role of narrator to the streets."Juon, Steve 'Flash' (July 27, 2010)

RapReviews. Retrieved July 28, 2010. ThaCorner gave it 3½ out of 5 stars, noting "at the end of the thirteen track album you'll find that Joe impresses more with his skill to put together a hot album than his actual skills as a rapper."

Commercial performance

''The Darkside Vol. 1'' debuted at number 27 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart, selling 12,300 copies in the first week. The album also debuted number nine on the US

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated ...

and number seven on US

Top Rap Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated ...

charts respectively. The album made it to number two on the US

Top Independent Albums The Independent Albums chart (previously titled Top Independent Albums) ranks the highest-selling independent music albums and extended plays (EPs) in the United States, as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published weekly by ''Billboard'' magaz ...

chart.

Track listing

This complete track list was published by Amazon. ;Sample credits *"Intro" – Contains a sample of "Just a Memory" by

The Notorious B.I.G. Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), better known by his stage names the Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, or simply Biggie, was an American rapper. Rooted in East Coast hip hop and particularly gangsta ...

featuring

*"Valley of Death" – Contains a sample of "Do I Stand a Chance" by The Montclairs *"Kilo" – Contains a sample of "I Weigh With Kilos" by Jimmy Van & Richard Hieronymus *"Rappers Are in Danger" – Contains a sample of "Time's Up" by O.C. *"(Ha Ha) Slow Down" – Contains a sample of " Back to Life (A cappella)" by

Soul II Soul Soul II Soul are a British musical collective formed in London in 1988. They are best known for their two major hits; 1989's UK number five and US number eleven " Keep On Movin'", and its follow-up, the UK number one and US number four " Back to ...

*"No Problems" – Contains samples of "Flash's Theme" by

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

and "Terminator X to the Edge of Panic" 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 ...

*"Heavenly Father" – Contains a sample of "Pray to the Lord" by

Charts

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Darkside Vol. 1, The 2010 albums E1 Music albums Fat Joe albums Terror Squad (group) albums Albums produced by Cool & Dre Albums produced by DJ Premier Albums produced by Just Blaze Albums produced by Scoop DeVille Albums produced by Scram Jones