''Blackout! 2'' is the second

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by American hip hop duo

Method Man & Redman Method Man & Redman (also referred to as Meth & Red, Red & Mef, John Blaze and Funk Doc or Funk Doctor Spock and Johnny Blaze) are an American hip-hop duo composed of rappers Method Man (of Wu-Tang Clan) and Redman (of Def Squad). They are sig ...

. It was their first collaborative album in eight years. The album was released on May 19, 2009 under

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 ...

. It debuted at #7 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200 and at #64 on the French Album Charts. The album has sold 178,608 copies in the United States by December 12, 2010, according to SoundScan.

Background

''Blackout! 2'' was announced in 2007 by Redman and was originally scheduled for release in 2008, but its release was pushed back a number of times due to numerous reasons. It was finally released on May 19, 2009. It was released on the same days as

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time, he is credited with popula ...

's sixth studio album ''

Relapse In internal medicine, relapse or recidivism is a recurrence of a past (typically medical) condition. For example, multiple sclerosis and malaria often exhibit peaks of activity and sometimes very long periods of dormancy, followed by relapse or r ...

'' and

Busta Rhymes Trevor George Smith Jr. (born May 20, 1972), known professionally as Busta Rhymes, is an American rapper, singer and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the moniker Busta Rhymes, after National Football League, NFL and Canadian Football Lea ...

's eighth studio album '' Back on My B.S.''. After touring on the Still High Tour with

Termanology Daniel Domingo Carrillo (born October 8, 1982), better known by his stage name Termanology, is an American rapper and record producer. He first gained major attention with the 2006 single "Watch How It Go Down". A solo album, '' Politics as Usua ...

, The Alchemist, Havoc (from

Mobb Deep Mobb Deep was an American Hip-hop, hip hop duo formed in Queens, New York (state), New York in 1990. Consisting of rappers/songwriters/record producers Prodigy (rapper), Prodigy and Havoc (musician), Havoc, they are considered to be among the pr ...

), and

Evidence Evidence for a proposition is what supports the proposition. It is usually understood as an indication that the proposition is truth, true. The exact definition and role of evidence vary across different fields. In epistemology, evidence is what J ...

, Redman and

Method Man Clifford Smith, Jr. (born March 2, 1971), known professionally as Method Man, is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. He is a member of the East Coast hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan, and is half of the hip hop duo Method Man & R ...

finished and set the release date for their highly anticipated sequel. Method Man stated the reasons for the delay: Giving his take on the delay, Redman stated:

Music

Recording and production

The album features production from

Pete Rock Peter O. Phillips (born June 21, 1970), better known by his stage name Pete Rock, is an American record producer, DJ and rapping, rapper. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest hip hop producers of all time, and is often mentioned along ...

and

Erick Sermon Erick Sermon (born November 25, 1968) is an American rapper and producer. He is best known as one-third—alongside PMD & DJ Scratch—of 1980s/1990s hip hop group EPMD and for his production work. Early life Erick Sermon was born on November ...

, as

and Redman promise to satisfy patient fans. The track " A Yo" that was leaked in March is included on the album. Also the track "City Lights" featuring

Bun B Bernard James Freeman (born March 19, 1973), known professionally as Bun B, is an American rapper. He is best known as one half of the Southern rap duo UGK (Underground Kingz), a group he formed in 1987 alongside Pimp C. Aside from his work wi ...

leaked over the internet on March 24, 2009.

Wu-Tang Clan Wu-Tang Clan is an American hip hop collective formed in Staten Island, New York City, in 1992. Its members include RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa, and, until his death in 2004, O ...

members

Raekwon Corey Woods (born January 12, 1970), better known by his stage name Raekwon ( ), is an American rapper. He rose to prominence as a founding member of the hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan, which achieved mainstream success following the release of the ...

and

Ghostface Killah Dennis David Coles (born May 9, 1970), better known by his stage name Ghostface Killah, is an American rapper and a member of the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan. After the group achieved breakthrough success in the aftermath of ''Enter the Wu-Tang ...

appear on the album, as well as

Def Squad Def Squad is an American rap supergroup consisting of Erick Sermon, Redman, Keith Murray, Hurricane G, and Jamal Jamaal ( ''/'') is an Arabic given name and surname meaning "beauty."Erick Sermon Erick Sermon (born November 25, 1968) is an American rapper and producer. He is best known as one-third—alongside PMD & DJ Scratch—of 1980s/1990s hip hop group EPMD and for his production work. Early life Erick Sermon was born on November ...

, and Keith Murray. Redman stated about the album's production process to MTV:

Release and promotion

''Blackout! 2'' was released 10 years after the '' Blackout!'' album, which was placed at the top of a lot of 1999's best album lists.

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

explained how the two lyricists work so well together: Method Man and Redman have shot music videos for their singles " A Yo" and " Mrs. International". They also shot a video for the song "How Bout Dat" featuring Ready Roc and Streetlife as a video only single and was released online on September 20, 2009. There was also a fan made video for the song "Dis Is 4 All My Smokers" and was released on May 13, 2009. The song City Lights featuring

was released as an only radio single. At

Best Buy Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was r ...

, both Blackout! and Blackout! 2 are sold together in a boxed set celebrating the 10th anniversary of Blackout.

Lights Out (Blackout 10 Year Reunion) Mixtape

As promotion for the new album,

put a "Ten Year Reunion" mixtape. Featuring several, well-known older songs from the original Blackout! album, it also includes new songs like "Four Minutes to Lock Down" with

and

, "Dangerous Mcees," etc. It also featured new singles like "City Lights" with Bun B and " A Yo" with

Saukrates Karl Amani Wailoo (born March 6, 1978), better known by his stage name Saukrates (; "Socrates"), is a Canadian rapper, singer, and record producer. He is the co-founder of Capitol Hill Music, and lead singer of the hip-hop/ R&B group Big Black ...

. The mixtape was hosted by

DJ Green Lantern James Christopher D'Agostino (born July 7, 1975), professionally known as DJ Green Lantern, is an American hip hop DJ and producer from Rochester, New York. In 2002, D'Agostino was signed by American rapper Eminem, to become the official DJ for ...

Reception

Commercial performance

''Blackout! 2'' was released on May 19, 2009. It debuted at number #7 on the ''Billboard'' 200, at number 2 on the

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 Luminate. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated January 30, ...

, at number 2 on the

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 Luminate. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated January 30, ...

and digital in charted number 7 on the Digital Albums charts selling 63,000 copies its first week. The album also charted number 10 on

Canadian Albums The Canadian music charts are a collection of record charts reflecting the music consumption of people in Canada. ''RPM'' and ''Billboard'' are the biggest publications to have published Canada's official charts for decades. However, the first Can ...

. The album fell 11 spots to number 18 on the billboard chart in its second week with sales of 20,000 copies. In its third week the album fell 12 spots landing on number 30 selling 14,000 that week. On its fourth week the album fell 18 spots landing on number 48 with sales of 10,000 copies. The album fell 32 spots it had landed on number 70 selling 7,700 copies in its fifth week.
. HipHopDX. Retrieved on 2009-06-21. The album has sold 178,608 copies in the United States by December 12, 2010, according to SoundScan.

Critical response

Reviews of the album were generally positive. It has a score of 79 out of an overall score of 100 on

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Allmusic.com gave it a four out of five stars stating that: HiphopDX.com gave the album a 3.5 stars out of 5, stating that: Vibe gave a favorable review, stating that: Billboard also gave it a favorable review which stated: IGN.com gave the album an 8/10 stated that: XXL gave the album a mixed review, giving the album a grade of L out of XXL, stating that:

Track listing

Samples

BO2 (Intro) * "Magic Mona" performed by

Phyllis Hyman Phyllis Linda Hyman (July 6, 1949 – June 30, 1995) was an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Hyman's music career spanned the late 1970s through the early 1990s, and she was best known for her expansive contralto range. Some of her most ...

A-Yo * "Magic Mona" performed by

City Lights * "One Day" as performed by

UGK UGK (short for Underground Kingz) was an American hip-hop duo from Port Arthur, Texas, formed in 1987, by Mitchell "Big Mitch" Queen who would eventually leave the group to pursue a football career and Chad "Pimp C" Butler with Bernard "Bun B" ...

Fathers Day * "Walking Down Lonely Street" performed by

Joe Simon Joseph Henry Simon (born Hymie Simon; October 11, 1913 – December 14, 2011) was an American comic book writer, artist, editor, and publisher. Simon created or co-created many important characters in the 1930s–1940s Golden Age of Comic Books ...

Mrs. International * "Here I Am" performed by

The Blue Notes The Blue Notes were a South African jazz sextet, whose definitive line-up featured Chris McGregor on piano, Mongezi Feza on trumpet, Dudu Pukwana on alto saxophone, Nikele Moyake on tenor saxophone, Johnny Dyani on bass, and Louis Moholo-Mo ...

*"Call Me" performed by Tweet Dis is 4 All My Smokers * "Ain't No Sunshine" as performed by Nancy Wilson Four Minutes to Lock Down * "Echo Park" as performed by

Brooklyn Bridge The Brooklyn Bridge is a cable-stayed suspension bridge in New York City, spanning the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Opened on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first fixed crossing of the East River. It w ...

Charts history

Album chart positions

Singles chart positions

References

External links

*
Blackout! 2
'' at

Release history
at

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

Album Review
at

About.com Dotdash Meredith (formerly The Mining Company, About.com and Dotdash) is an American digital media company based in New York City. The company publishes online articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, hom ...

Album Review
at '' XXL'' {{Authority control Albums produced by Buckwild Albums produced by Pete Rock Albums produced by Erick Sermon Albums produced by Havoc (musician) Albums produced by Rockwilder Albums produced by DJ Scratch Albums produced by Bink (record producer) Def Jam Recordings albums Method Man albums Redman (rapper) albums 2009 collaborative albums Sequel albums Albums produced by Ty Fyffe Albums produced by Redman