''Excellent'' is the fourth studio album from

Christian hip hop Christian hip-hop (originally gospel rap, also known as Christian rap, gospel hip-hop or holy hip-hop) is a cross-genre of contemporary Christian music and hip-hop. It emerged from urban contemporary music and Christian media in the United State ...

and

spoken word Spoken word is an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a 20th-century continuation of an oral tradition, ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetic ...

artist

Propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...

. Produced by

Beautiful Eulogy Beautiful Eulogy is a Christian experimental hip hop group and production team from Portland, Oregon, signed to the label Humble Beast. Composed of rappers Braille (Bryan Winchester) and Odd Thomas (Thomas Terry) and producer Courtland Urbano, ...

, it was released by Humble Beast Records on September 25, 2012. The album charted on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

200 Year 200 ( CC) was a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Severus and Victorinus (or, less frequently, year 953 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 200 for this y ...

at No. 184 and was met with a positive reception from critics.

Recording and release

''Excellent'' was produced by the hip-hop group

. It was released on September 25, 2012. The same day, a music video for the title track was released. A second music video, for "Redefined Cutter", followed on March 25, 2013.

Critical reception

''Excellent'' met with positive reception from music critics. At

Rapzilla Rapzilla is a Christian hip hop online magazine. The website contains recent news, albums reviews, articles, interviews, music downloads, videos, release dates, and columns. History Rapzilla was founded in 2003 by Philip Rood, who was the chi ...

, Nyon Smith rated the album a four out of five stars, stating that Propaganda made "something that is life-applicable and life-relatable", but opined that, while a good poet, Propaganda should have rapped more. Ian Harvey of '' HM'' rated the album four out of five stars, writing that Propaganda is setting "the bar higher for the word than imagined." At ''

CCM Magazine ''CCM Magazine'' is an online magazine focusing on contemporary Christian music and media, published by Logan and Amanda Sekulow. History ''CCM'' was first published in July 1978, as a printed magazine. It has been owned by Salem since 1999. O ...

'', Andrew Greer rated the album three stars out of five, noting the album's "easy oscillation between rap and spoken poetry." Steve Hayes of

Cross Rhythms Cross Rhythms is a Christian media organisation based in Stoke-on-Trent, England. It operates an FM and online radio station, produces radio shows sent internationally, and its website has resources about contemporary Christian music. His ...

rated the album nine out of ten squares, stating that "The only pity is that it's so short." At Jesus Freak Hideout, Scott Fryberger rated the album four-and-a-half stars out of five, commenting on the lyrical depth of the album. Dwayne Lacy of New Release Tuesday rated the album four stars out of five, saying that the release will leave the listener intellectually stimulated. At Indie Vision Music, Jessica Cooper rated the album a perfect five stars, considering ''Excellent'' "a superior piece of art stuffed with truth, bursting with originality, not lacking in boldness, that accurately conveys his brilliance as an artist." Michael Wildes of The Christian Manifesto rated the album four stars out of five, writing that "Excellent is a paradox; it holds up pictures of broken images that we constantly look at throughout life, analyzes them for those values and calls them to a greater standard." At Christian Music Zine, Anthony Peronto rated the album a perfect five stars, saying that "the poetry will widen your perspective while Beautiful Eulogy’s original production will surely keep your ears from falling into habituation."

Commercial performance

For the ''

'' charting week of October 13, 2012, ''Excellent'' charted a No. 184 on the ''Billboard'' 200, No. 14 on the

Christian Albums Top Christian Albums is a weekly chart published in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the best-performing Christian albums in the United States. Like the ''Billboard'' 200, the data is compiled by Nielsen Soundscan based on each album's weekly ...

chart, No. 17 on the Top Gospel chart, No. 19 on the

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, ...

chart, and No. 43 on the

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'' mag ...

Recording and release

Critical reception

Commercial performance

Track listing

Charts

References