''Watermelon, Chicken & Gritz'' is the commercial debut studio album by American hip hop sextet

Nappy Roots Nappy Roots is an American alternative Southern rap group. The group met in Bowling Green, Kentucky, in 1995 while attending Western Kentucky University. They have worked with Rob Run Corleone of Empire Distribution. On the South Rituals mixt ...

from

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

. It was released on February 26, 2002 via

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

Background

Recording sessions took place at Tree Sound and

PatchWerk Recording Studios Patchwerk Recording Studios is a recording studio located at 1094 Hemphill Avenue, West Midtown in Atlanta, GA. It was established in 1993 by former NFL offensive tackle Bob Whitfield of the Atlanta Falcons, and is currently owned and operated ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, at Soundstage Studios in

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, at Rusk, Larrabee West & North and Image Recording Studios in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, and at

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Production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

was handled mostly by James "Groove" Chambers, along with the

Trackboyz The Trackboyz are an American hip hop production team consisting of Mark "Tarboy" Williams, Joe "Capo" Kent, DJ D-Rocc, Jermaine White, Travis "Tizzle" Miller, Marlon "Tracmajor" Byrd and Rodrick "PubG" Finch from St. Louis, Missouri. The hits ...

Mike Caren Michael Caren is an American record executive. He founded Artist Publishing Company in 2007, as well as its subsidiary Artist Partner Group in 2013. He has served as President of Worldwide A&R at Warner Music Group from 2012 to 2015, as well as ...

Mike City Michael Flowers, known professionally as Mike City (born December 2, 1970), is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. He is best known for producing the singles " I Wish" for Carl Thomas, " Heard It All Before" for Sunshine Ande ...

, Brian Kidd, Carlos Broady and Troy Johnson. It features guest appearances from Anthony Hamilton,

The Bar-Kays The Bar-Kays is an American funk band formed in 1964. The band had dozens of charting singles from the 1960s to the 1980s, including " Soul Finger" (US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 number 17, R&B number 3) in 1967, "Son of Shaft" (R&B number 10) in ...

Jazze Pha Phalon Anton Alexander, known professionally as Jazze Pha ( ), is an American record producer, rapper, singer and songwriter. He founded the record label Sho'nuff Records in 1995, through which he signed R&B singer Ciara in 2003. He produced h ...

, Ayesha Kirk, CJ "Voodou" Henry and Tiffany Villarreal.

Reception

The album peaked at number 24 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and at number 3 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, ...

chart in the United States. It was certified gold by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

on April 16, 2002 and later reached platinum certification on October 10, 2002. The album was preceded by a

promotional single A promotional recording, promo, or plug copy is an audio or video recording distributed free, usually in order to promote a recording that is or soon will be commercially available. Promos are normally sent directly to broadcasters, such as mu ...

"Set It Out"/"Hustla" and its

lead single A lead single (or first single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. A similar term, "debut ...

Awnaw "Awnaw" is the first single by the Kentucky rap group Nappy Roots, produced by James "Groove" Chambers. It was released in 2001, taken from Nappy Roots's first album ''Watermelon, Chicken & Gritz'' (2002). It peaked at number 51 in the U.S. and ...

", both released in 2001. "Awnaw", featuring vocals from

, made it to #51 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart. The second

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

from the album was " Po' Folks" featuring Anthony Hamilton, which also reached ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at peak position #21. The albums' third single, "

Headz Up "Headz Up" is the third single by the American alternative Southern rap sextet Kentucky rap group Nappy Roots, from their 2002 debut album ''Watermelon, Chicken & Gritz ''Watermelon, Chicken & Gritz'' is the commercial debut studio album by ...

", charted at #88 on the

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 at #39 on the

Rhythmic Songs The Rhythmic chart (also called Rhythmic Airplay, and previously named Rhythmic Songs, Rhythmic Top 40 and CHR/Rhythmic) is an airplay chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The chart tracks and measures the airplay of songs played on ...

Track listing

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes. Sample Credits * "Ho Down" contains an interpolation of "Delgado", written by Edward Harris.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Watermelon, Chicken and Gritz 2002 albums Nappy Roots albums Atlantic Records albums Albums produced by Mike City