Innercity Griots
| Innercity Griots | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
![]()  | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | April 28, 1993[1] | |||
| Genre | Hip hop | |||
| Length | 65:25 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Producer | 
  | |||
| Freestyle Fellowship chronology | ||||
  | ||||
| Singles from Innercity Griots | ||||
  | ||||
Innercity Griots is the second studio album by American hip hop group Freestyle Fellowship. It was released on April 28, 1993, on 4th & B'way Records and distributed through Island Records.
Critical reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating | 
| AllMusic | |
| Christgau's Consumer Guide | |
| Entertainment Weekly | A−[4] | 
| Pitchfork | 9.0/10[5] | 
| Q | |
| The Source | |
| Tom Hull – on the Web | B+ ( | 
Nathan Bush of AllMusic praised the group's creativity and range as well as the album's production, which he felt showed an improvement from their previous effort.[2] Jihad Hassan Muhammad of The Dallas Weekly commented that "they gave an unlikely musical offering at the time when everything was gangs and sets thrown as far as hip-hop was concerned in Los Angeles."[9]
In 2012, The Daily Californian included it on the "10 Albums for the Hip-Hop Layman" list.[10] In 2013, Spin included it on its list of the 50 best rap albums of 1993.[11] In 2015, NME placed it at number 51 on its list of the "100 Lost Albums You Need to Know".[12]
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length | 
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Bullies of the Block" | 
  | 4:55 | 
| 2. | "Everything's Everything" | 
  | 3:47 | 
| 3. | "Shammy's" | 
  | 4:16 | 
| 4. | "Six Tray" | 
  | 4:39 | 
| 5. | "Danger" | 
  | 3:58 | 
| 6. | "Inner City Boundaries" (featuring Daddy-O) | 
  | 4:39 | 
| 7. | "Cornbread" | E. Hayes, Jr. | 4:21 | 
| 8. | "Way Cool" | 
  | 4:22 | 
| 9. | "Hot Potato" | 
  | 4:30 | 
| 10. | "Mary" | 
  | 3:45 | 
| 11. | "Park Bench People" | 
  | 4:59 | 
| 12. | "Heavyweights" (featuring Cockney "O" Dire, Archie, Volume 10, Spoon, and Ganja K Chronic) | 
  | 6:11 | 
| 13. | "Respect Due" | 
  | 3:53 | 
| 14. | "Pure Thought" (CD bonus track) | 
  | 3:04 | 
| Total length: | 65:25 | ||
Personnel
Information taken from the liner notes.[13]
- Freestyle Fellowship: Myka 9, Aceyalone, Peace, and Self Jupiter.
 - The Earthquake Brothers: The Jamm Messenger D, Mathmattiks, and The Mighty O-Roc.
 
- Freestyle Fellowship – vocals, production, mixing
 - The Earthquake Brothers – production, mixing
 - Bambawar – production, mixing
 - Daddy-O – vocals, production, engineering
 - Edman – production
 - JMD – bass guitar, timpani, drums, percussion, production
 - Kevin O'Neal – upright bass, production
 - Kim Buie – executive production
 - Kedar Massenburg – executive production, mixing
 - Matt Hyde – engineering, mixing
 - Rich Herrera – engineering, mixing
 - Dawud – engineering
 - Aceyalone – mixing
 - Ed Lawson – mixing
 - Robert Harris – bass guitar
 - Don Littleton – percussion
 - Marvin McDaniel – acoustic guitar
 - Rodney Millon – guitar
 - Onaje Murray – vibraphone
 - Tom Ralls – trombone
 - Christy Smith – bass guitar, upright bass
 - Alfred Threats – bass guitar
 - Jon Williams – trumpet
 - Randall Willis – tenor saxophone, saxophone, flute
 - DJ Kiilu – turntables
 - Mathmattiks – turntables
 - Spoon – vocals
 - Cockney "O" Dire – vocals
 - Archie – vocals
 - Volume 10 – vocals
 - Ganja K Chronic – vocals
 
References
- ^ Madden, Sidney (April 28, 2015). "Today in Hip-Hop: Freestyle Fellowship Drop 'Innercity Griots' Album". XXL. Retrieved May 20, 2017.
 - ^ a b Bush, Nathan. "Inner City Griots - Freestyle Fellowship". AllMusic. Retrieved May 9, 2010.
 - ^ Christgau, Robert. "Consumer Guide: Freestyle Fellowship". Robert Christgau. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
 - ^ Fox, Marisa (July 23, 1993). "Innercity Griots (1993)". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on December 21, 2009. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
 - ^ Pemberton, Rollie (October 11, 2020). "Freestyle Fellowship: Innercity Griots Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved October 11, 2020.
 - ^ "Q review". Q: 88. July 1993.
 - ^ "The Source review". The Source: 79. March 1993.
 - ^ Hull, Tom (April 19, 2021). "Music Week". Tom Hull – on the Web. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
 - ^ Muhammad, Jihad Hassan (February 14, 2013). "Hip-Hop's Black History Album List Part 2". The Dallas Weekly. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
 - ^ Bell, James (September 19, 2012). "Goin' Off: 10 Albums for the hip-hop layman". The Daily Californian. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
 - ^ "Freestyle Fellowship, Innercity Griots (4th & B'way/Island/Polygram)". Spin. November 21, 2013. Retrieved May 20, 2017.
 - ^ "100 Lost Albums You Need To Know". NME. March 6, 2015. Retrieved May 20, 2017.
 - ^ Freestyle Fellowship (1993). Innercity Griots.
 
External links
- Innercity Griots at Discogs (list of releases)
 
