''Ice Cold'' is the debut
studio album of Canadian
rapper
Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...
Choclair
Kareem Blake (born March 27, 1975), better known by his stage name Choclair, is a Canadian rapper. He was one of the most successful Canadian rappers in Canada in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Choclair has been nominated for six Juno Awards, winn ...
, released November 2, 1999 in Canada and March 14, 2000 in the United States. It was released on major label
Virgin
Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...
/
Priority Records
Priority Records is an American distribution company and record label known for artists including N.W.A, Ice-T, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, Big L, Silkk the Shocker and Westside Connection. It also distributed hip hop record labels including Death ...
. The album's early success was driven by the first single, "
Let's Ride", which reached #37 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 ...
''
Hot Rap Singles
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 stat ...
chart and #38 on the Canadian ''
RPM
Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines.
Standards
ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimension ...
'' Singles Chart. The second single, "Rubbin'", features
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 ...
.
Reception
In Canada, the album debuted at #10 on the
Canadian Albums Chart
The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Monday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen SoundScan, and published every Tuesday by ''Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding ...
and went
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...
in 35 days, eventually selling over 63,000 copies. It received generally favorable reviews from music critics.
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...
gave the album 4 out of 5 stars, noting that Choclair used it "not only to display his own lyrical credentials, but to showcase the wealth of untapped talent our neighbors to the north have to offer."
[ '']The Source
''The Source'' is an American hip hop and entertainment website, and a magazine that publishes annually or . It is the world's longest-running rap periodical, being founded as a newsletter in 1988 by Jonathan Shecter. David Mays was the maga ...
'' gave it 3 out of 5 mics, praising the production, "the beats...give this album some of the most original sounds in hip-hop today."Ice Cold CD
CD Universe. Accessed on October 8, 2010. The album won the award for
Best Rap Recording at the
2000 Juno Awards.
Track listing
The 1999 Canadian release does not include "First Thing". Instead, there is a radio version of "Rollin'".
Samples
*"Bare Witness" – Contains a sample of "DWYCK" by
Chart positions
Release history
References
{{Authority control
1999 debut albums
Albums produced by K-Cut (producer)
Albums produced by Kardinal Offishall
Albums produced by Saukrates
Choclair albums
Priority Records albums
Virgin Records albums
Juno Award for Rap Recording of the Year recordings