''He Got Game'' is a

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

and sixth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by American hip hop group

Public Enemy "Public enemy" is a term which was first widely used in the United States in the 1930s to describe individuals whose activities were seen as criminal and extremely damaging to society, though the phrase had been used for centuries to describe p ...

, released on April 28, 1998 under

Def Jam Recordings 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 was released as the soundtrack to

Spike Lee Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983. He made his directorial debut ...

's 1998 film of the same name and was the group's last album for Def Jam until 2020's '' What You Gonna Do When the Grid Goes Down''. ''He Got Game'' was produced by members of

the Bomb Squad The Bomb Squad were an American hip hop production team known for its work with hip hop group Public Enemy. The Bomb Squad is noted for its dense, distinct, innovative production style, often utilizing dozens of samples on just one track. The ...

, along with producers Abnes Dubose,

Danny Saber Danny Saber (born 1966) is a musician in Los Angeles. He is an audio engineer, record producer, and remixer as well. He is a former member of Black Grape and Agent Provocateur. He plays organ, and keyboards, and is a prominent Los Angeles DJ. Sa ...

, D. R. Period, and

Jack Dangers Jack Dangers (born John Stephen Corrigan, 11 January 1965) is an English electronic musician, DJ, producer, and remixer best known for his work as the primary member of Meat Beat Manifesto. He lives in San Francisco. Career Prior to founding ...

. The album sold poorly upon its release and peaked at number 26 on the ''Billboard'' 200. Its

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 ...

, the title track, charted at number 16 in the United Kingdom, where the album reached number 50. ''He Got Game'' was well received by

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

, who praised its melodic sound and

Chuck D Carlton Douglas Ridenhour (born August 1, 1960), known professionally as Chuck D, is an American rapper, best known as the leader and frontman of the hip hop group Public Enemy, which he co-founded in 1985 with Flavor Flav. Chuck D helped creat ...

's lyrics.

Background

''He Got Game'' served as the soundtrack to

's 1998 basketball drama of the same name. A

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

of the same name, featuring music composed by

Aaron Copland Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later a conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as "the Dean of American Com ...

, was also released on April 21. After a four-year hiatus by the group,

Professor Griff Richard Griffin (born August 1, 1960), better known by his stage name Professor Griff, is an American rapper, spoken word artist, and lecturer currently residing in Atlanta. He was a member of the hip hop group Public Enemy, serving as the gro ...

and

The Bomb Squad The Bomb Squad were an American hip hop production team known for its work with hip hop group Public Enemy. The Bomb Squad is noted for its dense, distinct, innovative production style, often utilizing dozens of samples on just one track. The ...

reunited with Public Enemy for the album, which features political, sports-derived imagery by

. According to critic

Armond White Armond White (born ) is an American film and music critic who writes for ''National Review'' and ''Out''. He was previously the editor of '' CityArts'' (2011–2014), the lead film critic for the alternative weekly ''New York Press'' (1997–201 ...

, ''He Got Game'' uses basketball as a metaphor for "the essence of black male aspiration. Disproving the film's suggestion of b-ball as an easy passport out of the ghetto, ublic Enemychallenge trite assumptions about black luck and skill". The album's production features backup female vocals, church-like

chorale Chorale is the name of several related musical forms originating in the music genre of the Lutheran chorale: * Hymn tune of a Lutheran hymn (e.g. the melody of "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme"), or a tune in a similar format (e.g. one of the t ...

s, austere beats,

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

, and

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

samples. The title track overtly interpolates

Buffalo Springfield Buffalo Springfield was a rock band formed in Los Angeles by Canadian musicians Neil Young, Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin and American musicians Stephen Stills and Richie Furay. The group, widely known for the song "For What It's Worth", relea ...

's 1966 song "

For What It's Worth "For What It's Worth (Stop, Hey What's That Sound)" (often referred to as simply "For What It's Worth") is a song written by Stephen Stills. Performed by Buffalo Springfield, it was recorded on December 5, 1966, released as a single on Atco Reco ...

," and its vocalist

Stephen Stills Stephen Arthur Stills (born January 3, 1945) is an American musician, singer and songwriter best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. As both a solo act and member of two successful bands, Stills has com ...

makes an appearance on the song. It was released as ''He Got Game''s only

in May 1998.

Commercial performance

''He Got Game'' debuted at number 26 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart on May 11, 1998, and sold 46,282 copies in its first week. Despite hip hop music's increased commercial viability at the time, the album had fallen out of the top 100 by July. In an article for the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'',

Robert Hilburn Robert Hilburn (born September 25, 1939) is an American pop music critic, author, and radio host. As critic and music editor at the ''Los Angeles Times'' from 1970 to 2005, his reviews, essays and profiles appeared in publications around the wor ...

opined that its "relatively lackluster showing" with consumers was due to Public Enemy's image and lyrical content rather than the album's quality: In the United Kingdom, ''He Got Game'' peaked at number 50 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

, while the title track reached number 16 on the singles chart; it did not chart on the US

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

Critical reception

''He Got Game'' was well received by

. In his review for ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' magazine,

Scott Poulson-Bryant Scott Poulson-Bryant is an American journalist and author. One of the co-founding editors of ''Vibe'' magazine in 1992 (and the editor who gave the magazine its name), Poulson-Bryant's journalism, profiles, reviews, and essays have appeared in ...

called the album "dense and eclectic, brilliant at moments but sometimes confusing," and found Chuck D to be "inspired again, coming up with blues poetry for the hoops age." Keith Phipps of ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' felt that, despite occasionally uninformed "lyrical snippets", most of the album has "the sense of urgency and menace that characterized PE's best work ... and the reformed Bomb Squad's sound has expanded in some interesting directions."Phipps, Keith
Review: ''He Got Game''
''

''. Retrieved on 2010-01-08. In his review for the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'',

Jim DeRogatis James Peter DeRogatis (born September 2, 1964) is an American music critic and co-host of ''Sound Opinions''. DeRogatis has written articles for magazines such as ''Rolling Stone'', '' Spin'', ''Guitar World'' and ''Modern Drummer'', and for 15 ...

called ''He Got Game'' "as hard-hitting as anything PE has done" and said that the group "nods to current tastes with more melodic hooks and less

white noise In signal processing, white noise is a random signal having equal intensity at different frequencies, giving it a constant power spectral density. The term is used, with this or similar meanings, in many scientific and technical disciplines, ...

than it has offered in the past." Music critic

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

credited Chuck D for realizing "the soundtrack concept" and viewed that, although only the

and

-produced "Go Cat Go" resembles "the stressful speed of classic PE", the hooks are appropriated "subtly" and "brilliantly". Christgau named it the eighth best album of the year in his list for ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

''s

Pazz & Jop Pazz & Jop was an annual poll of top musical releases, compiled by American newspaper ''The Village Voice'' and created by music critic Robert Christgau. It published lists of the year's top releases for 1971 and, after Christgau's two-year abse ...

critics' poll.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits for ''He Got Game'' adapted from

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 databas ...

. Credits: ''He Got Game'' Allmusic. Retrieved on 2010-01-08. * 4Kast – backing vocals *

Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...

– conductor * Corey Brewer – associate producer * Alice Butts – design * Chris Champion – engineer *

– conductor *

– scratching, programming, producer, emax * Dolo – engineer * Abnes Dubose – producer * (Ex) Cat Heads – executive producer * Paul Falcone – engineer * Gary G-Wiz – producer *

Reeves Gabrels Reeves Gabrels (born June 4, 1956) is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer. A member and guitarist of British band the Cure since 2012, Gabrels worked with David Bowie from 1987 to 1999, and was a member of the band Tin Machine. ...

– guitar * Ben Garrison – engineer * Gerard Gashkin – photography * Rawle Gittens – engineer * Rasheed Goodlowe – engineer * Bill Green – executive in charge of music * Charles Harbutt – engineer * Chris Haynes – engineer * David Lee – photography * Spike Lee – liner notes, executive producer * Ken Lewis – mixing * Paul Logus – guitar, engineer, mixing *

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

– performer * Ricco Lumpkins – engineer * Jonathan Mannion – photography * Kathy Nelson – executive producer, executive in charge of music *

New York Philharmonic The New York Philharmonic, officially the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc., globally known as New York Philharmonic Orchestra (NYPO) or New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, is a symphony orchestra based in New York City. It is ...

– performer * Joseph M. Palmaccio – mastering * Gordon Parks – photography * John Penn II – engineer * David Phelps – guitar *

Philharmonia Orchestra The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Richard Strauss, W ...

– performer * Tony Prendatt – engineer, mixing * Mario Rodriguez – mixing * Johnny Juice Rosado – scratching *

– programming, producer * Eric "Vietnam" Sadler – production consultant * Gary Schultz – producer * Shabach Community Choir – choir, chorus * Hank Shocklee – producer, executive producer * Keith Shocklee – producer * Alex Steyermark – music supervisor * Ted Wohlsen – engineer * Kerwin Young – bass, keyboards, producer

Charts

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

*
"Dancing With Mistah D"
by

{{Authority control 1998 soundtrack albums Public Enemy (band) albums Hip hop soundtracks Def Jam Recordings soundtracks Drama film soundtracks