''Against the Grain'' is the fourth solo studio album by American rapper Kurupt. It was released on August 23, 2005, through Death Row Records, making it his first and, to date, only solo album for the label. The album was produced by Mark Sparks, Doug Mayhem, Sir Jinx, Baby-C-Style, Blaqthoven, Diverse, Joshua Andrews, Ric Rude, Screwface, and tha Row Hitters, with

Suge Knight Marion Hugh "Suge" Knight Jr. ( ; born April 19, 1965) is an American former record executive, former National Football League, NFL player, and convicted felon, who is the co-founder and former CEO of Death Row Records. Knight was a central f ...

serving as executive producer. It features

guest appearance The term guest appearance generally denotes the appearance of a guest in an artistic or pop-culture setting. The guests themselves (referred to as guest artists, featured artists, guest stars, or guest fighters, depending on context), are disting ...

s from Eastwood, Tri Star, Young Tone,

2Pac Tupac Amaru Shakur (; born Lesane Parish Crooks; June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor, regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all tim ...

, Dave Hollister, Domination, M.O.P., Potion, Roscoe, Spider Loc, the Dayton Family, and Val C. The album went almost unnoticed due to the lack of promotion by Koch Records, which distributes all of Tha Row's albums. It debuted at number 60 on the ''Billboard'' 200 albums and number 20 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 also made it to number 146 on the French Albums chart. The cut tracks were later released on a 2007 bootleg compilation titled '' Against tha Grain E.P.''. The album was reissued in February 2010, under the title ''Down and Dirty'' with a slightly altered tracklist. The song "Calico" previously appeared on the Dayton Family album '' Family Feud''.

Background

Kurupt was signed with

Death Row Records Death Row Records is an American record label that was founded in 1991 by The D.O.C., Dr. Dre, Suge Knight, and Dick Griffey. The label became a sensation by releasing multi-platinum hip-hop albums by West Coast-based artists such as Dr. D ...

as one-half of

Tha Dogg Pound Tha Dogg Pound is an American hip-hop duo composed of West Coast rappers Kurupt and Daz Dillinger. They were among the first acts to sign to Death Row Records in 1992. Kurupt and Daz went on to release solo albums starting in 1998; they left th ...

together with

Daz Dillinger Delmar Drew Arnaud (born May 25, 1973), known professionally as Daz Dillinger or simply Daz (formerly Dat Nigga Daz), is an American rapper and record producer. As a member of Death Row Records in the early 1990s, he is credited with the label ...

. The duo released the only studio album for the label, ''

Dogg Food ''Dogg Food'' is the debut studio album by American hip hop duo Tha Dogg Pound, released on October 31, 1995, by Death Row Records, Interscope Records and Priority Records. The album features guest appearances from Snoop Doggy Dogg, Nate D ...

'' in 1995, before Kurupt left the label in late 1997. In early 2002 he re-aligned with Death Row, which sparked the feud with his former labelmates, such as Daz,

Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. ( ; born October 20, 1971), better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg), is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Rooted in West Coast hip-hop, he is widely regarded as one of t ...

and Soopafly. The album was delay from its planned 2004 release and was released in August 2005, when Kurupt left Death Row for the second time. It was Death Row's first freshly recorded album in over four years. It was the final original album released by the label during its original run, before being revived with '' BODR'' by

17 years later.

Track listing

;Notes *Nearly all of Kurupt's songwriting for this album is credited to his brother, David " Roscoe" Williams. ;Sample credits *Track 6 contains a sample of "

Vitamin C Vitamin C (also known as ascorbic acid and ascorbate) is a water-soluble vitamin found in citrus and other fruits, berries and vegetables. It is also a generic prescription medication and in some countries is sold as a non-prescription di ...

" as performed by Can *Track 12 contains replayed elements of "Me and My Homies" as performed by

Nate Dogg Nathaniel Dwayne Hale (August 19, 1969 – March 15, 2011), known professionally as Nate Dogg, was an American rapper and singer. He gained recognition for providing guest vocals on several hit rap songs between 1992 and 2007, earning him the ...

Charts

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Against Tha Grain 2005 albums Kurupt albums Death Row Records albums