''Dare Iz a Darkside'' is the second

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by American rapper Redman. It was released on November 22, 1994, by

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 l ...

. The album debuted at 13 on the US ''Billboard'' 200. The album was certified

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

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 ...

(RIAA). The album cover features Redman buried in the ground up to his neck, a reference to the cover of

Funkadelic Funkadelic was an American funk rock band formed in Plainfield, New Jersey in 1968 and active until 1982. As one of the two flagship groups of George Clinton's P-Funk collective, they helped pioneer the funk music culture of the 1970s.John, ...

's 1971 album ''

Maggot Brain ''Maggot Brain'' is the third studio album by the American funk rock band Funkadelic, released by Westbound Records in July 1971. It was produced by bandleader George Clinton and recorded at United Sound Systems in Detroit during late 1970 an ...

''. In addition, the song "Cosmic Slop" shares its name with a 1973 Funkadelic album. The album spawned the two singles " Rockafella" & "

Can't Wait "Can't Wait" is the second single released from Redman's second album, '' Dare Iz a Darkside''. It is produced by Erick Sermon and Redman, and contains samples from "All Night Long" by Mary Jane Girls The Mary Jane Girls were an American g ...

". In 2010, Redman told

Vibe Magazine ''Vibe'' is an American music and entertainment magazine founded by producers David Salzman and Quincy Jones. The publication predominantly features R&B and hip hop music artists, actors and other entertainers. After shutting down production ...

that he never performed any songs from ''Dare Iz A Darkside'' in recent years - primarily due to the album being made during one of the dark times in his life. The positive reaction to the album stunned Redman, who said "I was doing a lot of drugs on ''Dare Iz A Darkside''. I have chicks that come up to me and say, 'Yo, ''Dare Iz A Darkside'' is my favorite fuckin' album, ever.' I swear, I have not played ''Dare Iz A Darkside'' damn near since I did it. Seriously! I was so lost, I was so fucked up during that album". However, during his

Verzuz ''Verzuz'' is an American webcast series created by record producers Timbaland and Swizz Beatz. It was introduced during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic as a virtual DJ battle, with Timbaland and Swizz Beatz facing off in its first iteration throug ...

battle with fellow rapper

Method Man Clifford Smith, Jr. (born March 2, 1971), known professionally as Method Man, is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. He is a member of the East Coast hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan, and is half of the hip hop duo Method Man & R ...

on April 20, 2021, Redman performed "Can't Wait" for the first time since its single release in 1995.

Critical reception

Jason Birchmeier of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

gave the album a mixed review, remarking that producer Erick Sermon, who plays a large role in the production of the album, "isn't up to his usual standards here." Birchmeier also noted Redman's eccentric personality on ''Darkside'' in particular may have alienated fans of his earlier work with

EPMD EPMD is an American hip hop duo from Brentwood, New York. The duo's name is an initialism for "Erick and Parrish Making Dollars", referring to its members: emcees Erick Sermon ("E" a.k.a. E Double) and Parrish Smith ("PMD" a.k.a. Parrish Mi ...

. Though when checking the production credits, Erick Sermon is only listed as an executive producer. He was executive producer for 5 of the albums' 16 actual tracks, not including skits. In reality, it was Reggie Noble who handled lead production of the album. The Source gave it 4 stars. It is considered a cult classic by a section of Redman's fans who believed the album showed Redman at his most cynical and hardcore.

Commercial performance

''Dare Iz a Darkside'' debuted at number 13 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart, and number one on the US

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, ...

selling 83,000 copies, becoming his first number one on the chart. On January 27, 1995, the album was certified

by the

(RIAA) for sales of over 500,000 copies. As of October 2009, the album has 587,000 copies in the United States.

Track listing

The cassette version is tinted red.

Personnel

Information taken from

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

. *Engineering – Mike Bona, Bob Fudjinski, Dave Greenberg, Bob Morse *Executive Production – Erick Sermon *Mastering – Tony Dawsey *Mixing – Bob Fudjinski, Dave Greenberg, Bob Morse *Narration – Jeff Stewart *Performing – Hurricane G, Keith Murray, Erick Sermon *Photography –

Danny Clinch Danny Clinch (born 1964) is an American photographer and film director. Early life and education Born in Toms River, New Jersey, Clinch graduated from Toms River High School East in 1982. After attending Ocean County College, he attended the New ...

*Production – Reggie Noble, Erick Sermon *Sequencing – Reggie Noble, Jeff Trotter *Vocals – Reggie Noble, Erick Sermon

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Singles

Certifications

Notes

External links

* *
Dare Iz a Darkside
' at

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

{{Authority control 1994 albums Albums produced by Erick Sermon Def Jam Recordings albums Redman (rapper) albums Albums produced by Redman