''Follow Me Home'' is the debut

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

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

recording artist

Jay Rock Johnny Reed McKinzie Jr. (born March 31, 1985), better known by his stage name Jay Rock, is an American rapper from Los Angeles, California. Rock signed with local independent label Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) in 2005. He secured a major lab ...

; it was released on July 26, 2011, under

Top Dawg Entertainment Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) is an American independent record label. Specializing in hip hop and R&B artists, TDE is based in Carson, California. The label was founded in 2004 by record producer Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith, who is the chief exec ...

(TDE) and

Strange Music Strange Music is an American independent record label specializing in hip hop music and founded by Tech N9ne and Travis O'Guin in 1999. History In 2009 Skatterman & Snug Brim fulfilled their commitment to Strange Music and left the label. In ...

. The album was preceded by two singles; " All My Life (In the Ghetto)" and " Hood Gone Love It". The album 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 labelmates

Kendrick Lamar Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time, he was awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Music, becoming the first music ...

Schoolboy Q Quincy Matthew Hanley (born October 26, 1986), better known by his stage name Schoolboy Q (stylized as ScHoolboy Q), is an American rapper. He began recording in 2007, and released his first two mixtapes, ''ScHoolboy Turned Hustla'' (2008) and '' ...

, and Ab-Soul along with

Lil Wayne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. He is often regarded as one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generation, as well as one of the greatest rappers of all ...

, will.i.am,

Chris Brown Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. A Pop music, pop and hip-hop-influenced contemporary R&B, R&B musician who works in a variety of genres, he has been called the "Honorific nic ...

Tech N9ne Aaron Dontez Yates (born November 8, 1971), better known by his stage name Tech N9ne (pronounced "tech nine"), is an American rapper and singer. In 1999, he and business partner Travis O'Guin founded the record label Strange Music. He has sold ...

and

Rick Ross William Leonard Roberts II (born January 28, 1976), known professionally as Rick Ross, is an American rapper. An influential figure in modern Hip-hop, hip hop music, Rick Ross has become known for his "Wiktionary:booming, booming" vocal perfor ...

, among others. The album's production was handled by Cool & Dre, Focus..., J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, Sounwave,

Terrace Martin Terrace Jamahl Martin (born December 28, 1978) is an American musician, rapper, singer, and record producer. He is perhaps best known for producing records for several prominent artists in the music industry, including Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dog ...

, Tha Bizness and Willie B, among others. The album debuted at number 83 on the US ''Billboard'' 200, selling 5,300 copies in its first week.

Background

In an interview promoting the album, Jay Rock stated: "If you have been through a struggle, you are going to feel this album". He has described the album as being his story, coming from nothing and gunning for the top. He compared this album to

N.W.A N.W.A (an abbreviation for Niggaz Wit Attitudes) was an American hip-hop group formed in Compton, California in 1987. Among the earliest and most significant figures of the gangsta rap subgenre, the group is widely considered one of the great ...

's albums, as he's made the album for the

ghetto A ghetto is a part of a city in which members of a minority group are concentrated, especially as a result of political, social, legal, religious, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished than other ...

, saying it's not for the radio, nor is it for the club. Although signed to

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small and medium-sized enterprise, small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels ...

s Top Dawg and

Strange Strange may refer to: Fiction * Strange (comic book), a comic book limited series by Marvel Comics * Strange (Marvel Comics), one of a pair of Marvel Comics characters known as The Strangers * Adam Strange, a DC Comics superhero * The title c ...

, Jay Rock still worked with several mainstream artists and high-profile record producers on the album.

Guests and production

Jay Rock worked with a number of artists on the album, including

, will.i.am,

and

, as well as his Black Hippy cohorts

and Ab-Soul. The album includes production from Cool & Dre, Dae One, Focus..., J. LBS, J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, Keith the Beast, Phonix Beats, Rob E, Sounwave,

, Tha Bizness, and Willie B.

Release and promotion

Jay Rock was an opening act with Nipsey Hussle on The L.A.X. Tour in promotion of The Game's third studio album L.A.X. in 2009. In 2010 Jay Rock went on tour with

G-Unit G-Unit (short for Guerilla-Unit). was an American hip hop group formed by longtime friends and East Coast rappers 50 Cent, Tony Yayo, and Lloyd Banks. After amassing a string of self-released mixtapes in the early 2000s, the group released ...

and American rapper

50 Cent Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975), known professionally as 50 Cent, is an American rapper, actor, and television producer. Born in Queens, a borough of New York City, Jackson began pursuing a musical career in 1996. In 1999–2000, ...

on The Invitation Tour in promotion of the album. After that tour wrapped up he went on tour with

E-40 Earl Tywone Stevens (born November 15, 1967), better known by his stage name E-40, is an American rapper. Stevens is a founding member of the rap group The Click (band), The Click and the founder of Sick Wid It Records. He has released 27 stud ...

, Glasses Malone and Kutt Calhoun on the Independent Grind Tour.

Singles

Two singles were released for the album: " All My Life (In the Ghetto)" and " Hood Gone Love It. "All My Life" features

and will.i.am and "Hood Gone Love It" features Kendrick Lamar. The official remix of "All My Life" features

Busta Rhymes Trevor George Smith Jr. (born May 20, 1972), known professionally as Busta Rhymes, is an American rapper, singer and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the moniker Busta Rhymes, after National Football League, NFL and Canadian Football Lea ...

, The Game and Gorilla Zoe while the official remix of "Hood Gone Love It" features

and Birdman. "Hood Gone Love It" was featured in the Franklin Trailer for

Grand Theft Auto V ''Grand Theft Auto V'' is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the seventh main entry in the Grand Theft Auto, ''Grand Theft Auto'' series, following 2008's ''Grand Theft Auto IV'', and ...

Music videos

On June 24 a

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

was released via MTV for the single "Hood Gone Love It". Videos for album tracks " All My Life, "Life's a Gamble", "Say Wassup" (feat. Ab-Soul,

) and "Just Like Me" were filmed and all released before the album to create a buzz. Also the songs, "Code Red" (feat. Kendrick Lamar) ("Boomerang") "No Joke" (feat. Ab-Soul) "M.O.N.E.Y." (feat. J. Black) & ("Elbows") Jay Rock released these tracks and made a music video out of them.

Critical reception

Upon its release, ''Follow Me Home'' was met with positive reviews, with critics praising Jay Rock's lyrical ability, his narrative skills, his production selection, and the Old-School West Coast feel. The album also holds a score of 73 out of a 100 on

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

based on 5 reviews which indicates generally favorable reviews. Kyle Anderson of

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

praises the old school West Coast feel of the album, Jay Rock's flow and the minimalistic beats. Also comparing it to Game's debut album. XXL gave the album a XL praising Rock's; lyrical storytelling, crossover ability of "Just Like Me" and "Westside" along with the production of "Elbows" and "Code Red". AllMusic gave the album a 3 out of 5, calling the album a "real life urban drama script" while praising the album's production and collaborators.

HipHopDX ''HipHopDX'' is an online magazine of Hip hop music, hip hop music criticism and news. ''HipHopDX'' has over 3.5M monthly readers, the website encompassing hip hop news, interviews, music, and reviews. The website's founder and CEO is Sharath C ...

complimented the introspective lyrics of "Just Like Me" and "M.O.N.E.Y." while also praising the West Coast production of "Elbows and "Code Red" and

and

's collaborations on "All My Life" and "Finest Hour" respectively. Their final score for the album was 3.5 out of 5.

Track listing

The track listing for ''Follow Me Home'' was confirmed by the website

.Follow Me Home at Amazon.co.uk
/ref> ;Notes *(co.) signifies a co-producer *"Code Red" features uncredited additional vocals from

. *"Elbows" features uncredited additional vocals from Kendrick Lamar. *"All I Know Is" features uncredited additional vocals from Alori Joh and Ab-Soul. *"They Be On It" features uncredited additional vocals from Kendrick Lamar. *"Life's a Gamble" features uncredited additional vocals from Ab-Soul.

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Follow Me Home (album) 2011 debut albums Top Dawg Entertainment albums Jay Rock albums Albums produced by Cool & Dre Albums produced by Focus... Albums produced by J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League Albums produced by Sounwave Albums produced by Terrace Martin Albums produced by Tha Bizness Albums produced by Willie B Strange Music albums