''Redemption'' is the third studio album by American rapper

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 by

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 ...

and

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label based in Santa Monica, California, owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture ...

on June 15, 2018. The album, which serves as Rock's major-label debut, succeeds his second album '' 90059'' (2015), released three years prior. The album includes

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

from a variety of record producers, including

Sounwave Mark Anthony Spears (born February 28, 1986), known professionally as Sounwave, is an American record producer and songwriter. He is a frequent collaborator of rapper Kendrick Lamar, having worked on all of his projects since his 2009 self-title ...

Hit-Boy Chauncey Alexander Hollis Jr. (born May 21, 1987), known professionally as Hit-Boy, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He first signed with fellow producer Polow da Don in 2007 as in-house production staff for his l ...

Mike Will Made It Michael Len Williams II (born March 23, 1989), known professionally as Mike Will Made It (often stylized as Mike WiLL Made-It) or simply Mike Will, is an American record producer. He is best known for producing trap beats for several Southern hi ...

Boi-1da Matthew Jehu Samuels (born October 12, 1986), known professionally as Boi-1da (a play on Boy Wonder) is a Canadian record producer and songwriter based in Toronto, Ontario. He is an in-house producer for Drake's OVO Sound label and has prod ...

and TDE label-head Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith, who also serves as executive producer. Further production contributions came from

Jake One Jacob Brian Dutton (born May 11, 1976), known professionally as Jake One, is an American record producer and songwriter.Palermo, Thomas (2008)Jake One Readies New Album, XLR8R, September 5, 2008Matos, Michaelangelo (2004)Rocketship Blowing Up", ...

Teddy Walton Travis Darelle "Teddy" Walton (born July 30, 1992, in Memphis, Tennessee) is an American record producer, songwriter and DJ. He began music production by creating songs with his older brother, June, which gained traction on SoundCloud. Walton has ...

Cardo A ''cardo'' (: ''cardines'') was a north–south street in Ancient Rome, ancient Roman cities and military castra, camps as an integral component of Urban planning, city planning. The ''cardo maximus'', or most often the ''cardo'', was the main ...

and

Vinylz Anderson Hernandez (born September 2, 1989),Rys, Dan (July 11, 2013)"‘Magna Carta Holy Grail’ Behind The Scenes: Five Producers Who Helped Craft The Album". '' XXL''. Accessed on July 11, 2013. professionally known as Vinylz, is an American ...

, among others. The album features Rock's TDE label-mates

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 ...

SZA Solána Imani Rowe (born November 8, 1989), known professionally as SZA ( ), is an American singer-songwriter. Known for her diaristic lyrics and genre explorations, she has been credited as a prominent figure in influencing contemporary R& ...

, and

Sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as part ...

, as well as

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 Dcmbr,

Future The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ex ...

Tee Grizzley Terry Sanchez Wallace Jr. (born March 23, 1994), known professionally as Tee Grizzley, is an American rapper. He first began posting music online following a two year prison sentence, he released the song "First Day Out (Tee Grizzley song), Fir ...

, J. Cole,

Jeremih Jeremy Phillip Felton (born July 17, 1987), known professionally as Jeremih ( ), is an American Contemporary R&B, R&B singer. He embarked on a musical career after meeting record producer Mick Schultz in 2008, and signed a recording contract wi ...

, and

Mozzy Timothy Cornell Patterson (born June 24, 1987), known professionally as Mozzy, is an American rapper and convicted felon from Sacramento, California. He signed with Yo Gotti's record label Collective Music Group (CMG), an imprint of Interscope ...

. It was supported by the lead single " King's Dead", with Kendrick Lamar, Future and James Blake, followed by singles " Win" and "The Bloodiest". The album was met with critical acclaim and debuted at number 13 on the US ''Billboard'' 200, selling a total of 31,417 units. The album received two

Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

award nominations for its singles "King's Dead" and "Win", in the respective categories

Best Rap Song The Grammy Award for Best Rap Song is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality songs in the rap music genre. Honors in several c ...

and Best Rap Performance, winning the latter.

Background

The album was announced by Top Dawg in early January 2018, after being teased for release throughout 2017. Jay Rock formally announced the album's cover art and release date on May 21, 2018.

Release and promotion

The lead single, " King's Dead" with

and James Blake, was released on January 11, 2018, also serving as a single from the ''

Black Panther A black panther is the Melanism, melanistic colour variant of the leopard (''Panthera pardus'') and the jaguar (''Panthera onca''). Black panthers of both species have excess black pigments, but their typical Rosette (zoology), rosettes are al ...

'' soundtrack. The album version of the song includes an edited version with Future credited a guest appearance. The second single, " Win", was released on May 16, 2018, for digital download. The third single, "The Bloodiest", was released on June 8, alongside the pre-order for the album. A listening party was held for the album on May 29, 2018, in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. In June 2018, a mini-documentary series entitled ''Road to Redemption'' was released with three episodes. On November 28, 2018, the album was further supported by the single "Shit Real" alongside the music video, Redemption was then updated with this track on all streaming platforms. Again on February 22, 2019, the album was further updated with "The Other Side".

Critical reception

''Redemption'' was met with critical acclaim upon release. At

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 ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

score of 81 based on 10 reviews. Sheldon Pearce of ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'' wrote that ''Redemption'' is "about Rock getting a second chance at life, a new opportunity to show his pedigree, and about seeking a sort of absolution. The album traces his path from hood survivalist to indie darling of modest means to TDE dark horse and crash survivor, in search of even greater heights." Chris Gibbons of '' XXL'' described ''Redemption'' as "the most cohesive of Jay Rock's albums", adding that "he puts up a career high" and "at 44 minutes, the album breezes by without many frills. Rock raps, makes his point, and gets out quickly after, allowing the TDE vet to chalk up his biggest win yet. Online hip hop publication ''HotNewHipHop'' praised ''Redemption'' for "a pretty well-rounded scope of emotions and moods, despite having no discernible thematic throughline." Kenan Draughorne of ''

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 ...

'' believed that "''Redemption'' shines brightest when the music itself matches Rock’s dynamic performance and infuses enough energy for him to seize the moment." Clayton Purdom of ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an 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 created in ...

'' concluded that ''Redemption'' is "bleak but ultimately inspirational — and a spotlight on Jay’s resilience", praising Jay Rock's performance and the album's thematic presence.

Commercial performance

''Redemption'' debuted at number 13 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 with 31,417

album-equivalent unit The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, often shortened to just unit, is a sales metric in the music industry that defines the number of streaming media, songs streamed and music download, songs downloaded equal to one Record sales, tradi ...

s, of which 9,290 were pure album sales. The album became Jay Rock's highest-charting album to date.

Track listing

Credits adapted from album's liner notes. Notes * signifies a co-producer * signifies an additional producer * "OSOM" features additional vocals by

. * "Tap Out", "King's Dead", "Redemption", "Troopers" and "Win" feature uncredited vocals by

. * "Win" is stylized as "WIN" Sample credits * "For What It's Worth" contains a sample of "Sonder Son (Interlude)", performed by

Brent Faiyaz Christopher Brent Wood (born September 19, 1995), known professionally as Brent Faiyaz, is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, and record producer. Faiyaz rose to prominence following his guest performance alongside Shy Glizzy on GoldLink's ...

; and "Solo", performed by ORI. * "Knock It Off" contains a sample of "Trinity's Crying", performed by CocoRosie. * "OSOM" contains a sample of "Sailing Dreams", performed by Sieben. * "Broke +-" contains an uncredited sample of "A Garden of Peace", written and performed by

Lonnie Liston Smith Lonnie Liston Smith Jr. (born December 28, 1940) is an American jazz, soul, and funk musician who played with such jazz artists as Pharoah Sanders and Miles Davis before forming Lonnie Liston Smith and the Cosmic Echoes, recording a number of ...

. * "Redemption" contains an interpolation of "Piece of My Love", performed by Guy. * "Win" contains a sample of "Rooster and Runaway (from '' True Grit'')", composed by

Elmer Bernstein Elmer Bernstein ( '; April 4, 1922August 18, 2004) was an American composer and conductor. In a career that spanned over five decades, he composed "some of the most recognizable and memorable themes in Hollywood history", including over 150 orig ...

, as performed by the

Utah Symphony The Utah Symphony is an American orchestra based in Salt Lake City, Utah. The orchestra's principal venue is Abravanel Hall. In addition to its Salt Lake City subscription concerts, the orchestra travels around the Intermountain West serving ...

orchestra.

Personnel

Credits adapted from official liner notes. * Aron Levi – designee synth * Matt Schaeffer – recording , mixing * James Hunt – recording * Derek "MixedbyAli" Ali – mixing * Cyrus "Nois" Taghipour – mixin

* Aria Angel Ali – mixing * Mike Bozzi – mastering * Dan Joeright - engineer (track 12 SZA vocals) a
Gatos Trail Recording Studio

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control 2018 albums Jay Rock albums Top Dawg Entertainment albums Interscope Records albums Albums produced by Boi-1da Albums produced by Cardo (record producer) Albums produced by Cubeatz Albums produced by Dave Free Albums produced by Hit-Boy Albums produced by Jake One Albums produced by Mike Will Made It Albums produced by Sounwave Albums produced by Terrace Martin Albums produced by Vinylz