''Rotten Apple'' 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

Lloyd Banks Christopher Charles Lloyd (born April 30, 1982), better known by his stage name Lloyd Banks, is an American rapper. He began his career as a member of East Coast hip-hop, East Coast hip hop group G-Unit, which he formed with childhood friends ...

, released October 10, 2006 via

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

Interscope 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 ...

. The title of the album is a play on the

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

nickname, " The Big Apple".

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, ...

's song "Rotten Apple" is on his mixtape '' Guess Who's Back?'' (2002) and should not be confused with Banks' song of the same name on this album. Rotten Apple Entertainment is also the name of Banks' former label owned by 50 Cent in the past. The album cover also resembles the cover of the film, '' King of New York''.

Background

''The Big Withdrawal'' was originally intended to be Lloyd Banks' second album. However, two women Banks had a ménage à trois with in 2005 leaked an unmastered copy of the album he had left at their home. The album was scrapped and soon after, Banks began working on ''Rotten Apple''. The album featured guest appearances from

Tony Yayo Marvin Bernard (born March 31, 1978), better known by his stage name Tony Yayo, is an American rapper. He is best known as a member of G-Unit, a hip hop group he formed with his childhood friends, 50 Cent and Lloyd Banks. Yayo released his debu ...

Young Buck David Darnell Brown (born March 15, 1981), better known by his stage name Young Buck, is an American rapper. He signed with Birdman's Cash Money Records in 1997, formed the hip hop collective UTP with Juvenile and Soulja Slim in 2000, and j ...

Rakim William Michael Griffin Jr. (born January 28, 1968), better known by his stage name Rakim (), is an American rapper. He is one half of Golden age hip-hop, golden age hip hop duo Eric B. & Rakim, with whom he released four albums: ''Paid in Full ...

, Scarface,

Mobb Deep Mobb Deep was an American Hip-hop, hip hop duo formed in Queens, New York (state), New York in 1990. Consisting of rappers/songwriters/record producers Prodigy (rapper), Prodigy and Havoc (musician), Havoc, they are considered to be among the pr ...

, 8Ball,

Keri Hilson Keri Lynn Hilson (born December 5, 1982) is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Decatur, Georgia, she began her musical career as a songwriter and backing vocalist for other artists under the wing of record producer Anthony De ...

and

Musiq Soulchild Taalib Hassan Johnson (born September 16, 1977), better known by his stage name Musiq Soulchild (or simply Musiq; pronounced "music") is an American singer-songwriter. His music blends Rhythm and blues, R&B, funk, blues, jazz, and Gospel music, ...

. Production on the album was provided by

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time, he is credited with popula ...

, Needlz, Sha Money XL, Younglord, Ron Browz, Havoc and 9th Wonder. Banks stated that he wanted to show the darker side of

and allow listeners to hear what it was like growing up in

South Jamaica, Queens South Jamaica (also commonly known as "Southside") is a residential neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is located south of downtown Jamaica. Although a proper border has not been established, the neighborhood is a subsectio ...

Critical reception

''Rotten Apple'' received generally mixed reviews from critics. The album so far has a score of 51 out of 100 from

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 "mixed or average reviews"."Critic Reviews for Rotten Apple"

. Retrieved on March 3, 2013. ''

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

'' Evan Serpick gave it 3 out of 5 stars and said that "Eminem, Mobb Deep's Havoc and a host of G-Unit regulars produce an album's worth of chunky, ominous beats to fit Banks' foul mood, but it runs a little thin over sixteen tracks."

AllHipHop ''AllHipHop'' is a hip-hop news website founded by Greg Watkins and Chuck Creekmur in 1998. History The website was founded in 1998 by Greg Watkins and Chuck Creekmur. In 1997, Watkins registered the allhiphop.com domain to promote the artist ...

gave it a score of three-and-a-half stars out of five and said that it was "primed to remind folks what crew controlled the game before his hiatus." DJ Booth gave it three stars out of five and said it "doesn't offer the same amount of high energy bangers. Subsequently, the label is now left to wonder what would have been if their decision on a lead single was different from the jump off." But '' XXL'' gave it a L/XXL (the equivalent of three stars out of five) and said, "Not falling far from 50 Cent's platinum-rooted tree, ''Rotten Apple'' is fertilized with potent doses of sonic strength and catchy hooks. But overall, it isn't the new massacre that'll shake New York hip-hop down to its core."

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 ...

's David Jeffries gave it 2.5 out of 5 stars and said that "The highlights are way high, but the album as a whole is fans-only." ''HipHopDX'' gave it a similar score of two-and-a-half stars out of five and said, "Much like Banks' rapping, the beats just plod along. It is easy to expect less from some of his less talented G-Unit brethren, but Banks has shown himself to be capable of a lot. Minus a few moments where he shines, this album is as rotten as the City." After five weeks of sales the album was at number 71 on the ''Billboard'' charts with 15,000 copies sold that week and 250,000 copies sold total. Despite not being certified in the United States, the album managed to achieve

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 ...

status in Canada.

Commercial performance

Debuting at number 3 with 143,000, Banks fell more than 40,000 albums short of a chart-topping repeat. The album fell to number 15 the following week with sales of 49,000. In its third week, the album sold 25,000. In its fourth week, the album sold 19,000 to land at number 43 on the album chart. In its fifth week the album sold 15,000 to land at number 71 on the charts. The album would finish over 1 million units being sold in United States.Lloyd Banks Preps 'Hunger for More' After Going Gold , Billboard
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Track listing

Notes * signifies a co-producer. * signifies an additional producer. Sample credits * "The Cake" contains elements from "I Believe", written by Hans Bathelt and Hans Jürgen Fritz, and performed by Triumvirat. * "One Night Stand" contains elements from "As Long As You Are There", written and performed by

Carolyn Franklin Carolyn Ann Franklin (May 13, 1944 – April 25, 1988) was an American singer-songwriter. Biography Franklin was born in Memphis, Tennessee, to Barbara Siggers Franklin and C. L. Franklin. The youngest of six children, they moved to Buffalo, ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

United States certified Platinum

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2006 albums Lloyd Banks albums Interscope Records albums G-Unit Records albums Albums produced by Eminem Albums produced by Havoc (musician) Albums produced by 9th Wonder Albums produced by Ron Browz Albums produced by Needlz Albums produced by Nick Speed