''Southside'' 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 R&B singer Lloyd. It was released by The Inc. Records and

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 ...

on July 20, 2004 in the United States. Lloyd teamed with several of record producers to work on the album, including frequent The Inc. producers such as

Chink Santana Andre Parker, known by his stage name Chink Santana, is an American R&B record producer from Washington, D.C. He is known for co-producing albums including '' Ashanti'' (2002), by singer of the same name, as well as its follow-up, '' Chapter I ...

, Demi Doc, Jasper Camero, and label head

Irv Gotti Irving Domingo Lorenzo Jr. (June 26, 1970 – February 5, 2025), professionally known as Irv Gotti or DJ Irv, was an American record producer and music executive. Gotti started off as a New York hip-hop DJ in the 1980s, then becoming an A&R t ...

as well as Teddy Bishop, Corron Cole, Artie Green, Jimi Kendrix, and Rodney "Darkchid" Jerkins, among others. The album garnered largely mixed reviews from music critics, some of whom felt that it lacked substance. ''Southside'' debuted and reached number three on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

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 and number eleven on the US ''Billboard'' 200, selling over 67,000 copies in its first week. The album produced the successful top thirty ''Billboard'' Hot 100 hit, " the title track" with label-mate Ashanti. A second and final single, " Hey Young Girl, was released in August 2004.

Background

Lloyd began his musical career as a member of the

preteen Preadolescence is a stage of human development following middle childhood and preceding adolescence.New Oxford American Dictionary. 2nd Edition. 2005. Oxford University Press. It commonly ends with the beginning of puberty. Preadolescence is ...

boy band A boy band is a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their Teenage, teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform love songs marketed towards girls and young women. Many boy bands ...

N-Toon, which was formed by former

Klymaxx Klymaxx is an American all-female pop/ R&B band from Los Angeles, California. The band's classic lineup consisted of Bernadette Cooper, Lorena Porter Shelby, Cheryl Cooley, Robbin Grider, Lynn Malsby, and Joyce "Fenderella" Irby. Klymaxx is bes ...

member Joyce Irby in 1996. The band made a minor dent with the DreamWorks single "Ready" but dissolved after its debut album. Irby later secured a recording contract for then 14-year-old Lloyd with

Magic Johnson Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. (born August 14, 1959) is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. Often regarded as the greatest point guard of all time, Johnson List of NBA players who have spent their entire career w ...

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc. established in 1972, though MCA had released recordings under that name in the UK from the 1960s. The label achieved success in the 1970s through the 1980s, often by acquiring other ...

-distributed MJM label. though the label suspended operations before releasing his album. On his return to

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, Lloyd eventually signed with record executive

's Murder Inc. Records, an imprint of

in 2003 to pursue a solo career.

Promotion

The album's lead single, " Southside", featuring label-mate Ashanti, became a success on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, peaking at number twenty-four, while also reaching number 13 the US

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

chart. The album was certified Gold 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) on October 16, 2024 and reached Platinum status on October 16, 2024, based on sales and streaming figures in the United States. Commercially less successful, follow-up " Hey Young Girl" was released on August 14, 2004. It peaked at number 61 on ''Billboard''s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.

Reception

David Jeffries 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 three out of five stars. He wrote: "While there are no 'deep' moments on ''Southside'', the glittery production is alive and inspired and Lloyd's cool persona never fails ..Gotti never gives Lloyd anything lyrically out of his reach, and music-wise he's sprinkled a bunch of clever samples over the down-low beats." Jason Richards from ''

Now Now most commonly refers to the present time. Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to: Organizations * Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization * National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization * Na ...

'' found that on his "debut album, the tatted-up vocalist sings a duet with his labelmate Ashanti, and it's very hard to figure out who's who because he sounds so much like a woman. It's even more confusing – because you'd think

Ja Rule Jeffrey Bruce Atkins (born February 29, 1976), better known by his stage name Ja Rule (), is an American rapper, singer, and actor. Born and raised in New York City, Ja Rule became known for blending gangsta rap with pop rap, pop and contempo ...

and

would try to fortify their label with gangsta cred after getting crushed for months on end by everyone on Shady and

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 ...

, rather than dropping a wimpy, languid record by an 18-year-old

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

singer no one's ever heard of. I've tasted tap water with more flavour than this overlong cliché on wax."

Commercial performance

''Southside'' debuted and peaked at number three on ''

''s US

and number eleven on the US ''Billboard'' 200, selling over 67,000 copies in its first week. By March 2006, ''Southside'' had sold 322,000 copies domestically, according to

Nielsen SoundScan Luminate Data, LLC (formerly MRC Data and P-MRC Data) is a provider of music and entertainment data. Established as a joint-venture in 2020, it brought together Nielsen Music, Alpha Data (formerly BuzzAngle Music) and Variety Business Intellige ...

Track listing

Notes * signifies a co-producer Samples credits * "Ride Wit Me" contains samples from the

Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac are a British-American Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1967 by the singer and guitarist Peter Green (musician), Peter Green. Green named the band by combining the surnames of the drummer, Mick Fleetwood, and the bassis ...

recording "

Little Lies "Little Lies" is a song by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac from their 14th studio album, ''Tango in the Night'' (1987). It was written by band member Christine McVie and her then-husband, Eddy Quintela, with lead vocals performed primar ...

", written by

Christine McVie Christine Anne McVie (; Perfect; 12 July 1943 – 30 November 2022) was an English musician. She was the keyboardist and one of the vocalists and songwriters of the rock band Fleetwood Mac. McVie was a member of several bands, notably Chic ...

and Eddy Quintela. * "Hey Young Girl" contains an interpolation of " Hey Young World", written by Ricky Walters. * "Feels So Right" contains a sample from "Brothers Gonna Work It Out", written and performed by

Willie Hutch William McKinley Hutchison (December 6, 1944 – September 19, 2005), better known as Willie Hutch, was an American singer, songwriter as well as a record producer and recording artist for the Motown record label during the 1970s and 1980s. Biog ...

. * "Sweet Dreams" contains an interpolation of "

Mockingbird Mockingbirds are a group of New World passerine birds from the family (biology), family Mimidae. They are best known for the habit of some species Mimicry, mimicking the songs of other birds and the sounds of insects and amphibians, often loudly ...

" written by Charlie Foxx and Inez Foxx.

Credits and personnel

Credits for ''Southside'' adapted 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 ...

. Performers and musicians * Greg "Neo" Anderson –

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Mus ...

s * Devine Evans –

drum programming Programming is a form of music production and performance using electronic devices and computer software, such as sequencers and workstations or hardware synthesizers, sampler and sequencers, to generate sounds of musical instruments. These mu ...

* Lloyd Jr. Polite –

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

* Irv Polie –

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...

* Wirlie Morris –

* Shawn Smith –

s * Chink Santana –

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

* Alonzo "Novel" Stevenson –

Technical * Won Allen – engineer * David Ashton – engineer * Teddy Bishop – engineer * Leslie Braithwaite – mixing * Milwaukee "Protools King" Buck – engineer * Jasper Cameron – vocal producer * Tom Coyne – mastering * Indiana Joan – vocal producer * Carlton Lynn – engineer * Lloyd – vocal producer * Chris "Gotti" Lorenzo – A&R * Wirlie Morris – engineer * Rick Patrick – creative director * Patrick Reynolds – A&R * Andrew Slade – engineer * Alvin Speights – mixing * Brian Springer – mixing * Carol Vaughn, Jr. – A&R

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control Southside (album) Def Jam Recordings albums Lloyd (singer) albums Albums produced by Irv Gotti Albums produced by Rodney Jerkins Albums produced by Chink Santana Albums produced by Jasper Cameron