''Unity'' is an album by the rap and

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use the ...

musician

Shinehead Shinehead (born Edmund Carl Aiken; 10 April 1962 in Kent, England) is a British Jamaican reggae singer/toaster/rapper. Career He began his music career by performing for different New York City reggae dancehall sound systems in the 1980s, most ...

, released in 1988. The album peaked at No. 185 on the ''Billboard'' 200. "Gimme No Crack" was a minor radio hit.

Production

"Come Together", "Truth", and "Chain Gang Rap" were produced by

Jam Master Jay Jason William Mizell (January 21, 1965 – October 30, 2002), better known by his stage name Jam Master Jay, was an American musician and DJ. He was the DJ of the influential hip hop group Run-DMC. During the 1980s, Run-DMC became one of the bi ...

; the rest of the album was produced by Davy D and Claude Evans.

Roots Radics The Roots Radics Band was formed in 1978 by bass player Errol "Flabba" Holt, guitarist Eric "Bingy Bunny" Lamont and drummer Lincoln "Style" Scott. They were joined by many musicians, including guitarist Noel "Sowell" Bailey, Dwight Pinkney ...

contributed to the album. "Who the Cap Fits" is a remake of a song from Shinehead's debut album. "Chain Gang Rap" samples

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was ba ...

's "

Take the A Train A take is a single continuous recorded performance. The term is used in film and music to denote and track the stages of production. Film In cinematography, a take refers to each filmed "version" of a particular shot or "setup". Takes of each ...

" and incorporates elements of Sam Cooke's "

Chain Gang A chain gang or road gang is a group of prisoners chained together to perform menial or physically challenging work as a form of punishment. Such punishment might include repairing buildings, building roads, or clearing land. The system was not ...

". The title track samples "

Come Together "Come Together" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The song is the opening track on their 1969 album ''Abbey Road'' and was also released as a single coupled with " Someth ...

Critical reception

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference ...

'' wrote that Shinehead "continues to mix yankee hip-hop and yardee MC." ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' noted that "Shinehead will drift into a falsetto voice to sing, parody somebody for a second, change the beat–nothing stays the same for long." '' The Gazette'' determined that Shinehead "proves himself one of the most inventive, intelligent rappers on the scene." ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Penns ...

'' concluded that ''Unity'' "contains rap, dub-poet toasting, and some of the leanest, most concise vocalizing anywhere in black pop." ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

'' stated: "A striking major-label debut, ''Unity'' is as rhythmically limber as it is well-meaning." The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'' determined that "'Hello Y'All' combined a rap-style vocal with hard reggae rhythms ... 'Know How Fe Chat' reversed the equation by setting a patois-laden Jamaican vocal against a funk arrangement." The ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and pa ...

'' deemed the album "a comically-inspired fusion of rap and reggae."

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

called the album "too lighthearted and positive to catch the ears of hip-hop heads who were beginning to lean on harsher sounds that were developing." The ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

'' listed ''Unity'' as the sixth best album of 1988; the '' Star Tribune'' listed it as the fourteenth.

Track listing

References

{{reflist 1988 albums Elektra Records albums