''Unleashed'' is the second and most recent studio album by American rapper Hurricane Chris. It was released on December 21, 2009, by

Polo Grounds Music Polo Grounds Music is a hip hop and R&B record label distributed by Sony Music's RCA Records. Polo Grounds Music is a full-service entertainment company with a focus in publishing, management, marketing and promotions. Founded in 2006 by Bryan ...

and

J Records J Records was an American record label owned and operated by Bertelsmann Music Group until it was transferred to Sony Music Entertainment when they acquired all of BMG’s record labels in late 2008. It was distributed through the RCA Music Gro ...

. This record would later be his final studio release with Polo Grounds and J Records. Recording sessions took place from 2008 to 2009, featuring the executive production from Hurricane Chris himself, alongside Bryan Leach and Anthony Murray. Aside from the executive production, the album features the production from Play-N-Skillz, Shawty Redd and

Fiend Fiend may refer to: * An evil spirit or demon in religion or mythology * A person addicted to either a pernicious act, a cause, a hobby or sport Music * ''Fiends'' (album), by Christian post-hardcore band Chasing Victory * Fiend (rapper) (born ...

, among others. The album was supported by two singles: " Halle Berry (She's Fine)" featuring Superstarr, and " Headboard" featuring

Mario is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the '' Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his c ...

and Plies, which both of these singles did not have success on the music charts. Upon its release, the album received mixed or average reviews from critics. ''Unleashed'' did not chart internationally, however, it reached at number 46 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 ...

''s

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 Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated Jan ...

, and number 20 on the US ''Billboard''s

Top Rap 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 Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated J ...

charts, respectively.

Singles

The album's

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release ...

, called " Halle Berry (She's Fine)", was released on April 15, 2009. The song features

guest vocal In show business, a guest appearance is the participation of an outsider performer (such as a musician or actor) in an event such as a music record or concert, show, etc., when the performer does not belong to the regular band, cast, or other ...

s from a fellow local rapper Superstarr; who later serves its production, along with the duo Play-N-Skillz and Q Smith on this track. The album's second and final single, called " Headboard" was released on September 4, 2009. The song features guest vocals from American R&B singer-songwriter

and fellow American rapper Plies, with production by The Inkredibles.

Reception

Commercial performance

In the United States, ''Unleashed'' peaked at number 46 on the ''

''s

, and number 20 on the ''Billboard''s

charts. It did not chart internationally.

Critical response

''Unleashed'' received mixed or average reviews from

music critic ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of mu ...

s. At

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

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

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

score of 54, based on 4 reviews, which indicates "mixed or average reviews". David Jeffries of

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 ...

gave the album three out of five stars. ''

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 ...

Jon Caramanica gave an unfavorable review. ''Rolling Stone'' gave the album two out of five stars. Steve Juon of RapReviews.com gave the highest rated review, seven out of ten stars.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits for ''Unleashed'' adapted from

. * Oluwaseyi Agdeh – composer * J. Allen – engineer * Jeremy Allen – composer * Mimi Armstrong – grooming * Blade – engineer, producer * Anita Marisa Boriboon – art direction * Brandon Bowles – composer * Ralph Cacciurri – engineer * Chris Carmouche – mixing * Maurice Carpenter – composer * Kevin Cossom – composer * Kenny "Kennymixx" Daniels – mastering * Anthony Davis – composer * Rick De Verona – engineer * Scorp Dezel – producer * Christopher Dooley – composer, executive producer * Leigh Elliott – composer * Scott Eraas – engineer * Fiend – producer * Pablo "Tonton" Gho – engineer * John "Say" Gillard – engineer * The Inkredibles – producer * Amy Johnson – A&R, production coordination * Raphael Johnson – composer, producer * Richard Jones – composer * Fallon King – composer * Felisha King – composer * Bryan Leach – executive producer * Eddie Mix – engineer * Johnny Mollings – composer * Lenny Mollings – composer * Mouse – producer * Anthony Murray – executive producer * Isis Nicholson – vocals * Jamaal Parker – composer * Shanieke Peru – stylist * Phunk Dawg – producer * Play – engineer * Play N Skillz – producer * Ari Raskin – engineer * Rodney Richard – composer * Rodnae – producer * Ray Seay – mixing * Derrick Selby – engineer * Shawty Redd – producer * Makeda Smith – A&R, production coordination * Q. Smith – producer * Demetrius Stewart – composer * Superstarr – producer * Don Vito – producer * Miles Walker – engineer * Algernod Washington – composer * Earl Williams – composer * Robert Wilson – composer * Zach Wolfe – photography * Shah Wonders – illustrations * Rodney Young – composer

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2009 albums J Records albums Hurricane Chris (rapper) albums Albums produced by Shawty Redd Albums produced by the Inkredibles