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''RBG: Revolutionary but Gangsta'' is the second studio album by American conscious hip hop duo
dead prez Dead Prez (stylized in lowercase) is an American hip hop duo composed of M-1 and stic.man, formed in 1996 in New York City. They are known for their confrontational style, combined with lyrics focused on both militant social justice, self-de ...
. It was released on March 30, 2004, through
Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...
and
Sony Urban Music Sony Urban Music was a division of Sony BMG, active from 2004 to 2006, The division handled R&B, soul, and hip hop releases by artists nominally signed to Sony's Columbia and Epic labels. During its existence, Sony Urban managed releases by art ...
. The recording sessions took place at Warrior Studios in
Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
, and
Chung King Studios Chung King Studios was a recording studio that operated in New York City under that name from 1986 to 2015. It was founded by producer John King and engineer Steve Ett with financial backing from the Etches brothers, occupying three different loca ...
and Street Light Studios 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 * ...
, between 2000 and 2002. The album was produced by Downbeat Production Collective,
Sean C Deleno Matthews, known professionally as Sean C (originally Sean Cane), is an American producer, DJ and "artists and repertoire" (A&R) specialist. Sean is a member of production duo Sean C & LV (Grind Music) which is affiliated with Sean Combs' H ...
, Tahir, and dead prez. It features
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
Krayzie Bone Anthony Henderson (born June 17, 1973), better known as Krayzie Bone, is an American rapper. He is a member of the hip-hop group Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. Career Solo After finding success with Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, Krayzie Bone recorded his so ...
and
Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American Rapping, rapper, businessman, and record executive. Rooted in East Coast hip-hop, he was named Billboard and Vibe's 50 Greatest Rappers of All Time, the ...
. The album debuted at number 60 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and number 14 on the
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, ...
in the United States, and number 40 on the UK Official Hip Hop and R&B Albums Chart.


Background

''RBG'' was described by member M-1 as a movement that "comes off the back of the Honorable
Marcus Garvey Marcus Mosiah Garvey Jr. (17 August 188710 June 1940) was a Jamaican political activist. He was the founder and first President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL) (commonly known a ...
". According to him, ''RBG'' means "Red, Black and Green", the traditional African
colors Color (or colour in Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is the visual perception based on the electromagnetic spectrum. Though color is not an inherent property of matter, color perception is related to an object's light absorpt ...
created by the
UNIA ''Unia'' (), released on 25 May 2007, is the fifth full-length studio album by the power metal band Sonata Arctica, following the album '' Reckoning Night''. The first single from the album was " Paid in Full", released on 27 April 2007. This is ...
, which are featured on the album cover. With this album dead prez "made it Revolutionary But Gangsta". On the album, dead prez talks about ending poverty, the mental illness of depression, reliance on the government but of "pimping the system" as a means to this end and to the cause of liberation. On "Hell Yeah", dead prez declares "Fuck welfare / we say reparations". Inside the album liner notes, ''RBG'' is variously described as standing for: "revolutionary but gangsta", "real big guns", "real black girls", "ready to bust gats", "reaching bigger goals", "read 'bout Garvey", "rappers be gassed", "red black green", "rider's basic guide", and "rollin big ganja". The song "Radio Freq" first appeared on '' Turn Off the Radio: The Mixtape Vol. 1'' as "Turn Off the Radio" and is considered an homage to
Ice Cube O'Shea Jackson Sr. (born June 15, 1969), known professionally as Ice Cube, is an American rapper, songwriter, actor, and film producer. His lyrics on N.W.A's 1989 album '' Straight Outta Compton'' contributed to gangsta rap's widespread popu ...
's song "Turn Off The Radio".


Track listing

;Notes *Tracks 13 to 19 consist of five seconds of silence each. *Tracks 20 and 21 are
hidden track In the field of recorded music, a hidden track (sometimes called a ghost track, secret track or unlisted track) is a song or a piece of audio that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, LP record, or other recorded medium, in such a way as t ...
s.


Personnel

*Clayton "
stic.man Khnum Muata Ibomu (born Clayton Gavin, March 6, 1974), better known by his stage name stic.man and more recently as stic, is an American rapper, music producer, activist and author known for his work as one half of the political hip hop duo dead ...
" Gavin – vocals, producer (tracks: 1, 2, 4–8, 10–12), recording & mixing (tracks: 1, 11), executive producer, art direction, design *Lavonne " M-1" Alford – vocals, producer (tracks: 5, 12), recording (tracks: 1, 5, 11, 12), mixing (tracks: 1, 11), executive producer, art direction, design *Anthony "
Krayzie Bone Anthony Henderson (born June 17, 1973), better known as Krayzie Bone, is an American rapper. He is a member of the hip-hop group Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. Career Solo After finding success with Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, Krayzie Bone recorded his so ...
" Henderson – vocals (track 2) *Blue – additional vocals (tracks: 5, 12) *Aisha Mic – additional backing vocals (track 6) * Derick Prosper – voice (track 7) *Wu Hylton – voice (track 9) *Shawn "
Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American Rapping, rapper, businessman, and record executive. Rooted in East Coast hip-hop, he was named Billboard and Vibe's 50 Greatest Rappers of All Time, the ...
" Carter – vocals (track 12) *Tahir Jamal – bass (track 2), producer (track 3) *Ed Goldson – bass guitar (tracks: 3, 6–10) *Laurent "Tippie" Alfred – electric guitar (tracks: 5, 12) *Gregory Jackson – bass guitar (tracks: 5, 12) *
Vijay Iyer Vijay Iyer (; born Vijay Raghunathan, October 26, 1971) is a composer, pianist, bandleader, producer, writer, and professor based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' has called him a "social conscience, multimedia collaborator, system builde ...
– additional keyboards (tracks: 5, 12) *Deleno "
Sean C Deleno Matthews, known professionally as Sean C (originally Sean Cane), is an American producer, DJ and "artists and repertoire" (A&R) specialist. Sean is a member of production duo Sean C & LV (Grind Music) which is affiliated with Sean Combs' H ...
ane" Matthews – scratches (track 7), producer (track 9), executive producer *Bernard Grobman – electric guitar (track 10) *Ernest "Sol Messiah" Franklin – drum producer (tracks: 5, 12) *Jamal "Metaphysics" Gordon – drum producer (tracks: 5, 12) *Levar " LV" Coppin – co-producer (track 9) *Bob Brown – recording (tracks: 2–4, 6, 9, 10) *Doug Wilson – recording (track 3) *Guru – recording (tracks: 4, 7) *Abu – recording (track 8) *G*Man – recording assistant (tracks: 2–4, 6) *Brian Stanley – mixing (tracks: 2–4, 6, 7, 9, 10) *Katherine Diehl – mixing (tracks: 2–4, 6, 7, 9, 10) *Dave Dar – mixing (tracks: 5, 12) *Apple Juice – mixing (track 8) *Henny – mixing (track 8) *
James Cruz James Cruz is a Grammy Award winning audio mastering engineer and owner of Zeitgeist Sound Studios in Long Island City, New York. Biography James Cruz started his career in 2002, at The Hit Factory during its "golden age" under the tutelage of T ...
– mastering *Chris Feldmann – art direction, design *David Santana – graphics *Oluwaseye Olusa – photography


Charts


References


External links

* {{dead prez 2004 albums Dead Prez albums Columbia Records albums Sony Urban Music albums Albums produced by Grind Music