Black Music is the first album by Chocolate Genius. It was released on V2 Records on July 14, 1998.

Black Music
Studio album by
ReleasedJuly 14, 1998
GenreR&B
LabelV2
Chocolate Genius chronology
Black Music
(1998)
GodMusic
(2001)

Track 5, "My Mom", is about a return visit to his childhood home and the mother he was losing to senility ("My mom, my sweet mom/She don't remember my name.").

Background and recording

edit

Just prior to recording Black Music, Chocolate Genius had finished reading The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell.[1] In an email interview with Cleveland Scene, Chocolate Genius explained the meaning of the album's title: "As long as my skin is this color, race will be an unavoidable and hindering label for people that are stuck in that archaic mindset. Of course, I take a special pride in the achievements of people that look like me, but I am foremost a citizen of the planet. Calling the first record Black Music was my way of challenging the people who have to file, sell, and categorize music by genre."[2]

Critical reception

edit
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [3]
Pitchfork9.0/10[4]
Portland Press-HeraldB+[5]
Rolling Stone     [6]
Spin8/10[7]

Spin called it "a relentlessly somber, wryly confessional avant-folk-funk rebuttal to popular notions of what constituted African-American pop."[8] Many other critics have also highlighted the album's morose and starkly autobiographical sound.[6]

Track listing

edit
  1. Life
  2. Half A Man
  3. Don't Look Down
  4. Clinic
  5. My Mom
  6. Safe And Sound
  7. A Cheap Excuse
  8. Hangover Five
  9. Hangover Nine
  10. Stupid Again
  11. It's All Good
  12. Half A Man (Acoustic Version)

References

edit
  1. ^ Johnson, Martin (1 December 2010). "The Assorted Flavors of Chocolate Genius Inc". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
  2. ^ Saller, René Spencer (2002-05-16). "Minstrel Tension". Cleveland Scene. Retrieved 2018-12-22.
  3. ^ Raggett, Ned. "Black Music". AllMusic. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
  4. ^ Bang, Nathan. "Chocolate Genius: Black Music". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 2001-06-29. Retrieved 2018-09-06.
  5. ^ Plouffe, Matthew (1998-08-30). "Snoop's newest album dogged by earlier success". Portland Press-Herald.
  6. ^ a b Brackett, Nathan (2004). "Chocolate Genius". Rolling Stone. p. 163. ISBN 9780743201698. Retrieved 2014-05-25.
  7. ^ Green, Tony (July 1998). "Chocolate Genius: Black Music". Spin. pp. 126, 128. Retrieved 2018-09-06.
  8. ^ "The Greatest Bands You've (Probably) Never Heard". Spin. 27 July 2009. Retrieved 25 May 2014.