Blackout!

Blackout!
Studio album by Method Man & Redman
Released	September 28, 1999
Recorded	1998-1999
Genre	East Coast hip hop
Length	70:52
Label	Def Jam
Producer	Erick Sermon, The RZA, Rockwilder, Mathematics, DJ Scratch, Gov Mattic
Method Man chronology
Tical 2000: Judgement Day (1998) Blackout! (1999) Tical 0: The Prequel (2004) Redman chronology Doc's da Name 2000 (1998) Blackout! (1999) Malpractice (2001) Method Man & Redman chronology Blackout! (1999) Blackout! 2 (2009)
Singles from Blackout!
"Da Rockwilder" Released: 1999 "Tear It Off" Released: 1999 "Y.O.U." Released: 2000

Blackout! is the debut album by hip hop artists Method Man & Redman.^[1] It is the first full-length release by Method Man and Redman after many collaborations. The album continued a string of highly successful Def Jam releases in the late 1990s. The album debuted at #2 on the Billboard Top 200 and served as a bit of a precursor to the 2001 major studio film How High. Both rappers enjoyed perhaps the height of their popularity as a tandem after the success of the album and its three charted singles. The singles were also popular videos which were mainstays on MTV and BET. The sequel to the album, Blackout! 2, was released on May 19, 2009.

Background

Originally the name of the album was to be "Amerikaz Most Blunted" and was advertised as that for months before the release, but they changed it to the more commercially acceptable Blackout!. The CD version of the album features three previously released bonus tracks; "Well All Rite Chae" also appeared on Redman's solo album, Doc's Da Name 2000, "Big Dogz" from Method Man's Tical 2000: Judgement Day and 1995's critically acclaimed single "How High".

The most popular of these previous collaborations was on the song "How High" from the soundtrack to The Show. "How High" is remixed on this album, but the album's three singles, "Y.O.U.", "Da Rockwilder" and "Tear It Off", spearheaded the highly hyped release to go platinum on January 6, 2000,^[2] less than three months after the album's release. The album has also been certified platinum in Canada (100,000 copies).^[3] The album has sold 1,575,000 copies to date. [1]. This album is also seen as a hip-hop classic to many fans.

Reception

Rolling Stone (11/11/99, p. 132) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...a tight-as-drum album in an era of half-assed efforts."

Entertainment Weekly (10/10/99, p. 73) - "...when hip-hop's most playfully creative rhyme stylers throw down like two superballs in a rubber room, they're unstoppable - and make rap's most joyous ride." - Rating: A-

The Wire (1/00, p. 100) - "...skulk-funk...Redman moans a melody of dank basement isolation, while on 'Cereal Killer' he sabotages over vamping guitar....Meth executes some taut syncopation...on which his syllables alternate cadences with producer Eric Sermon's thumpingest track of the LP."

The Source (2/00, p. 95) - Included in The Source's "Top 10 Albums of the Year [1999]."

Track listing

#	Title	Producer(s)	Samples	Time
1	"A Special Joint" (Intro)	Reggie Noble	"Spanish Moon" by Little Feat	1:28
2	"Blackout"	Erick Sermon	Interpolation of "Stick 'Em" by The Fat Boys	3:43
3	"Mi Casa"	Erick Sermon	Interpolation of "Method Man (Skunk Mix)" by Wu-Tang Clan	2:43
4	"Y.O.U."	Erick Sermon	"Electric Relaxation" by A Tribe Called Quest	4:03
5	"4 Seasons" (feat. LL Cool J, Ja Rule)	Erick Sermon	Interpolates lyrics from "Feel the New Heartbeat" by Treacherous Three	4:21
6	"Cereal Killer" (feat. Blue Raspberry)	RZA	"The Rub" By George & Gwen McCrae	4:00
7	"Da Rockwilder"	Rockwilder	Interpolates lyrics from "Hand on the Pump" by Cypress Hill	2:18
8	"Tear It Off"	Erick Sermon	Interpolates lyrics from "Funkin' Lesson" by X-Clan "Give Up The Funk" by Parliament	4:12
9	"Where We At" (Skit)	Reggie Noble	Interpolates lyrics from "The Bridge" by MC Shan	1:51
10	"1, 2, 1, 2"	DJ Scratch		4:33
11	"Maaad Crew"	Erick Sermon	"Sandworms" by David Matthews	4:27
12	"Run 4 Cover" (feat. Ghostface Killah, Streetlife)	RZA	"Upon This Rock" by Joe Farrell	4:25
13	"The ?"	Reggie Noble	"Can I Get A..." by Jay-Z "Sassafras Girl" by Pleasure "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)" by Missy Elliott	4:50
14	"Dat's Dat Shit" (feat. Mally G, Young Zee)	Mathematics		4:19
15	"Cheka"	Gov Mattic	Sample and Interpolation of "Microphone Checka" by Das EFX	3:02
16	"Fire Ina Hole"	Mathematics		4:21
17	"Well All Rite Cha"	Erick Sermon & Reggie Noble		4:14
18	"Big Dogs"	Erick Sermon & Reggie Noble	"Tell 'Em" by Erick Sermon	3:25
19	"How High"	Erick Sermon	"Fly Robin Fly" by Silver Convention "I Am Woman" by The Cover Girls	4:40

Album singles

Single information
"Tear It Off" Released: January 1, 1999 B-side:
"Y.O.U." Released: January 18, 2000 B-side: "4 Seasons", "Run 4 Cover"
"Da Rockwilder" Released: January 25, 2000 B-side: "1, 2, 1, 2"

Album chart positions

Year	Album	Chart positions
		Top Canadian Albums	Billboard 200	Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums
1999	Blackout!	3	3	1

Singles chart positions

Year	Song	Chart positions
		Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks	Hot Rap Singles
1999	"Tear It Off"	52	16
2000	"Y.O.U."	69	18
	"Da Rockwilder"	51	14

See also

• List of number-one R&B albums of 1999 (U.S.)

References

1. ^ http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00001QGPS/
2. ^ http://www.riaa.com/gp/database/default.asp
3. ^ "Gold & Platinum Certification – July 2001". Canadian Recording Industry Association. http://www.cria.ca/gold/0701_g.php. Retrieved 2010-08-17. 

External links

• Release history at Discogs