The Ghetto (song)

Infobox Single
Name = The Ghetto
Artist = Donny Hathaway
from Album = Everything Is Everything
A-side = The Ghetto, Pt. 1
B-side = The Ghetto, Pt. 2
Released = 1970
Recorded = 1969
Genre = Funk/soul
Length = 6:50
Label = Atlantic
Writer = Donny Hathaway & Leroy Hutson
Producer = Donny Hathaway & Ric Powell
Last single = "I Wanna Thank You Baby"
(1969)
This single = "The Ghetto"
(1970)
Next single = "You've Got a Friend" (w/Roberta Flack)
(1971)

"The Ghetto" is a socially conscious, mostly instrumental funk/soul anthem, released as the first single off American soul singer Donny Hathaway's debut album, "Everything Is Everything", released as a single in 1970 on Atlantic Records.

The song was co-written by Hathaway and Leroy Hutson, who was then the lead singer for soul group The Impressions. The song was a six minute and fifty second workout which built upon a cinematic feel with its lengthy instrumental though it did feature vocal ad-libs from Hathaway, who played electric piano on the song, and constant chants of the song, which had a distinguished Afro-Cuban sound with congas.

The song also featured additional backgrounds, dialogue from what sound like men talking in a street corner and a baby crying before Hathaway ended the song with frenetic hand claps.

When originally released in 1970, the song became a modest charted single peaking at number eighty-seven on the Billboard Hot 100 and number twenty-three on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart.

The song was also featured on Hathaway's revered "Live" album in which Hathaway and his musicians played a faster version of the song and later featured Hathaway getting the audience into it singing the final chorus.

Since then, the song has been covered in hip-hop singles, most famously, Too Short's "The Ghetto", which featured Gerald Levert re-singing the chorus.

Credits

*Donny Hathaway: All vocals, spoken dialogue (except for the crying baby), hand claps and electric piano
*Instrumentation by assorted musicians
**Master Henry Gibson: conga
**Morris Jennings: drums
**Marshall Hawkins: bass
**Phil Upchurch: guitar
**King Curtis: guitar
**Richard Powell: percussion
*Written and composed by Donny Hathaway and Leroy Hutson
*Conducted and arranged by Donny Hathaway
*Produced by Donny Hathaway and Ric Powell