- 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 singerDonny Hathaway 's debut album, "Everything Is Everything", released as a single in 1970 onAtlantic Records .The song was co-written by Hathaway and
Leroy Hutson , who was then the lead singer for soul groupThe 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 playedelectric piano on the song, and constant chants of the song, which had a distinguishedAfro-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 featuredGerald 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
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