music.wikisort.org - Composition

Unity is an album by the rap and reggae musician Shinehead, released in 1988.[2][3]

Unity
Studio album by Shinehead
Released	1988
Genre	Rap, reggae
Label	Elektra[1]
Producer	Jam Master Jay, Davy D, Claude Evans
Shinehead chronology
Rough and Rugged (1986) Unity (1988) The Real Rock (1990)

The album peaked at No. 185 on the Billboard 200.[4] "Gimme No Crack" was a minor radio hit.[5]

Production

"Come Together", "Truth", and "Chain Gang Rap" were produced by Jam Master Jay; the rest of the album was produced by Davy D and Claude Evans.[6][7] Roots Radics contributed to the album.[8]

"Who the Cap Fits" is a remake of a song from Shinehead's debut album.[2] "Chain Gang Rap" samples Duke Ellington's "Take the A Train" and incorporates elements of Sam Cooke's "Chain Gang".[9][10] The title track samples "Come Together".[11]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[12]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[13]
MusicHound R&B: The Essential Album Guide	[7]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[8]
Tulsa World	[10]

Trouser Press wrote that Shinehead "continues to mix yankee hip-hop and yardee MC."[6] The New York Times noted that "Shinehead will drift into a falsetto voice to sing, parody somebody for a second, change the beat–nothing stays the same for long."[2] The Gazette determined that Shinehead "proves himself one of the most inventive, intelligent rappers on the scene."[14] The Philadelphia Inquirer concluded that Unity "contains rap, dub-poet toasting, and some of the leanest, most concise vocalizing anywhere in black pop."[15]

The Washington Post stated: "A striking major-label debut, Unity is as rhythmically limber as it is well-meaning."[9] The Los Angeles Times determined that "'Hello Y'All' combined a rap-style vocal with hard reggae rhythms ... 'Know How Fe Chat' reversed the equation by setting a patois-laden Jamaican vocal against a funk arrangement."[16] The Toronto Star deemed the album "a comically-inspired fusion of rap and reggae."[17]

AllMusic called the album "too lighthearted and positive to catch the ears of hip-hop heads who were beginning to lean on harsher sounds that were developing."[12] The Chicago Tribune listed Unity as the sixth best album of 1988; the Star Tribune listed it as the fourteenth.[18][19]

Track listing

References

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