Blackout! (Method Man & Redman album)

"Blackout!" redirects here. For subjects with similarly titles, see Blackout (disambiguation).

Untitled

Blackout! is the debut studio album by American hip hop duo Method Man & Redman. 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 #3 on the Billboard 200 with first week sales of 254,000 copies 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 Cha" 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. 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, more than three months after the album's release. The album has also been certified platinum in Canada (100,000 copies). The album has sold 1,575,000 copies to date. [2]. Blackout is also considered a landmark for both rappers and for East Coast Hip Hop.

Critical 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

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer	Length
1.	"A Special Joint" (Intro)	Clifford Smith, Reggie Noble	Reggie Noble	1:28
2.	"Blackout"	Smith, Noble, Erick Sermon	Erick Sermon	3:43
3.	"Mi Casa"	Smith, Noble, Sermon	Erick Sermon	2:43
4.	"Y.O.U."	Smith, Noble, Sermon	Erick Sermon	4:03
5.	"4 Seasons" (featuring LL Cool J and Ja Rule)	Smith, Noble, Sermon, James Smith, Jeffrey Atkins	Erick Sermon	4:21
6.	"Cereal Killer" (featuring Blue Raspberry)	Smith, Noble, Robert Diggs	RZA	4:00
7.	"Da Rockwilder"	Smith, Noble, Dana Stinson	Rockwilder	2:18
8.	"Tear It Off"	Smith, Noble, Sermon	Erick Sermon	4:12
9.	"Where We At" (skit)	Smith, Noble	Reggie Noble	1:51
10.	"1, 2, 1, 2"	Smith, Noble, George Spivey	DJ Scratch	4:33
11.	"Maaad Crew"	Smith, Noble, Sermon	Erick Sermon	4:27
12.	"Run 4 Cover" (featuring Ghostface Killah and Streetlife)	Smith, Noble, Diggs, Dennis Coles, Patrick Charles	RZA	4:25
13.	"The ?"	Smith, Noble	Reggie Noble	4:50
14.	"Dat's Dat ****" (featuring Mally G and Young Zee)	Smith, Noble, Ronald Bean, Jamal Phillips, Young Zee	Mathematics	4:19
15.	"Cheka"	Smith, Noble, Aubrey Williams	Gov Mattic, Reggie Noble	3:02
16.	"Fire Ina Hole"	Smith, Noble, Bean	Mathematics	4:21
Total length:				58:36

Bonus tracks (CD only)

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
17.	"Well All Rite Cha" (from the album Doc's da Name 2000)	Noble, Sermon, Smith	Erick Sermon, Reggie Noble	4:14
18.	"Big Dogs" (from the album Tical 2000: Judgement Day)	Smith, Noble, Sermon	Erick Sermon, Reggie Noble	3:25
19.	"How High *" (* Although listed as "How High (Remix)" on all pressings, the actual version included is the original as featured on The Show (soundtrack))	Noble, Sermon, Smith	Erick Sermon	4:40
Total length:				1:10:53

Charts

Album

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

Singles

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.)

External links

• Release history at Discogs
• Blackout! at MusicBrainz (list of releases)