Against the Grain (Kurupt album)

Against the Grain
Studio album by Kurupt
Released	August 23, 2005 (2005-08-23)
Recorded	2002–2003
Genre	West Coast hip hop gangsta rap
Length	68:48
Label	Death Row Koch
Producer	Baby-C-Style Blaqthoven Diverse Doug Mayhem Joshua Andrews Mark Sparks Ric Rude Screwface Sir Jinx tha Row Hitters
Kurupt chronology
Originals (2004) Against the Grain (2005) Same Day, Different Shit (2006)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllHipHop	2.5/5 [1]
AllMusic	[2]
Now	3/5 [3]
PopMatters	1/10 [4]
RapReviews	5.5/10 [5]

Against the Grain is the fourth solo studio album by American rapper Kurupt. It was released on August 23, 2005, through Death Row Records, making it his first and, to date, only solo album for the label. The album was produced by Mark Sparks, Doug Mayhem, Sir Jinx, Baby-C-Style, Blaqthoven, Diverse, Joshua Andrews, Ric Rude, Screwface, and tha Row Hitters, with Suge Knight serving as executive producer. It features guest appearances from Eastwood, Tri Star, Young Tone, 2Pac, Dave Hollister, Domination, M.O.P., Potion, Roscoe, Spider Loc, the Dayton Family, and Val C.

The album went almost unnoticed due to the lack of promotion by Koch Records, which distributes all of Tha Row's albums. Additionally, Kurupt had already left Death Row prior to the album's release and had reunited with Snoop Dogg and Daz Dillinger. It debuted at number 60 on the Billboard 200 albums and number 20 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart in the United States. It also made it to number 146 on the French Albums chart. The cut tracks were later released on a 2007 bootleg compilation titled Against tha Grain E.P. . The album was reissued in February 2010, under the title Down and Dirty with a slightly altered tracklist. The song "Calico" previously appeared on the Dayton Family album Family Feud .

Background

Kurupt was signed with Death Row Records as one-half of Tha Dogg Pound together with Daz Dillinger. The duo released the only studio album for the label, Dogg Food in 1995, before Kurupt left the label in late 1997. In early 2002 he re-aligned with Death Row, which sparked the feud with his former labelmates, such as Daz, Snoop Dogg and Soopafly. The album was delay from its planned 2004 release and was released in August 2005, when Kurupt left Death Row for the second time. It was Death Row's first freshly recorded album in over four years. It was the final original album released by the label during its original run, before being revived with BODR by Snoop Dogg 17 years later.

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Intro"			0:54
2.	"Speak on It" (featuring Val C)	David Williams Johnathan Marc Blount	Mark Sparks	4:04
3.	"Anarchy '87"	D. Williams	Mark Sparks	4:15
4.	"Throw Back Muzic '86"	D. Williams	Mark Sparks	4:11
5.	"Deep Dishes"	D. Williams Ricky Lewis	Ric Rude	4:52
6.	"Stalkin'"	D. Williams Kenji Suzuki Holger Schüring Irmin Schmidt Hans Heinrich Liebezeit Michael Karoli	Sir Jinx	3:59
7.	"Can U Feel It" (featuring Potion)	D. Williams Kenton Nix	Doug Mayhem	4:48
8.	"Slide n Slide Out" (featuring Eastwood, Tri Star and Young Tone)	D. Williams Deshaun Woodard Eric McKinney T. McKinney Anthony Ransom	Blaqthoven	3:42
9.	"I'm Back"	Ricardo Brown Darren Hubbard	Tha Row Hitters	4:49
10.	"Jealousy" (featuring Roscoe and M.O.P.)	D. Williams Eric Murray Jamal Grinnage	Mark Sparks	4:41
11.	"Tha Past" (featuring Dave Hollister)	D. Williams Albert Vernon Hudson Albert Lewis Perkins Cuba Gregory	Doug Mayhem	4:46
12.	"My Homeboys (Back to Back)" (featuring 2Pac and Eastwood)	D. Williams Tupac Shakur Woodard Nathaniel Hale W. Stewart	Mark Sparks Diverse	4:16
13.	"Bullshit & Nonsense" (featuring Spider Loc and Eastwood)	D. Williams Curtis Williams Woodard Joshua Andrews	Joshua Andrews	3:20
14.	"Calico" (featuring The Dayton Family)	Ira Dorsey Jon Henderson Raheen Peterson D. Sellers E. Austin	Screwface Music	4:52
15.	"Hustlin'" (featuring Tri Star and Young Tone)	D. Williams E. McKinney T. McKinney Anthony Wheaton Norman Whitfield	Sir Jinx	3:45
16.	"It's a Wrap"		Mark Sparks	2:58
17.	"You Fuckin' with the Best" (featuring Domination)		Baby-C-Style	4:08
18.	"Outro"			0:21
Total length:				1:08:41

Notes

• Nearly all of Kurupt's songwriting for this album is credited to his brother, David "Roscoe" Williams.

Sample credits

• Track 6 contains a sample of "Vitamin C" as performed by Can
• Track 12 contains replayed elements of "Me and My Homies" as performed by Nate Dogg

Charts

Chart performance for Against Tha Grain

Chart (2005)	Peak position
French Albums (SNEP) [6]	146
US Billboard 200 [7]	60
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums ( Billboard ) [8]	20

References

1. "Against Tha Grain". AllHipHop . September 9, 2005. Retrieved April 21, 2023.
2. Jeffries, David. "Kurupt - Against tha Grain Album Reviews, Songs & More | AllMusic". AllMusic . Retrieved April 21, 2023.
3. Richards, Jason (November 17, 2005). "NOW Magazine - Music in Toronto, NOVEMBER 17 - 23, 2005". NOW . Archived from the original on June 26, 2006. Retrieved June 26, 2006– via Wayback Machine.
4. Holland, Roger (November 2, 2005). "Kurupt: Against Tha Grain, PopMatters". PopMatters . Retrieved April 21, 2023.
5. Juon, Steve 'Flash' (August 23, 2005). "Kurupt's "Against tha Grain"". RapReviews. Retrieved April 21, 2023.
6. "Lescharts.com – Kurupt – Against Tha Grain". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 21, 2023.
7. "The Billboard 200". Billboard . Vol. 117, no. 37. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. September 10, 2005. p. 76. ISSN   0006-2510 . Retrieved April 21, 2023.
8. "Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums". Billboard . Vol. 117, no. 37. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. September 10, 2005. p. 81. ISSN   0006-2510 . Retrieved April 21, 2023.

External links

• Kurupt – Against Tha Grain at Discogs (list of releases)