On November 27,2012 Prodigy announced an upcoming collaboration album with producer The Alchemist via his Twitter account,along with the title of Albert Einstein. He also would say the album was scheduled for an early 2013 release. It would be their second collaboration album after 2007's Return of the Mac.[1] In November 2012,when speaking about the album with Complex Prodigy described it as a concept album.[2]
On April 7,2013 The Alchemist revealed via Twitter that the album had been completed.[3] Then on April 12,2013,the album's official track listing was revealed. The album contains 16 tracks and features guest appearances by Roc Marciano,Domo Genesis,Havoc,Raekwon,and Action Bronson.[4][5]
Release and promotion
The first single,"Give ‘Em Hell" was released on January 28,2013 via Prodigy's SoundCloud page. The song features vocals by Prodigy and was produced by The Alchemist.[6][7] The album was originally scheduled to be released on May 14,2013,but Amazon.com would later reveal a release date for the album of June 11,2013.[8] The second song released in promotion of the album would be "Dough Pildin'" on May 12,2013.[9] On June 4,2013,the music video was released for "Y.N.T." featuring Domo Genesis.[10] The music video for "Dough Pildin'" was released on June 17,2013.[11] On June 25,2013,the music video was released for "Give ‘Em Hell".[12] On February 3,2014,the music video was released for "IMDKV".[13]
Albert Einstein was met with generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic,which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics,the album received an average score of 73,based on 7 reviews,indicating "generally favorable reviews".[14] Reed Jackson of XXL gave the album an L,saying "It’s the type of rough and witty realism people loved from P in the ’90s,and hopefully it’s here to stay for projects to come."[22] Logan Smithson of PopMatters gave the album a seven out of ten,saying "Albert Einstein has plenty of memorable beats,but the lyrics don’t match that same level of success. You might not be blown away by the album,but Prodigy and Alchemist have put together a highly enjoyable album."[20] Jaroslav Lavick of RapReviews gave the album an 8.5 out of ten,saying "This album is Prodigy and Alchemist giving long time fans exactly what they want."[21]
Peter Marrack of Exclaim! gave the album a six out of ten,saying "He's casual,not always sincere,but dangerously convincing;his bars haven't faltered since his early Mobb Deep days and Einstein is no exception."[17] Nate Patrin of Pitchfork Media gave the album an 8.2 out of 10,saying "Albert Einstein is so casually visceral and immediately gettable that it feels like a recent high point for both of them."[19] Jesse Fairfax of HipHopDX gave the album three and a half stars out of five,saying "Sharing his first name with the famed genius,Prodigy breaks his advanced expertise down to a science on Albert Einstein. Prodigy continues his largely consistent reign as a still thriving pioneer of New York’s once thugged-out era."[18] Matthew Sanderson of AllHipHop gave the album an eight out of ten,saying "This album is for the fans of the original Mobb sound of the late 90s. For the most part sick signature Alchemist beats,with the addition of some new sounds that are just right."[15]
Commercial performance
The album debuted at number 175 on the Billboard 200 chart,with first-week sales of 3,000 copies in the United States.[23]
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