| Connected | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | August 24, 2004 | |||
| Genre | Hip hop | |||
| Length | 63:09 | |||
| Label | BBE | |||
| Producer | Nicolay | |||
| The Foreign Exchange chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from Connected | ||||
| ||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| The A.V. Club | favorable [2] |
| Dusted Magazine | favorable [3] |
| Exclaim! | favorable [4] |
| Pitchfork | 8.6/10 [5] |
| PopMatters |   |
| RapReviews.com | 7/10 [7] |
Connected is the first studio album by the Foreign Exchange, a hip hop group consisting of American rapper Phonte from Little Brother and Dutch producer Nicolay. It was released on BBE on August 24, 2004. [6]
The Foreign Exchange is an R&B/electronica/hip hop duo consisting of the American rapper/singer Phonte and the Dutch record producer Nicolay.
Phonte Lyshod Coleman, better known mononymously as Phonte, is an American rapper, currently of the Reinvigorated, hip-hop super group North Carolina trio Little Brother and one-half of the duo The Foreign Exchange. He has also recorded R&B-flavored output as a singer, and with Nicolay on The Foreign Exchange. His rhymes tend to be no-frill perspectives on working-class life.
Little Brother is an American hip hop duo from Durham, North Carolina that consists of rappers Phonte and Big Pooh. DJ/Producer 9th Wonder was an original member of the group but departed in 2007. The group has produced five acclaimed studio albums and six mixtapes.
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Their group name comes from how they produced their songs: Nicolay would produce a beat in the Netherlands and send the beat to Phonte through instant messaging, email, and traditional mail to lay down the vocals. Phonte would return the product, so Nicolay could then master the track; they did not meet until after the album was completed. [8]
Instant messaging (IM) technology is a type of online chat that offers real-time text transmission over the Internet. A LAN messenger operates in a similar way over a local area network. Short messages are typically transmitted between two parties, when each user chooses to complete a thought and select "send". Some IM applications can use push technology to provide real-time text, which transmits messages character by character, as they are composed. More advanced instant messaging can add file transfer, clickable hyperlinks, Voice over IP, or video chat.
Electronic mail is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Invented by Ray Tomlinson, email first entered limited use in the 1960s and by the mid-1970s had taken the form now recognized as email. Email operates across computer networks, which today is primarily the Internet. Some early email systems required the author and the recipient to both be online at the same time, in common with instant messaging. Today's email systems are based on a store-and-forward model. Email servers accept, forward, deliver, and store messages. Neither the users nor their computers are required to be online simultaneously; they need to connect only briefly, typically to a mail server or a webmail interface for as long as it takes to send or receive messages.
The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letters, and parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid-19th century, national postal systems have generally been established as a government monopoly, with a fee on the article prepaid. Proof of payment is usually in the form of an adhesive postage stamp, but a postage meter is also used for bulk mailing. Modern private postal systems are distinguished from national postal agencies by the terms "courier" or "delivery service".
Pitchfork placed it at number 22 on the "Top 50 Albums of 2004" list. [9] In 2015, it was ranked at number 86 on Fact 's "100 Best Indie Hip-Hop Records of All Time" list. [10]
Pitchfork is an American online magazine launched in 1995 by Ryan Schreiber, based in Chicago, Illinois, and owned by Condé Nast. Being developed during Schreiber's tenure in a record store at the time, the magazine developed a reputation for its extensive focus on independent music, but has since expanded to a variety of coverage on both indie and popular music.
Fact is a music publication that launched in the UK in 2003. It covers a wide range of UK, US and international music and youth culture, with particular focus on electronic, pop, rap, and experimental artists. Fact was named “music website of the year” by The New Yorker in 2007, and has been described as “influential” by The Guardian.
