Legacy! Legacy!

Last updated
Legacy! Legacy!
Jamila Woods Legacy Legacy.jpg
Studio album by
Jamila Woods
ReleasedMay 10, 2019 (2019-05-10)
Studio
Genre
Length49:02
Label Jagjaguwar
Producer
  • Slot-A
  • Oddcouple
  • Peter Cottontale
  • Ralph Gene
  • Justin Canavan
  • Aminata Burton
  • Jamila Woods
  • Stephon "Mooch" Brown
  • Jasmin Charles
  • Nico Segal
Jamila Woods chronology
Heavn
(2016)		Legacy! Legacy!
(2019)		 Water Made Us
(2023)
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic? 8.4/10 [1]
Metacritic 89/100 [2]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [3]
And It Don't Stop B+ [4]
Chicago Tribune Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [5]
Exclaim! 8/10 [6]
Financial Times Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [7]
The Guardian Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [8]
NME Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [9]
Pitchfork 8.5/10 [10]
Rolling Stone Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [11]
Uncut 9/10 [12]

Legacy! Legacy! is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter and poet Jamila Woods, released on May 10, 2019, by Jagjaguwar. [13] Woods supported the album with her own concert tour, along with performing as the opening act for the rapper Common's tour in 2019 and the singer Raphael Saadiq's 2020 Jimmy Lee Tour. [14]

Contents

Critical reception

The album was met with widespread critical acclaim. [2] Reviewing for AllMusic, Andy Kellman hailed it as a "galvanizing declaration of pride, support, and discontent", as well as a "modern R&B album" with mostly "electro-soul" and "chunky hip hop" productions. [3] Ann-Derrick Gaillot from The Nation credited Woods's neo soul style for "captur[ing] the power of black pride" and achieving a novel musical accomplishment, "in which she melds disparate influences and pushes her vocal-layering techniques to build her dynamic neo-soul sound". [15] In his Substack-published "Consumer Guide" column, Robert Christgau highlighted musical qualities on the songs "Miles", "Muddy", "Zora", and "Basquiat" while saying of the album as a whole: "This poetry-with-sophistofunk tribute to a sharp selection of 20th-century African-American art heroes plus Frida Kahlo will always be a tad too atmospheric and impressionistic to suit me. But it does both flow and signify." [4]

In a year-end essay for Slate , Ann Powers cited Legacy! Legacy! as one of her favorite albums from 2019 and proof that the format is not dead but rather undergoing a "metamorphosis". She added that concept albums had reemerged through the culturally-relevant autobiographical narratives of artists such as Woods, who created a tribute to her ancestors "that spoke volumes about black life today". [16]

Accolades

Accolades for Legacy! Legacy!
PublicationListRankRef.
Exclaim! Exclaim!'s 10 Best Soul, Funk and World Albums of 20191 [17]
Pitchfork The 50 Best Albums of 201911 [18]
The 200 Best Albums of the 2010s181 [19]
Stereogum The 50 Best Albums of 201937 [20]
Under the Radar Under the Radar's Top 100 Albums of 201982 [21]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Jamila Woods, except where noted

No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Betty" Oddcouple3:11
2."Zora" Slot-A3:06
3."Giovanni" 
  • Slot-A
  • Ralph Gene [a]
  • Justin Canavan [a]
  • Aminata Burton [a]
4:48
4."Sonia" (featuring Nitty Scott)
Slot-A4:21
5."Frida" Slot-A2:58
6."Eartha" Peter Cottontale2:49
7."Miles" Slot-A3:08
8."Muddy" Slot-A3:11
9."Basquiat" (featuring Saba)
  • Slot-A
  • Woods [a]
  • Canavan [a]
  • Burton [a]
  • Stephon "Mooch" Brown [a]
6:45
10."Sun Ra" (featuring theMIND and Jasminfire)
  • Woods
  • Zarif Omer
  • Slot-A
  • Canavan [a]
  • Jasmin Charles [a]
3:26
11."Octavia" Slot-A3:11
12."Baldwin" (featuring Nico Segal) 
  • Slot-A
  • Segal [a]
3:53
13."Betty (For Boogie)" Slot-A4:15
Total length:49:02
Track notes

Charts

Chart (2019)Peak
position
UK R&B Albums (OCC) [22] 20
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard) [23] 6
US Independent Albums (Billboard) [24] 26

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References

  1. ↑ "Legacy! Legacy! by Jamila Woods reviews". AnyDecentMusic? . Retrieved May 31, 2019.
  2. 1 2 "LEGACY! LEGACY! by Jamila Woods Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic . Retrieved May 31, 2019.
  3. 1 2 Kellman, Andy. "LEGACY! LEGACY! – Jamila Woods". AllMusic . Retrieved May 31, 2019.
  4. 1 2 Christgau, Robert (November 13, 2019). "Consumer Guide: November, 2019" . And It Don't Stop. Substack . Retrieved July 18, 2020.
  5. ↑ Kot, Greg (May 10, 2019). "Jamila Woods channels the greats to build her legacy". Chicago Tribune . Retrieved May 31, 2019.
  6. ↑ Patrick, Ryan B. (May 7, 2019). "Jamila Woods: LEGACY! LEGACY!". Exclaim! . Retrieved May 31, 2019.
  7. ↑ Hunter-Tilney, Ludovic (May 10, 2019). "Jamila Woods: Legacy! Legacy! — an exploration of black American identity" . Financial Times . Retrieved May 31, 2019.
  8. ↑ Cliff, Aimee (May 10, 2019). "Jamila Woods: Legacy! Legacy! review – joyful, loving testimony to black artists". The Guardian . Retrieved May 31, 2019.
  9. ↑ Balram, Dhruva (May 10, 2019). "Jamila Woods – 'LEGACY! LEGACY!' review". NME . Retrieved November 28, 2019.
  10. ↑ Effinger, Shannon J. (May 15, 2019). "Jamila Woods: LEGACY! LEGACY!". Pitchfork . Retrieved May 31, 2019.
  11. ↑ Hermes, Will (May 9, 2019). "Review: The Soul-Rap Revelation of Jamila Woods' 'Legacy! Legacy!'". Rolling Stone . Retrieved May 31, 2019.
  12. ↑ Anderson, Jason (June 2019). "Jamila Woods: LEGACY! LEGACY!". Uncut (265): 37.
  13. ↑ Blais-Billie, Braudie (February 5, 2019). "Jamila Woods Announces New Album LEGACY! LEGACY!, Shares New Song: Listen". Pitchfork . Retrieved February 6, 2019.
  14. ↑ Sacher, Andrew (October 13, 2019). "Jamila Woods opening Raphael Saadiq's 2020 tour". Brooklyn Vegan . Retrieved October 16, 2020.
  15. ↑ Gaillot, Ann-Derrick (May 9, 2019). "Jamila Woods's Neo-Soul Captures the Power of Black Pride". The Nation . Retrieved July 19, 2020.
  16. ↑ Powers, Ann (December 17, 2019). "The album is evolving". Slate . Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  17. ↑ "Exclaim!'s 10 Best Soul, Funk and World Albums of 2019 | Exclaim!". exclaim.ca. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
  18. ↑ "The 50 Best Albums of 2019 | Pitchfork Media". pitchfork.com. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
  19. ↑ "The 200 Best Albums of the 2010s | Pitchfork Media". pitchfork.com. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
  20. ↑ "The 50 Best Albums of 2019 | Stereogum". stereogum.com. December 3, 2019. Retrieved May 21, 2021.
  21. ↑ "Under the Radar's Top 100 Albums of 2019 (Part 2) | Under the Radar". undertheradarmag.com. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
  22. ↑ "Official R&B Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved May 31, 2019.
  23. ↑ "Jamila Woods Chart History (Heatseekers Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved May 31, 2019.
  24. ↑ "Jamila Woods Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved May 31, 2019.


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