Rockstar Mentality

Rockstar Mentality
Studio album by Shop Boyz
Released	June 19, 2007 (2007-06-19)
Recorded	2005–07
Genre	Southern hip hop rap rock
Length	47:17
Label	Universal Republic Records
Producer	Cal Rip David Banner Fire Jim Jonsin Neff-U Pit The Original Dream Team
Singles from Rockstar Mentality
"Party Like a Rockstar" Released: April 10, 2007 "They Like Me" Released: 2007

Rockstar Mentality is the only studio album by American Southern rap rock group Shop Boyz. It was released on June 19, 2007 through Universal Republic Records. Production was handled by Jason Pittman, Jim Jonsin, Ron "Neff-U" Feemster, Cal Rip, David Banner, Richard Harris III, and The Original Dream Team, with Billy Hume serving as an additional producer on two tracks.

The album debuted at number 11 on the Billboard 200 with 52,000 copies sold in the U.S. in its first week. ^[1] Its lead single "Party Like a Rockstar" peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100, and the follow-up single "They Like Me" made it to number 98 on the same chart.

Cover of the second single from Rockstar Mentality, "They Like Me"

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Now	1/5 [3]
PopMatters	4/10 [4]
RapReviews	5.5/10 [5]
Rolling Stone	[6]

AllMusic's Marisa Brown felt the album lacked "creative spontaneity" when compared to similar rap rock acts like Linkin Park and Outkast, criticizing the "formulaic and contrived" tracks for the rappers' unremarkable verses and the repetitive "singsongy hooks", concluding that: "Shop Boyz and their producers are looking for that grit and pomp that attract audiences to rock music (and rock stars), but instead they end up with a boy band version of it, which is OK, if that's what you're looking for." ^[2] Jason Richards of NOW critiqued about the group's "hood rock" style using "typical Roland 808 beats with electric guitars geared toward the ringtone market", concluding with: "They try to make up for their hot garbage rhymes with as many repetitive hooks as possible. This album killed a piece of my soul." ^[3] Susan Kim of RapReviews was critical of the various mediocre tracks with comparable production and elementary lyrics, but commended the group for experimenting with their "hood rock" sound on "Rollin'", "Baby Girl", the title track and "They Like Me". She critiqued that the record is "neither "hood" nor "rock." It has become a disarrangement of sound that is difficult to categorize, as the less than substantial incorporation of electric guitars cannot constitute the music as rock." ^[5] Quentin B Huff of PopMatters felt the tracks overall were "slightly more comfortable in their rock nods" than their hip-hop predecessors, concluding that: "Whether all this rock stuff is novelty or not, time will tell, as we can rest assured that the monstrous popularity of "Party Like a Rockstar" will likely follow the crew henceforth. That's the nature of the business." ^[4]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Party Like a Rockstar"	Demetrius Hardin Rasheed Hightower Richard Stephens Brian Ward Jason C. Pittman	Pit	4:13
2.	"Bowen Homes"	Hardin Hightower Stephens Ward Richard Harris III	Fire	4:37
3.	"Baby Girl"	Hardin Hightower Stephens Ward James Scheffer	Jim Jonsin	2:53
4.	"They Like Me"	Hardin Hightower Stephens Lavell Crump	David Banner	3:16
5.	"Next to Me"	Hardin Hightower Stephens Ward Michael D. Hartnett Pittman	Pit	4:10
6.	"Rollin'"	Hardin Hightower Stephens Ward William Whedbee Pittman	Pit Billy Hume (add.)	3:48
7.	"Rockstar Mentality"	Hardin Hightower Stephens Ward Theron Feemster	NEFF-U	3:25
8.	"Flexin'"	Hardin Hightower Stephens Ward Scheffer	Jim Jonsin	3:22
9.	"Totally Dude"	Hardin Hightower Stephens Ward Darrin Williams Lynell Boone Michael Macon Turinida Sylvester	The Original Dream Team	4:13
10.	"Showin' Me Love"	Hardin Hightower Stephens Ward Feemster	NEFF-U	2:54
11.	"My Car"	Hardin Hightower Stephens Ward Pittman	Pit	3:25
12.	"Sumthin' to Talk 'Bout"	Hardin Hightower Stephens Ward Pittman	Pit	3:36
13.	"World on Fire"	Hardin Hightower Stephens Ward Calvin Miller	Cal Rip Billy Hume (add.)	3:25
Total length:				47:17

Bonus track

No.	Title	Length
14.	"Paper (M-O-N-E-Y)"	3:19

Sample credits

• Track 3 contains elements of the composition "One Thing Leads to Another" written by Adam Woods, Jamie West-Oram, Rupert Greenall, Alfie Agius and Cy Curnin.

Personnel

Shop Boyz Brian "Bingo" Ward – vocals, executive producer Demetrius "Meany" Hardin – vocals Rasheed "Sheed" Hightower – vocals Richard "Fat" Stephens – vocals Additional musicians William "Billy Hume" Whedbee – guitar (tracks: 1, 13), additional guitar (track 6), bass (tracks: 11, 13), additional producer (tracks: 6, 13), mixing (tracks: 1, 2, 5, 6, 9, 11–13) Frank Romano – guitar (tracks: 3, 8) Eric Live Florence – guitar (track 4) Willie "Get Cool" Poole – keyboards (track 4) Keaunda Thomas – backing vocals (track 5) Mike Hartnett – guitar (tracks: 5, 6, 11, 12), bass (tracks: 6, 11, 12) Darrin Williams – guitar & producer (track 9) Jordan Ware – violin (track 9)

Technicals Jason "Pit" Pittman – producer (tracks: 1, 5, 6, 11, 12) Richard "Fire" Harris III – producer (track 2) James "Jim Jonsin" Scheffer – producer (tracks: 3, 8) Lavell "David Banner" Crump – producer (track 4) Ron "Neff-U" Feemstar – producer (tracks: 7, 10) Lynell Boone – producer (track 9) Michael Macon – producer (track 9) Turinida Sylvester – producer (track 9) Calvin "Cal Rip" Miller – producer (track 13) Joel Mullis – mixing (track 2) Rob Marks – mixing & recording (tracks: 3, 8) John Frye – mixing (track 4) Kori Anders – recording (track 4) Gary Fly – mixing assistant (track 4) Stephen Nowoczynski – recording (tracks: 6, 11–13) Bob Horn – mixing & recording (tracks: 7, 10) Tom Coyne – mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (2007) Peak position US Billboard 200 [7] 11 US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums ( Billboard ) [8] 4 US Top Rap Albums ( Billboard ) [9] 2

Year-end charts Chart (2007) Position US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard) [10] 100

References

1. Hasty, Katie (June 27, 2007). "Bon Jovi Scores First No. 1 Album Since 1988". Billboard . Archived from the original on November 29, 2021. Retrieved April 16, 2023.
2. Brown, Marisa. "Shop Boyz - Rockstar Mentality". AllMusic . Archived from the original on February 21, 2014. Retrieved April 16, 2023.
3. Richards, Jason (July 12, 2007). "SHOP BOYZ". NOW . Archived from the original on April 16, 2023. Retrieved April 16, 2023.
4. Huff, Quentin B (August 7, 2007). "Shop Boyz: Rockstar Mentality". PopMatters . Archived from the original on April 16, 2023. Retrieved April 16, 2023.
5. Kim, Susan 'susiQ' (July 31, 2007). "Shop Boyz :: Rockstar Mentality". RapReviews. Archived from the original on April 16, 2023. Retrieved April 16, 2023.
6. Sheffield, Rob (June 11, 2007). "Rockstar Mentality : Shop Boyz : Review". Rolling Stone . Archived from the original on February 21, 2009. Retrieved February 21, 2009– via Wayback Machine.
7. "Shop Boyz, TLP". Billboard . Retrieved October 3, 2020.
8. "Shop Boyz, BLP". Billboard . Retrieved October 3, 2020.
9. "Shop Boyz, RLP". Billboard . Retrieved October 3, 2020.
10. "Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums – Year-End 2007" . Billboard. Archived from the original on October 30, 2017. Retrieved October 3, 2020.

External links

• Shop Boyz – Rockstar Mentality at Discogs (list of releases)