The Last Shall Be First (Sunz of Man album)

The Last Shall Be First
Studio album by Sunz of Man
Released	July 21, 1998 (1998-7-21)
Recorded	1996–1998
Studio	Alien Flyers (New York, NY) Power Play Studios (Long Island, NY) The Enterprise (Burbank, CA) Magnet Vision Studios (Santa Monica, CA) D&D Studios (New York, NY) American Studios (Los Angeles, CA) Quad Recording Studios (Times Square, NY) 36 Chambers Studio (Manhattan, NY) Homeboy Studios (New York, NY) Platinum Island Studios (New York, NY)
Genre	Hip hop
Length	1:12:42
Label	Red Ant Entertainment Wu-Tang Records
Producer	Cathy Jones (exec.) Sunz of Man (exec.) 4th Disciple RZA Su-Preme True Master Wyclef Jean
Sunz of Man chronology
The Last Shall Be First (1998) The First Testament (1999)
Singles from The Last Shall Be First
"Natural High" Released: 1997 "Shining Star"/"Cold" Released: 1998 "The Plan"/"Collaboration '98" Released: November 10, 1998

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Robert Christgau	A− [2]
The Source	[3]
Spin	5/10 [4]

The Last Shall Be First is the debut studio album by American hip hop group Sunz of Man. It was released on July 21, 1998, through Red Ant Entertainment/Wu-Tang Records. Production was handled by 4th Disciple, True Master, RZA, Supreme and Wyclef Jean, with Cathy Jones and Sunz of Man serving as executive producers. It features guest appearances from Method Man, Traybag, Beretta 9, Earth, Wind & Fire, Masta Killa, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Raekwon and U-God.

The album peaked at number 20 on the Billboard 200 and number 7 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums in the United States, as well as number 100 on the Dutch Album Top 100.

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Intro"			1:07
2.	"Cold"	Chron Smith Vergil Ruff Selwyn Bogard	4th Disciple	3:49
3.	"Natural High" (featuring Tray Bag)	Chron Smith Ruff Walter Reed Tracy Smith Alaric Wilder Rob Chiarelli	Supreme	4:15
4.	"Flaming Swords"	Chron Smith Ruff Frederick Cuffie Reed Derek Harris	True Master	5:18
5.	"Illusions" (featuring Masta Killa)	Chron Smith Ruff Cuffie Elgin Turner Bogard	4th Disciple	5:25
6.	"Shining Star" (featuring Ol' Dirty Bastard and Earth, Wind & Fire)	Chron Smith Ruff Cuffie Russell Jones Maurice White Philip Bailey Larry Dunn Wyclef Jean	Wyclef Jean	4:21
7.	"Israeli News" (featuring Tray Bag)	Chron Smith Reed T. Smith Wilder	Supreme	4:13
8.	"Tribulations"	Chron Smith Ruff Cuffie Reed Robert Diggs	RZA	4:25
9.	"The Interview"			1:05
10.	"The Plan"	Ruff Cuffie Bogard	4th Disciple	5:09
11.	"Collaboration '98" (featuring Method Man and True Master)	Chron Smith Ruff Clifford Smith Harris	True Master	5:11
12.	"Inmates to the Fire"	Chron Smith Cuffie Ruff Diggs	RZA	3:41
13.	"Not Promised Tomorrow"	Chron Smith Cuffie Ruff Bogard	4th Disciple	4:11
14.	"For the Lust of Money / The Grandz"	Cuffie Ruff Chron Smith Harris	True Master	5:54
15.	"Can I See You?"	Ruff Chron Smith Diggs	RZA	3:27
16.	"The Battle"			1:08
17.	"Next Up" (featuring Method Man)	Cuffie Ruff Chron Smith Clifford Smith Harris	True Master	3:57
18.	"Intellectuals" (featuring Raekwon and U-God)	Chron Smith Cuffie Corey Woods Lamont Hawkins Harris	True Master	4:55
19.	"Five Arch Angels"			1:11
Total length:				1:12:42

Personnel

• Chron "Hell Razah" Smith – vocals (tracks: 2–8, 11–15, 17, 18), A&R
• Virgil "Prodigal Sunn" Ruff – vocals (tracks: 2–6, 8, 10–15, 17)
• Frederick "60 Second Assassin" Cuffie – vocals (tracks: 4–6, 8, 10, 12–14, 17, 18)
• Walter "Killah Priest" Reed – vocals (tracks: 3, 4, 7, 8)
• Tracy "Trebag" Smith – vocals (tracks: 3, 7)
• Clifford "Method Man" Smith – vocals (tracks: 11, 17)
• Elgin "Masta Killa" Turner – vocals (track 5)
• Russell "Ol' Dirty Bastard" Jones – vocals (track 6)
• Earth, Wind & Fire – vocals (track 6)
• Derek "True Master" Harris – vocals (track 11), producer (tracks: 4, 11, 14, 17, 18), mixing (tracks: 11, 17, 18)
• Corey "Raekwon" Woods – vocals (track 18)
• Lamont "U-God" Hawkins – vocals (track 18)
• Lashaunda "Harmony" – backing vocals (track 14)
• Selwyn "4th Disciple" Bogard – producer (tracks: 2, 5, 10, 13), mixing (track 2)
• Robert "RZA" Diggs – producer (tracks: 8, 12, 15), engineering (track 12)
• Alaric "Supreme" Wilder – producer (tracks: 3, 7)
• Rob Chiarelli – additional producer (tracks: 3, 4, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 15), mixing (tracks: 3, 4, 6–8, 10, 12–15), additional mixing (track 17)
• Nolan 'Dr. No' Moffitte – engineering (tracks: 2, 5, 10, 11, 17, 18)
• Carlos Bess – engineering (tracks: 4, 8, 15)
• Tony Black – engineering (track 3)
• Steve Hall – mastering
• Cathy Jones – executive producer
• Tom Jermann – art direction, design
• Michael Lavine – photography
• Meredith Brunswick – A&R
• Tony Calcote – A&R
• James Elliott – A&R

Charts

Chart (1998)	Peak position
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [5]	100
US Billboard 200 [6]	20
US Top R&B Albums ( Billboard ) [7]	7

References

1. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "The Last Shall Be First - Sunz of Man | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic . Retrieved January 7, 2022.
2. Christgau, Robert. "Robert Christgau: CG: Sunz of Man". www.robertchristgau.com. Retrieved January 7, 2022.
3. Pollack, Scott (August 1998). "Sunz of Man – Sunz of Man (The Last Shall Be First)". Record Report. The Source . No. 107. New York. pp. 170, 172.
4. Frere-Jones, Sasha (September 1998). "Sunz of Man – Sunz of Man (The Last Shall Be First)". Reviews. Spin . Vol. 14, no. 9. SPIN Media LLC. ISSN   0886-3032 . Retrieved January 7, 2022.
5. "Dutchcharts.nl – Sunz Of Man – The Last Shall Be The First" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved January 7, 2022.
6. "The Billboard 200". Billboard . Vol. 110, no. 32. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. August 8, 1998. p. 80. ISSN   0006-2510 . Retrieved January 7, 2022.
7. "Top R&B Albums". Billboard . Vol. 110, no. 32. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. August 8, 1998. p. 27. ISSN   0006-2510 . Retrieved January 7, 2022.

External links

• The Last Shall Be First at Discogs (list of releases)