Black Dialogue is the debut studio album by American hip hop group The Perceptionists. It was released on Definitive Jux on March 22, 2005.[1]
Critical reception
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 81/100[1] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [2] |
| The A.V. Club | mixed[3] |
| Billboard | favorable[4] |
| City Pages | favorable[5] |
| Entertainment Weekly | B+[6] |
| Exclaim! | favorable[7] |
| PopMatters |   [8] |
| XLR8R | favorable[9] |
At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, Black Dialogue received an average score of 81, based on 7 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[1]
Andy Kellman of AllMusic gave the album 4 out of 5 stars, saying, "Lif and Akrobatik have a long history, so they sound natural as brainy verse-swapping partners, and they're sharp throughout, whether they have their sights set on the Bush Administration or are simply batting boasts back and forth."[2] Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club said, "on the whole, Black Dialogue emerges as a triumph, an impassioned 12-track hip-hop manifesto even a mother could love, assuming of course, she hasn't affixed a Bush/Cheney sticker on the bumper of the family station wagon."[3]
Dylan Hicks of City Pages called it "a leftist party record: alarmed but not paranoid, disgusted but not defeated, convinced that radicals are born on the dance floor and thus never guilty about composing love raps and having a good time."[5] Derek Beres of XLR8R said: "Social theory and musical aesthetic find kindred partnership on Black Dialogue."[9]
Rolling Stone placed it at number 36 on the "Top 50 Records of 2005" list.[10]
Track listing
| No. | Title | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Let's Move" | DJ Fakts One | 2:59 |
| 2. | "People 4 Prez" | El-P | 2:21 |
| 3. | "Blo" | El-P | 3:22 |
| 4. | "Memorial Day" | Cyrus the Great | 3:33 |
| 5. | "Love Letters" | Willie Evans Jr. | 4:11 |
| 6. | "Black Dialogue" | Willie Evans Jr. | 3:06 |
| 7. | "Frame Rupture" | El-P | 3:22 |
| 8. | "What Have We Got to Lose?!?" | Cyrus the Great | 2:46 |
| 9. | "Party Hard" (featuring Camu Tao and Guru) | Camu Tao | 3:50 |
| 10. | "Career Finders" (featuring Humpty Hump) | DJ Fakts One | 3:45 |
| 11. | "5 O'Clock" (featuring Phonte) | DJ Fakts One | 4:05 |
| 12. | "Breathe in the Sun" | Willie Evans Jr. | 3:58 |
| Total length: | 41:19 | ||
Charts
| Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)[11] | 41 |
| US Independent Albums (Billboard)[12] | 42 |
References
- ^ a b c "Black Dialogue by The Perceptionists". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved December 13, 2014.
- ^ a b Kellman, Andy. "Black Dialogue - The Perceptionists". AllMusic. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
- ^ a b Rabin, Nathan (March 29, 2005). "The Perceptionists: Black Dialogue". The A.V. Club. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
- ^ Vrabel, Jeff (March 24, 2005). "The Perceptionists". Billboard. Archived from the original on March 26, 2005. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
- ^ a b Hicks, Dylan (April 20, 2005). "The Perceptionists: Black Dialogue". City Pages. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
- ^ Endelman, Michael (March 28, 2005). "Black Dialogue (2005) - The Perceptionists". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
- ^ Cowie, Del F. (April 1, 2005). "Perceptionists - Black Dialogue". Exclaim!. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
- ^ Heaton, Dave (March 16, 2005). "The Perceptionists: Black Dialogue". PopMatters. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
- ^ a b Beres, Derek (March 1, 2005). "The Perceptionists - Black Dialogue". XLR8R. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
- ^ "Top 50 Records of 2005". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on December 30, 2005. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
- ^ "The Perceptionists Chart History (Heatseekers Albums)". Billboard. Archived from the original on May 11, 2018. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
- ^ "The Perceptionists Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Archived from the original on May 7, 2018. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
External links
- Black Dialogue at Discogs (list of releases)