Against the Grain (Kurupt album)

2005 studio album by Kurupt

Against the Grain

Studio album by

Kurupt

Released| August 23, 2005 (2005-08-23)
Recorded| 2002–2003
Genre|

* West Coast hip hop
* gangsta rap

Length| 68:48
Label|

* Death Row
* Koch

Producer|

* Suge Knight (exec.)
* Baby-C-Style
* Blaqthoven
* Diverse
* Doug Mayhem
* Joshua Andrews
* Mark Sparks
* Ric Rude
* Screwface
* Sir Jinx
* Tha Row Hitters

Kurupt chronology
| Originals
(2004)  | Against the Grain
(2005)  | Same Day, Different Shit
(2006)

|
|

Professional ratingsReview scores

Source| Rating
AllHipHop| 2.5/5[1]
AllMusic| [2]
Now| 3/5[3]
PopMatters| 1/10[4]
RapReviews| 5.5/10[5]

Against the Grain is the fourth solo studio album by American rapper Kurupt. It was released on August 23, 2005, through Death Row Records, making it his first and, to date, only solo album for the label. Production was handled by Mark Sparks, Doug Mayhem, Sir Jinx, Baby-C-Style, Blaqthoven, Diverse, Joshua Andrews, Ric Rude, Screwface and Tha Row Hitters, with Suge Knight serving as executive producer. It features guest appearances from Eastwood, Tri Star, Young Tone, 2Pac, Dave Hollister, Domination, M.O.P., Potion, Roscoe, Spider Loc, The Dayton Family and Val C.

The album went almost unnoticed due to the lack of promotion by Koch Records, which distributes all of Tha Row's albums. It debuted at number 60 on the Billboard 200 albums and number 20 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart in the United States. It also made it to number 146 on the French Albums chart. The cut tracks were later released on a 2007 bootleg compilation titled Against tha Grain E.P.. The album was reissued in February 2010, under the title Down and Dirty with a slightly altered tracklist. The song "Calico" previously appeared on the Dayton Family album Family Feud.

## Background

[edit]

Kurupt was signed with Death Row Records as one-half of Tha Dogg Pound together with Daz Dillinger. The duo released the only studio album for the label, Dogg Food in 1995, before Kurupt left the label in late 1997. In early 2002 he re-aligned with Death Row, which sparked the feud with his former labelmates, such as Daz, Snoop Dogg and Soopafly. The album was delay from its planned 2004 release and was released in August 2005, when Kurupt left Death Row for the second time. It was Death Row's first freshly recorded album in over four years. It was the final original album released by the label during its original run, before being revived with BODR by Snoop Dogg 17 years later.

## Track listing

[edit]

No.| Title| Writer(s)| Producer(s)| Length

|
|
|
|

1.| "Intro"|  |  | 0:54
2.| "Speak on It" (featuring Val C)|

* David Williams
* Johnathan Marc Blount

| Mark Sparks| 4:04
3.| "Anarchy '87"| D. Williams| Mark Sparks| 4:15
4.| "Throw Back Muzic '86"| D. Williams| Mark Sparks| 4:11
5.| "Deep Dishes"|

* D. Williams
* Ricky Lewis

| Ric Rude| 4:52
6.| "Stalkin'"|

* D. Williams
* Kenji Suzuki
* Holger Schüring
* Irmin Schmidt
* Hans Heinrich Liebezeit
* Michael Karoli

| Sir Jinx| 3:59
7.| "Can U Feel It" (featuring Potion)|

* D. Williams
* Kenton Nix

| Doug Mayhem| 4:48
8.| "Slide n Slide Out" (featuring Eastwood, Tri Star and Young Tone)|

* D. Williams
* Deshaun Woodard
* Eric McKinney
* T. McKinney
* Anthony Ransom

| Blaqthoven| 3:42
9.| "I'm Back"|

* Ricardo Brown
* Darren Hubbard

| Tha Row Hitters| 4:49
10.| "Jealousy" (featuring Roscoe and M.O.P.)|

* D. Williams
* Eric Murray
* Jamal Grinnage

| Mark Sparks| 4:41
11.| "Tha Past" (featuring Dave Hollister)|

* D. Williams
* Albert Vernon Hudson
* Albert Lewis Perkins
* Cuba Gregory

| Doug Mayhem| 4:46
12.| "My Homeboys (Back to Back)" (featuring 2Pac and Eastwood)|

* D. Williams
* Tupac Shakur
* Woodard
* Nathaniel Hale
* W. Stewart

* Mark Sparks
* Diverse

| 4:16
13.| "Bullshit & Nonsense" (featuring Spider Loc and Eastwood)|

* D. Williams
* Curtis Williams
* Woodard
* Joshua Andrews

| Joshua Andrews| 3:20
14.| "Calico" (featuring The Dayton Family)|

* Ira Dorsey
* Jon Henderson
* Raheen Peterson
* D. Sellers
* E. Austin

| Screwface Music| 4:52
15.| "Hustlin'" (featuring Tri Star and Young Tone)|

* D. Williams
* E. McKinney
* T. McKinney
* Anthony Wheaton
* Norman Whitfield

| Sir Jinx| 3:45
16.| "It's a Wrap"|  | Mark Sparks| 2:58
17.| "You Fuckin' with the Best" (featuring Domination)|  | Baby-C-Style| 4:08
18.| "Outro"|  |  | 0:21
Total length:| 1:08:41

Notes

* Nearly all of Kurupt's songwriting for this album is credited to his brother, David "Roscoe" Williams.

Sample credits

* Track 6 contains a sample of "Vitamin C" as performed by Can
* Track 12 contains replayed elements of "Me and My Homies" as performed by Nate Dogg

## Charts

[edit]

Chart performance for Against Tha Grain Chart (2005)  | Peak
position

|

French Albums (SNEP)[6] | 146
US Billboard 200[7] | 60
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[8] | 20

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Against Tha Grain". AllHipHop. September 9, 2005. Retrieved April 21, 2023.
2. ^ Jeffries, David. "Kurupt - Against tha Grain Album Reviews, Songs & More | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved April 21, 2023.
3. ^ Richards, Jason (November 17, 2005). "NOW Magazine - Music in Toronto, NOVEMBER 17 - 23, 2005". NOW. Archived from the original on 2006-06-26. Retrieved June 26, 2006 - via Wayback Machine.
4. ^ Holland, Roger (November 2, 2005). "Kurupt: Against Tha Grain, PopMatters". PopMatters. Retrieved April 21, 2023.
5. ^ Juon, Steve 'Flash' (August 23, 2005). "RapReviews.com Feature for August 23, 2005 - Kurupt's "Against Tha Grain"". www.rapreviews.com. Retrieved April 21, 2023.
6. ^ "Lescharts.com – Kurupt – Against Tha Grain". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 21, 2023.
7. ^ "The Billboard 200". Billboard. Vol. 117, no. 37\. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. September 10, 2005. p. 76\. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved April 21, 2023.
8. ^ "Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums". Billboard. Vol. 117, no. 37\. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. September 10, 2005. p. 81\. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved April 21, 2023.

## External links

[edit]

* Kurupt – Against Tha Grain at Discogs (list of releases)

* v
* t
* e

Kurupt

Studio albums|

* Kuruption!
* Tha Streetz Iz a Mutha
* Space Boogie: Smoke Oddessey
* Against tha Grain
* Same Day, Different Shit (as Young Gotti)
* Streetlights

Compilation albums|

* Originals

Collaboration albums|

* The Horsemen Project
* Digital Smoke
* The Frank and Jess Story
* Blaqkout

EPs|

* Against tha Grain E.P.

Singles|

* "We Can Freak It"

Featured singles|

* "The Next Episode"
* "Where I Wanna Be"

Other songs|

* "Bitches Ain't Shit"
* "Ain't No Fun (If the Homies Can't Have None)"
* "Xxplosive"

Related articles|

* Discography
* Antra Records
* Death Row Records
* Tha Dogg Pound

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