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.
Critical reception
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
| Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) |
|---|
| 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" | | Jim Jonsin | 2:53 |
|---|
| 4. | "They Like Me" | | 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
| | 3:48 |
|---|
| 7. | "Rockstar Mentality" | | 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
| | 3:25 |
|---|
| Total length: | 47:17 |
|---|
Bonus track| Title |
|---|
| 14. | "Paper (M-O-N-E-Y)" | 3:19 |
|---|
- Sample credits
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
References
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b Brown, Marisa. "Shop Boyz - Rockstar Mentality". AllMusic. Archived from the original on February 21, 2014. Retrieved April 16, 2023.
- ^ a b Richards, Jason (July 12, 2007). "SHOP BOYZ". NOW. Archived from the original on April 16, 2023. Retrieved April 16, 2023.
- ^ a b Huff, Quentin B (August 7, 2007). "Shop Boyz: Rockstar Mentality". PopMatters. Archived from the original on April 16, 2023. Retrieved April 16, 2023.
- ^ a b Kim, Susan 'susiQ' (July 31, 2007). "Shop Boyz :: Rockstar Mentality". RapReviews. Archived from the original on April 16, 2023. Retrieved April 16, 2023.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Shop Boyz, TLP". Billboard. Retrieved October 3, 2020.
- ^ "Shop Boyz, BLP". Billboard. Retrieved October 3, 2020.
- ^ "Shop Boyz, RLP". Billboard. Retrieved October 3, 2020.
- ^ "Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums – Year-End 2007". Billboard. Archived from the original on October 30, 2017. Retrieved October 3, 2020.
External links
| Authority control databases | |
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