Gravity (Bush Babees album)

Gravity is the second and final studio album by American hip-hop group Da Bush Babees, released on October 15, 1996, via Warner Bros. Records. The recording sessions took place at Battery Studios in New York City. The album was produced by Mr. Man, Shawn J Period, the Ummah, Charles Harrison, Christopher Harrison, Posdnous, and Rahzel. It features guest appearances from Mos Def, Muntcho Leo, and Nicole "Disco" Johnson.

The album debuted at number 75 on the Billboard Top R&B Albums chart. Its lead single, "The Love Song", made it to number 66 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, number 74 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, number 89 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Streaming Songs and number 15 on the Hot Rap Songs charts.

Along with fellow Native Tongues cohorts De La Soul's Stakes Is High, Gravity is notable for jump-starting the hip-hop career of Mos Def, who is featured on three tracks on the album ("Intro", "S.O.S." and "The Love Song"). Warner Bros. released the group from its contract after the album ran its course.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
RapReviews	10/10
The Source

The Dayton Daily News wrote that "Wax" "is a cool, jazzy, danceable number that should get plenty of club play among youth and adult-oriented audiences". The Staten Island Advance called "3 MCs" "a kinetic old-school combination of microphone-tossing routines".

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Intro" (performed by Mos Def)	Dante Smith	Shawn J. Period	2:41
2.	"Gravity" (featuring Nicole "Disco" Johnson)	Acklins Dillon Jamahl Hanna Harold Lee	The Ummah	3:54
3.	"Wax"	Dillon Hanna Lee	Mr. Man	4:00
4.	"The Beat Down"	Rozell M. Brown	Rahzel	0:59
5.	"Maybe"	Dillon	Mr. Man	4:03
6.	"3 MCs"	Dillon Hanna Lee Jonathan Davis	The Ummah	3:57
7.	"S.O.S." (featuring Mos Def)	Dillon Hanna Lee Smith	Mr. Man	4:58
8.	"God Complex"	Dillon Hanna Lee	Shawn J. Period	4:35
9.	"The Ruler"	Lee Kurtis Walker David Reeves Aaron O'Bryant	Mr. Man	4:09
10.	"The Ninth Presentation"	Dillon	Mr. Man	1:44
11.	"The Love Song" (featuring Mos Def)	Dillon Hanna Lee Smith James Castor John Pruitt Gerry Thomas	Posdnous	4:40
12.	"Rock Boots"		Charles and Chris Harrison	0:46
13.	"In Meh Dreams" (featuring Muntcho Leo)	Dillon D. Stephenson	Mr. Man	2:49
14.	"Melting Plastic"	Dillon Hanna Lee	Shawn J. Period	4:05
15.	"Outro"	Dillon Hanna Lee	Shawn J. Period	1:48
Total length:				49:08

Sample credits

Track 9 embodies portions of the composition "If I Ruled the World" written by Kurtis Walker, David Reeves and Aaron O'Bryant.
Track 11 contains samples from "It's Just Begun" written by James Castor, Johnny Pruitt and Jerry Thomas and performed by Jimmy Castor Bunch, "Onsaya Joy" written and performed by Richard Holmes, and "Summer Madness" written by Alton Taylor, Robert Mickens, Robert Bell, Ronald Bell, Gary Brown, Dennis Thomas and Claydes Smith and performed by Kool & the Gang.

Personnel

Acklins "Mr. Man" Dillon – vocals, producer (tracks: 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 13), co-executive producer
Jamahl "Y-Tee" Hanna – vocals, co-executive producer
Harold "Babe-B-Face Kaos" Lee – vocals, co-executive producer
Dante "Mos Def" Smith – vocals (tracks: 1, 7, 10)
Nicole "Disco" Johnson – vocals (track 2)
D. "Muntcho Leo" Stephenson – vocals (track 13)
Shawn M. "Shawn J. Period" Jones – producer (tracks: 1, 8, 14, 15)
Jonathan "Q-Tip" Davis – producer (tracks: 2, 6)
Rahzel M. Brown – producer & arranger (track 4)
Kelvin "Posdnous" Mercer – producer (track 11)
Charles Harrison – producer (track 12)
Christopher Harrison – producer (track 12)
Michael Gilbert – recording (tracks: 1, 3, 5–11, 13–15)
Tim Donovan – recording (tracks: 2, 12)
Daniel Wierup – recording (tracks: 3, 11), mixing assistant (tracks: 4, 10)
Ken "Duro" Ifill – recording (tracks: 4, 5), mixing (tracks: 1, 3–5, 8, 10, 12–15)
Bob Power – mixing (tracks: 2, 6)
Tim Latham – mixing (tracks: 7, 10)
Jed Hackett – recording assistant (tracks: 1, 2, 5–8, 13), mixing assistant (tracks: 1, 2, 5–8, 11, 13–15)
John Meredith – recording assistant (tracks: 1, 15)
Charles McCrorey – recording assistant (tracks: 7, 9, 10)
Tom Coyne – mastering
Ian Alexander – executive producer, A&R
William "Kedar" Massenburg – executive producer
Kojo Bentil – co-executive producer
Gregory Gilmer – art direction, design
Daniel Hastings – photography

Charts

Chart (1996)	Peak position
US Top R&B Albums (Billboard)	75

References

"Da Bush Babees Biography, Songs, & Albums". AllMusic.
Nelson, Havelock (Aug 31, 1996). "Da Bush Babees come back to Earth on Warner's 'Gravity'". Billboard. Vol. 108, no. 35. p. 22.
Swihart, Stanton. "Gravity Da Bush Babees". AllMusic. Retrieved January 13, 2025.
Malko, Terry (January 1, 1997). "Bush Babees Gravity". RapReviews. Retrieved January 13, 2025.
Mao, Jeff "Chairman" (November 1996). "Record Report: Bush Babees – Gravity". The Source. No. 86. New York. pp. 136, 138.
Ali, Derek (December 6, 1996). "RECORDINGS IN BRIEF". Dayton Daily News. Go!. p. 19.
Lake, Susan (November 17, 1996). "The LP 'Gravity', (Warner Bros Records) performed by Bush Babees -- should definitely be a winner in record stores". Staten Island Advance. p. E2.
"Top R&B Albums". Billboard. Vol. 108, no. 44. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. November 2, 1996. p. 25. ISSN 0006-2510. Archived from the original on July 15, 2019. Retrieved January 13, 2025.

External links

Bush Babees – Gravity at Discogs (list of releases)

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