| Ill Na Na | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | November 19, 1996 (1996-11-19) | |||
| Recorded | 1995–1996 | |||
| Studio |
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| Genre | Hip hop[1] | |||
| Length | 41:11 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Producer |
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| Foxy Brown chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Ill Na Na | ||||
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Ill Na Na is the debut studio album by American rapperFoxy Brown. It was released byDef Jam Recordings on November 19, 1996, andreissued on September 29, 1997, in theUK with an additional song "Big Bad Mamma". Brown began working on the album after being discovered by the production teamTrackmasters and appearing on a number of singles by other artists, such asLL Cool J,Case andJay-Z. The immediate success of the singles led to a bidding war at the beginning of 1996, and in March, Def Jam Recordings won and signed the then 17-year-old rapper to the label. Mostly produced by Trackmasters,Ill Na Na features guest appearances fromBlackstreet,Havoc,Method Man,Kid Capri andJay-Z. Lyrically, the album mainly focuses on themes of fashion, sex and mafia.
Ill Na Na debuted at number seven on theBillboard 200 with 128,000[2] copies sold in its first week. It has sold over a 1.4 million copies and was certifiedplatinum by theRecording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The album also includes other certifications such as; Gold inMusic Canada (MC) for selling over 50,000 and Silver inBritish Phonographic Industry (BPI) for selling over 60,000.
Three singles were released from the album. "Get Me Home" was released on September 15, 1996. It peaked at number 42 on theBillboard Radio Songs chart. The second single, "I'll Be", also noted a commercial success, was released on March 4, 1997. It peaked at number seven on theBillboard Hot 100, becoming Brown's highest charting single. The song was ranked number 52 onVH1's 100 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs. Another song, "Big Bad Mamma" was released July 28, 1997, and was featured on thesoundtrack to the filmHow to Be a Player (1997). Though not released on the original album, it was added to the European reissue in 1997. It peaked at number 53 on theBillboard Hot 100.
The album pushed and broke boundaries for female rappers. It became the first female rap album to debut in the top 10 of theBillboard 200, the first female rap album to have certified plaques outside theU.S., and highest selling and fastest female rap album of 1996 to goPlatinum within 2.7 months.
Between 1995 and 1996, Brown went into the recording studio to record her debut studio album, originally set to be released in October 1996. The album featured guest appearances byBlackstreet,Havoc,Method Man,Kid Capri, andJay-Z with a majority of the production by theTrackmasters.Ill Na Na produced two hit singles, "Get Me Home" featuring Blackstreet, and "I'll Be" featuring Jay-Z.Ill Na Na was re-released in 1997. The song "I'll Be" was ranked number 52 on VH1's "100 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs" list in 2008.[3]
"Get Me Home" is the first single fromIll Na Na. The song peaked at number 42 on the U.S.Billboard Radio Songs charts and number 10 on the U.S.Billboard R&B charts.
"I'll Be" is the second single released fromIll Na Na, produced by the Trackmasters and featuring Jay-Z. Released on March 4, 1997, "I'll Be" quickly became a hit, peaking at 7 on theBillboard Hot 100, at the time becoming both Foxy Brown and Jay-Z's highest charting single. Two months after its release on May 2, "I'll Be" was certified gold by the RIAA for sales of over 500,000 copies. To date it remains Foxy Brown's only song to earn a certification.
"Big Bad Mamma" is the final single on theIll Na Na, performed by American rapper Foxy Brown and American R&B group Dru Hill and from the soundtrack to the 1997 film,How to Be a Player. The song also appeared on the re-issue ofIll Na Na. The song, which was produced by the Trackmasters and based around an interpolation of Carl Carlton's "She's a Bad Mama Jama", became a semi-successful hit, peaking at 53 on theBillboard Hot 100, Foxy's second highest charting single as a solo artist. The single was released with the then reunited EPMD's "Never Seen Before" as the B-side.
In the United States,Ill Na Na debuted at number seven on theBillboard 200 and at number two on theTop R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, selling 128,000 copies in its first week,[4] and was certifiedplatinum by theRecording Industry Association of America (RIAA) within three months of its release. According toNielsen SoundScan, the album has sold over 1,450,834 copies in the United States.[5] In Canada, it was certified gold by theCanadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA). In the United Kingdom, it debuted at number 98 on theUK Albums Chart and was certified silver by theBritish Phonographic Industry (BPI). The album has also sold 3 million copies worldwide total to date.[6]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [7] |
| Entertainment Weekly | B+[1] |
| Muzik | 5/10[8] |
| RapReviews | 7/10[9] |
| USA Today |  [10] |
| The Village Voice |  [11] |
USA Today wrote: "While she spends too much time on interludes about her crew, Brown rhymes smoothly on everything from raw sex to the glamorous life."[10]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Intro...Chicken Coop" |
|
| 3:17 |
| 2. | "(Holy Matrimony) Letter to the Firm" | 3:26 | ||
| 3. | "Foxy's Bells" |
|
| 3:20 |
| 4. | "Get Me Home" (featuringBlackstreet) |
|
| 3:49 |
| 5. | "The Promise" (featuringHavoc) |
| 4:20 | |
| 6. | "Interlude...The Set Up" |
|
| 1:00 |
| 7. | "If I..." |
|
| 3:42 |
| 8. | "The Chase" |
|
| 3:18 |
| 9. | "Ill Na Na" (featuringMethod Man) |
| 3:06 | |
| 10. | "No One's" |
|
| 3:42 |
| 11. | "Fox Boogie" (featuringKid Capri) |
|
| 4:31 |
| 12. | "I'll Be" (featuringJay-Z) |
|
| 2:58 |
| 13. | "Outro" |
|
| 0:42 |
| Total length: | 41:11 | |||
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14. | "Big Bad Mamma" (featuringDru Hill) |
|
| 3:53 |
| Total length: | 45:04 | |||
Sample credits
Notes
Adapted from theIll Na Na liner notes.[12]
Weekly charts[edit]
| Year-end charts[edit]
|
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Canada (Music Canada)[23] | Gold | 50,000^ |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[24] | Silver | 60,000* |
| United States (RIAA)[25] | Platinum | 1,450,834[5] |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. | ||
