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Tronic

Tronic is the third full-length solo studio album by American rapper and record producer Black Milk. It was released on October 28, 2008 via Fat Beats Records. The album was recorded at Music House Studios in Detroit with additional recording sessions took place at The Disc and at Studio 1. Entirely produced by Black Milk himself, except for the Colin Munroe-produced song "Without U", it features guest appearances from Ab, Fat Ray, Melanie Rutherford, Pharoahe Monch, Royce da 5'9", Sean Price, Colin Munroe and DJ Premier, as well as contributions from John Arnold, Aaron Julison, Dwele, Sam Beaubien, Matt Martinez and DJ Dez.

In the United States, the album peaked at number 76 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and number 12 on the Heatseekers Albums charts.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic84/100[1]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Cokemachineglow85/100%[3]
HipHopDX4/5[4]
Now[5]
Pitchfork7.9/10[6]
Prefix8.5/10[7]
RapReviews8.5/10[8]
Spin[9]

Tronic was met with universal acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 84 based on nine reviews.[1]

Chet Betz of Cokemachineglow praised the album, stating: "this, then, is the future fashioned out of the stuffs of past and present, out of maintaining a firm aesthetic while employing a staggering array of techniques, out of reaching for the proverbial stars. Tronic hits with the intrinsic revelation and self-evident relevance of new truth".[3] Nick Neyland of Prefix called the album "isn't quite hip-hop's "Smile", but Black Milk is certainly open to pushing similar boundaries of possibility".[7] Adam M. Levin of RapReviews saw that "Tronic shows marked improvement in Black Milk as the total package; he doesn't excel by sacrificing his rhymes for the sake of the music, or vice versa".[8] AllMusic's David Jeffries wrote: "no filler and a logical running order makes Tronic an instantly satisfying effort, an album to return to, and maybe the best entry point to a discography already filled with vital material".[2] Ian Cohen of Pitchfork resumed: "as was the case with Popular Demand and even the split he did with Fat Ray from earlier this year, you get the odd feeling that Milk put his heart into his work, and yet it feels slightly impersonal, save for the career summary 'Long Story Short'".[6]

In his mixed review for Now, Tim Perlich resumed: "while the production is tight, it's not going to cause rival producers to sell their samplers and look for jobs in air conditioning repair".[5]

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Long Story Short"
Black Milk5:04
2."Bounce"CrossBlack Milk4:37
3."Give the Drummer Sum"CrossBlack Milk3:54
4."Without U/Electric Ribbon (Interlude)" (featuring Colin Munroe)
  • Cross
  • Colin Munroe
Colin Munroe4:49
5."Hold It Down"CrossBlack Milk4:23
6."Losing Out" (featuring Royce da 5'9")
Black Milk4:55
7."Hell Yeah" (featuring Fat Ray)
  • Cross
  • Ray Boggues II
Black Milk3:35
8."Overdose"
  • Cross
  • Humberto Hernandez
Black Milk3:03
9."Reppin for U" (featuring AB)
  • Cross
  • Abernathy
Black Milk4:16
10."The Matrix" (featuring Pharoahe Monch, Sean Price and DJ Premier)
Black Milk3:46
11."Try"CrossBlack Milk3:24
12."Tronie Summer"CrossBlack Milk2:26
13."Bond 4 Life" (featuring Melanie Rutherford)
  • Cross
  • Melanie Rutherford
Black Milk4:58
14."Elec (Outro)"CrossBlack Milk2:44

Personnel

  • Curtis "Black Milk" Cross – vocals, producer (tracks: 1-3, 5-14), recording, mixing
  • Aaron "Ab" Abernathy – additional vocals (tracks: 1, 9), piano (track 1)
  • Colin Munroe – additional vocals & producer (track 4)
  • Ryan "Royce da 5'9"" Montgomery – additional vocals (track 6)
  • Ray "Fat Ray" Boggues II – additional vocals (track 7)
  • Troy "Pharoahe Monch" Jamerson – additional vocals (track 10)
  • Sean Price – additional vocals (track 10)
  • Melanie Rutherford – additional vocals (track 13)
  • Aaron Julison – bass (tracks: 1, 3)
  • Andwele "Dwele" Gardner – flugelhorn (track 1)
  • Sam Beaubien – bass clarinet & trumpet (track 3)
  • Matt Martinez – trombone (track 3)
  • Humberto "DJ Dez" Hernandez – scratches (track 8)
  • Christopher "DJ Premier" Martin – scratches (track 10)
  • John Ogden Arnold – guitar (tracks: 11, 13)
  • Matt "Magnetic" Oleksiak – additional recording (tracks: 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 13), additional mixing (tracks: 4, 13), mastering
  • Tommy Hoffman – additional recording (tracks: 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 13)
  • Eugene "Hex Murda" Howell – executive producer, management
  • Mario "Khalif" Butterfield – design, photography, layout
  • Bill Sharp – A&R

Charts

Chart (2008) Peak
position
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[10] 76
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)[11] 12

References

  1. ^ a b "Critic Reviews for Tronic - Metacritic". Metacritic. Retrieved April 30, 2025.
  2. ^ a b Jeffries, David. "Tronic - Black Milk | Album | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved April 30, 2025.
  3. ^ a b Betz, Chet (October 30, 2008). "Black Milk: Tronic | Records". Cokemachineglow. Archived from the original on May 13, 2012. Retrieved April 30, 2025.
  4. ^ Udoh, Meka (October 27, 2008). "Black Milk - Tronic". HipHopDX. Retrieved April 30, 2025.
  5. ^ a b Perlich, Tim (October 29, 2008). "Black Milk - NOW Magazine". NOW Toronto. Retrieved April 30, 2025.
  6. ^ a b Cohen, Ian (November 24, 2008). "Black Milk: Tronic". Pitchfork. Retrieved April 30, 2025.
  7. ^ a b Neyland, Nick (December 10, 2008). "Album Review: Black Milk - Tronic | Prefix". Prefixmag. Retrieved March 3, 2016 – via Wayback Machine.
  8. ^ a b Levin, Adam M. (November 4, 2008). "Black Milk :: Tronic :: Fat Beats Records". RapReviews. Retrieved April 30, 2025.
  9. ^ Reeves, Mosi (December 18, 2008). "Black Milk, 'Tronic' (Fat Beats)". SPIN. Vol. 25, no. 1. SPIN Media LLC (published January 2009). p. 85. ISSN 0886-3032.
  10. ^ "Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. November 15, 2008. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved April 30, 2025.
  11. ^ "Top Heatseekers". Billboard. Vol. 120, no. 45. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. November 15, 2008. p. 49. ISSN 0006-2510.