I Against I is the third official full-length studio album by Bad Brains

Bad Brains

Bad Brains is an American hardcore punk band formed in Washington, D.C., in 1977. They are widely regarded as among the pioneers of hardcore punk, though the band's members objected to this term to describe their music. They are also an adept reggae band, while later recordings featured elements of...

, released in 1986

1986 in music

This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1986.-January-June:*January 23 – The first induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame takes place...

 as SST Records

SST Records

SST Records is an American independent record label formed in 1978 in Long Beach, California by musician Greg Ginn. The company was initially called Solid State Transmitters through which Ginn sold electronics equipment...

 number 65. The best-selling album in the band's catalog, I Against I is a critically acclaimed album of American hardcore punk

Hardcore punk

Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...

 mixed with funk

Funk

Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...

, soul

Soul music

Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...

, reggae

Reggae

Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...

 and heavy metal

Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

. It is also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die

1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die

1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die is a musical reference book edited by Robert Dimery, first published in 2005. The most recent edition consists of a list of albums released between 1955 and 2010, part of a series from Quintessence Editions Ltd...

. The album featured an MTV

MTV

MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

 video for the title track directed by Paul Rachman

Paul Rachman

Paul Rachman is an American film director who directed the highly praised 2006 documentary on punk music American Hardcore which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was released by Sony Pictures Classics. He is also one of the founders of the Slamdance Film Festival...

 who later went on to direct the documentary feature film American Hardcore

American Hardcore (film)

American Hardcore is a documentary directed by Paul Rachman and written by Steven Blush. It is based on the book American Hardcore: A Tribal History also written by Blush. It was released on September 22, 2006 on a limited basis...

.

The title I Against I presumably refers to a common Rastafarian

Rastafari movement

The Rastafari movement or Rasta is a new religious movement that arose in the 1930s in Jamaica, which at the time was a country with a predominantly Christian culture where 98% of the people were the black descendants of slaves. Its adherents worship Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia , as God...

 phrase, I and I

I and I

I and I may refer to:* An expression in Rastafarian vocabulary* I and I from Bob Dylan's album Infidels...

, which is used in place of the first-person plural (i.e. we) in order to signify the union of the speaker, audience, and Jah

Jah

Jah is the shortened form of the divine name YHWH , an anglicized version of the Tetragrammaton . The name is most commonly associated with the Rastafari movement or within the word hallelujah, although Christian groups may use the name to varying degrees. For example, Jehovah's Witnesses use a...

 (God) in love and peace.

It is interesting to note that the vocals to "Sacred Love" were recorded over the phone from prison, while H.R. was serving time on a marijuana distribution charge. This was due to suggestion from the producer.

There is song collaboration of Massive Attack

Massive Attack

Massive Attack are an English DJ and trip hop duo from Bristol, England consisting of Robert "3D" Del Naja and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall. Working with co-producers, as well as various session musicians and guest vocalists, they make records and tour live. The duo are considered to be of the trip...

 and Mos Def

Mos Def

Dante Terrell Smith is an American actor and Emcee known by the stage names Mos Def and Yasiin Bey. He started his hip hop career in a group called Urban Thermo Dynamics, after which he appeared on albums by Da Bush Babees and De La Soul. With Talib Kweli, he formed the duo Black Star, which...

 with the same name, and another by Jedi Mind Tricks

Jedi Mind Tricks

Jedi Mind Tricks is a hip hop duo with Vinnie Paz from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Jus Allah from Camden, New Jersey. The group was founded by two high school friends, rapper Vinnie Paz and former producer/DJ Stoupe the Enemy of Mankind...

.

The popular Canadian teen drama Degrassi: The Next Generation

Degrassi: The Next Generation

Degrassi: The Next Generation is a Canadian teen drama television series set in the Degrassi universe, which was created by Linda Schuyler and Kit Hood in 1979. Degrassi is the fourth fictional series in the Degrassi franchise, and follows The Kids of Degrassi Street, Degrassi Junior High, and...

, which is known for naming each episode after an 1980s hit song, named an episode after the song "I Against I".

Track listing

All songs written by Hudson

H.R.

H.R. is the stage name of Paul D. Hudson, the lead singer of the hardcore punk band Bad Brains. His vocals can be quite diverse, ranging from a rapid-fire nasal whine, to feral growling and screeches, to smooth near-crooning or staccato reggae rhymes...

, Jenifer, and Miller

Dr. Know (guitarist)

Dr. Know is the stage name of Gary Miller, guitarist for Bad Brains, regarded as one of punk rock's most innovative and important bands...

 except where noted.

1. "Intro"(Jenifer, Miller) – 1:02
2. "I Against I" – 2:50
3. "House of Suffering"(Hudson, Miller) – 2:29
4. "Re-Ignition" – 4:16
5. "Secret 77" – 4:04
6. "Let Me Help" – 2:17
7. "She's Calling You"(Hudson, Jenifer) – 3:42
8. "Sacred Love" – 3:40
9. "Hired Gun" – 3:45
10. "Return to Heaven" – 3:19

Accolades

Year	Publication	Country	Accolade	Rank
1989	OOR Muziekkrant OOR Muziekkrant OOR is the oldest currently published music magazine in the Netherlands. The name "OOR" is the Dutch word for ear.-History:The magazine was first published on 1 April 1971, being founded by Barend Toet . Of the first issue 20,000 copies were printed and paid for by Berry Visser, one of...	Netherlands Netherlands The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...	"The Best Albums of the 80s"	22
1995	Alternative Press	United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...	"Top 99 Of '85 to '95"	9
1995	BigO	Singapore Singapore Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...	"The 100 Best Albums from 1975 to 1995"	99
1999	Tylko Rock Tylko Rock Tylko Rock is a monthly hobbymagazine in Poland about all kinds of rock music. It was founded on September 1991 by Wiesław Królikowski, and Wiesław Weiss. In 2003 Tylko Rock has been transformed into Teraz Rock magazine...	Poland Poland Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...	"100 Albums that Shook Polish Rock"	39
2000	Terrorizer	United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...	"100 Most Important Albums of the Eighties"	*
2002	Revolver Revolver (magazine) Revolver is a bi-monthly rock and heavy metal magazine published by Future US. Before covering heavy metal, rock & hard rock solely, it was a more mainstream oriented magazine. The magazine is structured in a manner similar to publications such as Spin while covering many avenues within the heavy...	United States	"The 69 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time"	32
2003	Blender Blender (magazine) Blender was an American music magazine that billed itself as "the ultimate guide to music and more". It was also known for sometimes steamy pictorials of celebrities....	United States	"500 CDs You Must Own Before You Die"	*
2004	Les Inrockuptibles Les Inrockuptibles Les Inrockuptibles is a French cultural magazine. Started as a monthly magazine in 1986, it became weekly in 1995. The name is a play on "Les Incorruptibles", the French title of the American television series The Untouchables...	France France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...	"50 Years of Rock'n'Roll"	*
2005	Robert Dimery	United States	"1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die"	*
2006	Gary Mulholland	United Kingdom	"261 Greatest Albums Since Punk and Disco"	*
2008	VOLUME	France	"200 Records that Changed the World"	*
2008	Tom Moon	United States	"1000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die"	*
"*" denotes an unordered list.

Personnel

Bad Brains

• H.R.
  H.R.
  H.R. is the stage name of Paul D. Hudson, the lead singer of the hardcore punk band Bad Brains. His vocals can be quite diverse, ranging from a rapid-fire nasal whine, to feral growling and screeches, to smooth near-crooning or staccato reggae rhymes...
  
   – vocals
• Dr. Know
  Dr. Know (guitarist)
  Dr. Know is the stage name of Gary Miller, guitarist for Bad Brains, regarded as one of punk rock's most innovative and important bands...
  
   – guitar
• Darryl Jenifer – bass
• Earl Hudson
  Earl Hudson
  Earl Hudson is the drummer for Bad Brains, regarded as one of punk rock's most influential and innovative bands. He is the younger brother of the band's lead singer H.R.. Although he has rarely recorded or performed outside of the band, he and fellow bandmates, guitarist Dr...
  
   – drums

Additional personnel

• Ron St. Germain – Producer
  Record producer
  A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
  
  
• Phil Burnett – Engineer
• Patch – Mixing
• Anthony Countey – Management
• Jesse Henderson – Assistant Engineer at Longview Farm, Worcester, MA
• Bill Ryan – Assistant Engineer at Longview Farm, Worcester, MA
• Eddie Krupski – Assistant Engineer for mixing at Soundworks, N.Y.C.
• Dennis Mitchell – Assistant Engineer for mixing at Soundworks, N.Y.C.
• Bob Ludwig – Mastering at Masterdisc, N.Y.C.
• Marcia Resnick – Cover concept, Photography
  Photography
  Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
  
  
• Paul Bacon
  Paul Bacon (designer)
  Paul Bacon , is an American book and album cover designer and jazz musician. He is known for introducing the "Big Book Look" in book jacket design, and has designed about 6,500 jackets and more than 200 jazz record covers....
  
   Studio – Calligraphy
  Calligraphy
  Calligraphy is a type of visual art. It is often called the art of fancy lettering . A contemporary definition of calligraphic practice is "the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious and skillful manner"...
  
   and development

Release history

Region	Date
United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...	November 1986
United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...	February 1987