I Am Not a Human Being
Encyclopedia
I Am Not a Human Being is the eighth studio album
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...

 by American rapper Lil Wayne
Lil Wayne
Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. , better known by his stage name Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. At the age of nine, Lil Wayne joined Cash Money Records as the youngest member of the label, and half of the duo, The B.G.'z, with B.G.. In 1997, Lil Wayne joined the group Hot Boys, which also included...

, released digitally on September 27, 2010. Its physical version was released on October 12, 2010. It was recorded in 2010 prior to Wayne's nine-month prison term for criminal possession of a weapon. Production for the album was handled by Wayne and several record producers, including Boi-1da
Boi-1da
Matthew Samuels , better known as Boi-1da , is a Canadian hip-hop producer from Toronto, Ontario. He has produced for artists and groups such as Chip tha Ripper, Kardinal Offishall, Clipse, Drake, Eminem, Saukrates, k-os, G-Unit, and The Diplomats among others...

, Cool & Dre
Cool & Dre
Cool & Dre are a team of hip hop producers from Miami, Florida, consisting of Marcello "Cool" Valenzano and Andre "Dre" Christopher Lyon.-Epidemic Records:...

, StreetRunner
StreetRunner
Nicholas Warwar, better known as STREETRUNNER, is a Grammy Award Winning American record producer and DJ who works and lives in Miami, Florida. He first gained recognition in 2004 for producing Terror Squad's hit single, "Take Me Home". More recently he has gained fame for working with Lil Wayne on...

, Noah "40" Shebib and DJ Infamous
DJ Infamous
Marco Rodriguez-Diaz, better known by his stage name Infamous, is a Grammy winning record producer and three-time world champion DJ.-Biography:Infamous is a Miami Based Music Producer most known for his work with rapper Lil Wayne...

, among others.

The album debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

 chart, based on its first-week digital sales alone. Following its physical release, it featured an increase in sales and topped the chart, becoming Lil Wayne's second US number-one album and the first studio album since Tupac Shakur
Tupac Shakur
Tupac Amaru Shakur , known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor. Shakur has sold over 75 million albums worldwide as of 2007, making him one of the best-selling music artists in the world...

's Me Against the World
Me Against the World
Me Against the World is the third studio album by American hip hop artist Tupac Shakur. It was released March 14, 1995 on the Interscope Records label. The album was composed of un-used tracks from the Thug Life era, and from other studio sessions from 1993 to 1994...

in 1995 to reach the top slot on the Billboard 200 while its artist was jailed. Its lead single "Right Above It
Right Above It
- Chart performance :After experiencing strong digital sales on release, the song debuted at number 6 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart dated September 4, 2010, making it the highest debuting song on the chart for that week, and at number 1 on the Billboard Hot Digital Songs chart, becoming the...

" became a top-ten hit in the United States. Upon its release, I Am Not a Human Being received mixed to positive reviews from most music critics. The album has been certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...

.

Background

On August 4, 2010, Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

announced that Lil Wayne would release an EP called I Am Not a Human Being and would have a single from the EP called "Right Above It
Right Above It
- Chart performance :After experiencing strong digital sales on release, the song debuted at number 6 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart dated September 4, 2010, making it the highest debuting song on the chart for that week, and at number 1 on the Billboard Hot Digital Songs chart, becoming the...

". The single debuted on DJ Funkmaster Flex
Funkmaster Flex
Aston George Taylor, Jr. better known as Funkmaster Flex is an American hip hop DJ, rapper, musician and producer on New York City's Hot 97 radio station and host of the hit MTV show Funk Flex Full Throttle....

's show, which Lil Wayne called and gave an interview. The album is a prelude to Lil Wayne's album Tha Carter IV
Tha Carter IV
Tha Carter IV is the ninth studio album by American rapper Lil Wayne, released on August 29, 2011 through Young Money Entertainment, Cash Money Records and Universal Republic Records...

.
Drake
Drake (entertainer)
Aubrey Drake Graham , who records under the mononym Drake, is a Canadian recording artist and actor. He originally became known for playing Jimmy Brooks on the television series Degrassi: The Next Generation....

, Jay Sean, Lil Twist, Nicki Minaj
Nicki Minaj
Onika Tanya Maraj , better known by her stage name Nicki Minaj; ), is a Trinidadian-born American recording artist...

, Jae Millz, Tyga
Tyga
Michael Stevenson , better known by his stage name Tyga , is an American rapper signed to Young Money Entertainment, Cash Money Records and Universal Republic Records. He is of Vietnamese and Jamaican descent...

, Gudda Gudda, Lil Chuckee and T-Streets are all guests who are featured on the album.

Vibe Magazine spoke with DJ Scoob Doo about Tha Carter IV and I Am Not a Human Being. This is what Scoob Doo had to say:
Lil Wayne’s manager Cortez Bryant told SPIN that that I Am Not a Human Being would actually be a full length album. Initially, the tracks were to be appear on Tha Carter IV, but Wayne decided to put the old tracks on the album so new music could be recorded for Tha Carter IV.

He uses no autotune on the album: according to Birdman, it's just "raw rap". The production to bonus track "YM Salute" was originally recorded by Young Jeezy
Young Jeezy
Jay Wayne Jenkins , better known by his stage name Young Jeezy, is an American rapper. He is the member of the hip hop group United Streets Dopeboyz of America and a former member of BMF...

 and Ester Dean
Ester Dean
Ester Renay Dean is an American singer and songwriter, and record producer signed to Zone 4 Records/Interscope Records. She is most notable for her dual appearance on Rio: Music From The Motion Picture and her 2009 US hit single "Drop It Low", which featured singer Chris Brown...

 as potential material for Young Jeezy's forthcoming album TM 103.

Release and promotion

The last three tracks featured on the album's physical CD release, "YM Banger", "YM Salute", and "I Don't Like The Look Of It", were not initially included on the digital download
Music download
A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...

 version of the album: however, after the physical CD version was released, the tracks were added to the digital version of the album.

The album's lead single, "Right Above It
Right Above It
- Chart performance :After experiencing strong digital sales on release, the song debuted at number 6 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart dated September 4, 2010, making it the highest debuting song on the chart for that week, and at number 1 on the Billboard Hot Digital Songs chart, becoming the...

" featuring Drake, was released to iTunes
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...

 on August 17, 2010. The song debuted at number six on the US Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

, and at number one on the Billboard Hot Digital Songs
Hot Digital Songs
The Hot Digital Songs chart ranks the best-selling digital singles in the United States, according to Billboard.Beginning in February 2005, digital sales have been incorporated into many of Billboards music single charts. It was decided to do so mainly because of the dramatic rise in popularity of...

 chart.

"What's Wrong With Them" recivied strong download sales in the UK during the albums release and as such, the track charted on the UK R&B Chart
UK R&B Chart
The Official UK R&B Chart is a forty-position R&B/Hip-Hop chart compiled by The Official UK Charts Company. Although the chart does not receive any airplay, its compilation is viewed on BBC Radio 1's website and publications such as ChartsPlus and Music Week...

 at a peak of 27.

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

 chart, with first-week digital sales of 110,000 downloads. In its second week, it dropped to number 16 on the chart and sold 23,000 digital copies. Following its CD release on October 12, the album sold 125,000 copies and moved up to number one on the Billboard 200 in its third week. It became Lil Wayne's second number-one album and seventh top-ten album in the US. As of November 18, 2010 the album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...

. As of September 5, 2011 the album has sold 953,000 in the USA.

Critical response

I Am Not a Human Being received mixed to positive reviews from most music critics. At Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

, which assigns a normalized
Standard score
In statistics, a standard score indicates how many standard deviations an observation or datum is above or below the mean. It is a dimensionless quantity derived by subtracting the population mean from an individual raw score and then dividing the difference by the population standard deviation...

 rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
Weighted mean
The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...

 score of 65, based on 15 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....

writer Jeff Weiss noted a "creative languor" and stated "Wayne reveals he’s mortal after all". Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...

's Ryan Dombal stated "We get Wayne spouting classic Weezy-isms—explicit sex, cartoonish gunplay, and allusions to the intricacies of the digestive system abound—over at-least-decent original beats", but noted that "there's a lingering sense that the rapper is not in top gear; his flow is often slow and static, his wordplay lively yet less energized than what we're now used to". Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...

s Brad Wete called the album "stale" and wrote that "none of the new songs on this set hold a candle to [No Ceilings
No Ceilings
No Ceilings is a mixtape by rap artist Lil Wayne. It was scheduled to be released on October 31, 2009, but was leaked before the official date. No Ceilings was officially released on October 31 , with 4 additional tracks. The mixtape is available as a free and legal download...

], much less... Tha Carter III
Tha Carter III
Tha Carter III is the sixth studio album by American rapper Lil Wayne, released June 10, 2008 on Cash Money Records. It follows a long string of mixtape releases and guest appearances on other hip hop and R&B artists records, helping to increase his exposure in the mainstream...

". Sean L. Maloney of American Songwriter gave it 2½ out of 5 stars and called it "a completely superfluous release that lacks the relevance and immediacy of his mixtape works and the quality-control of his albums". Andy Gill of The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...

gave it 3 out of 5 stars and called it "a perfunctory affair". The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...

s Julian Benbow wrote that "the sharper moments [...] are drowned out by the redundant ones". Jon Caramanica of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

called it "an uncentered collection of odds and ends", writing that "Too often Lil Wayne lapses into predictable flow structures, quick ideas paired with built-in rejoinders: 'They say money talks/ but it’s my spokesperson,' and so on".

Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...

's Jesse Cataldo perceived "half-assed rhyme work" from Wayne and called it "kind of a crummy album, rife with laziness and repetition ... It may have a decidedly lazy presentation, but I Am Not a Human Being inevitably succeeds at what it sets out to do: remind us of Wayne's artistic validity and whetting our appetite for more". Ben Detrick of Spin
Spin (magazine)
Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...

gave I Am Not a Human Being a 6/10 rating and found its production "unfashionable", but stated "Though this is a flawed and scattershot project, Wayne remains an artist who makes music like a pâtissier–his songs are frivolous, delicious, and meant to be relished for just a moment". Allmusic writer David Jeffries gave it 3½ out of 5 stars and stated "This is too short and scattered to put on his top shelf, but it comes awfully close, which is downright astonishing considering the circumstances". Luke Bainsbridge of The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...

called the album "a return to classic Weezy". Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

writer Jody Rosen
Jody Rosen
Jody Rosen is an American journalist and author. He is the music critic for the online magazine Slate, and the author of White Christmas: The Story of an American Song....

 commended its "unadulterated fun" and Wayne's "irrepressibly wacked-out spirit", writing that the album "has the loose-limbed feel of the rapper's many mixtapes". Steve Jones of USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...

gave the album 3 out of 4 stars and stated "he has enough hits here to make sure he's not missed much". Despite viewing its tracks as inconsistent, Vibes Chris Yuscavage wrote that the album is "enough to hold diehard Weezy fans over until Tha Carter IV hits".

Track listing

The track listing was confirmed by iTunes
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...

, Pinto and Rap-Up
Rap-Up
Rap-Up is a magazine launched in 2001 by founder Devin Lazerine. The publication was originally a website devoted to hip hop, until Lazerine decided to pitch the possibility of a magazine to several publishers. The magazine is focused on the hip hop and R&B aspect of the music industry, and...

.
(co.) Co-producer

(add.) Additional production

Personnel

Credits for I Am Not a Human Being adapted from Allmusic.
  • Alton Bates, Jr. – Recording Assistant
  • Joshua Berkman – A&R
  • Boi-1da – Composer, Producer
  • Cortez Bryant – Executive Producer
  • Matthew Burnett – Additional Production
  • Michael "Banger" Cadahia – Engineer, Mixing, Producer
  • Noel Cadastre – Mixing Assistant
  • Dwayne "Tha President" Carter – Executive Producer
  • Ariel Chobaz – Engineer
  • R. Cobbs – Composer
  • Cool – Producer
  • Andrews Correa – Engineer
  • Drew Correa – Producer
  • DJ Folk – Production Coordination
  • Elizabeth Gallardo – Mixing Assistant
  • Brian "Big Bass" Gardner – Mastering
  • I.L.O. – Additional Production, Keyboards
  • DJ Infamous – Producer
  • J. James – Composer
  • D. Johnson – Composer

  • Kane Beatz – Producer
  • Edward "Jewfro" Lidow – Recording Assistant
  • Mack Maine – Executive Producer
  • O. Maraj – Composer
  • C. Moore – Composer
  • Mr. Beatz – Producer
  • Mr. Pyro – Producer
  • The Olympics – Producer
  • B. Parker – Composer
  • T. Prashad – Composer
  • Fareed Salamah – Digital Editing
  • Noah Shebib – Engineer, Mixing, Producer
  • D. Stokes – Composer
  • StreetRunner – Producer
  • M. Valenzano – Composer
  • N. Warwar – Composer
  • J. Calder – Composer
  • Finis "KY" White – Engineer
  • Bryan "Baby Birdman" Williams – Executive Producer
  • Ronald "Slim Tha Don" Williams – Executive Producer
  • Kevin Zulueta – Engineer


Chart positions

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Chart (2010)
!Peak
position
|-
|Australian Albums Chart
| style="text-align:center;"|60
|-
|Canadian Albums Chart
Canadian Albums Chart
The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS...


| style="text-align:center;"|4
|-
|UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...


| style="text-align:center;"|56
|-
|UK R&B Chart
UK R&B Chart
The Official UK R&B Chart is a forty-position R&B/Hip-Hop chart compiled by The Official UK Charts Company. Although the chart does not receive any airplay, its compilation is viewed on BBC Radio 1's website and publications such as ChartsPlus and Music Week...


| style="text-align:center;"|8
|-
|US Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...


| style="text-align:center;"|1
|-
|US Billboard Digital Albums
| style="text-align:center;"|1
|-
|US Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
| style="text-align:center;"|1
|-
|US Billboard Rap Albums
Top Rap Albums
Top Rap Albums is a record chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks Rap and hip-hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart began publication for the week of November 13, 2004....


| style="text-align:center;"|1

Year-end charts

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Chart (2010)
!Position
|-
|US Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...


| style="text-align:center;"|21
|}

Chart precession and succession

Release history

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Country
! Date
! Format
! Label
|-
| rowspan="2"| United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...


|| September 27, 2010
| Digital download
Music download
A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...


| rowspan="2"| Young Money
Young Money Entertainment
Young Money Entertainment is an American record label founded by rapper Lil Wayne. Young Money's president is Lil Wayne's lifelong friend Mack Maine. The label is an imprint of Cash Money Records and is distributed by Universal Republic Records...

, Cash Money
Cash Money Records
Cash Money Records is a record label founded by brothers Bryan "Birdman" Williams and Ronald "Slim" Williams. Today it operates as a subsidiary of Universal Music Group, and is distributed by Universal Republic Records as of 2011...

, Universal Motown
|-
| October 12, 2010
| CD
|-
| rowspan="2"| 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...


| October 18, 2010
| CD
| rowspan="2"| Young Money, Cash Money, Universal Island
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...


|-
|| October 22, 2010
| Digital download
|}

External links

  • I Am Not a Human Being at Discogs
    Discogs
    Discogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...

  • I Am Not a Human Being at Metacritic
    Metacritic
    Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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