Rap Life is the solo debut album by West Coast hip hop

West Coast hip hop

West Coast hip hop is a hip hop music subgenre that encompasses any artists or music that originates in the westernmost region of the United States, as opposed to East Coast hip hop, based originally in New York alone...

 artist, Tash

Tash (rapper)

Rico Smith, better known by his stage name Tash, is an American rapper. He is most known for his work as a member of West Coast hip hop group, Tha Alkaholiks alongside J-Ro and E-Swift. He has released two solo albums, Rap Life and Control Freek, and has worked on five albums with Tha Alkaholiks...

. It was released in 1999, two years before and after Tash's albums with Tha Liks. It received positive critical reception, but was not too commercially successful. It reached #148 on The Billboard 200, but reached #1 on the Top Heatseekers

Top Heatseekers

Top Heatseekers refers to either of two separate "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by Billboard Magazine: the Heatseekers Albums chart or the Heatseekers Songs chart. They were introduced by Billboard in 1993 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new and developing musical...

 chart, which measures underground acclaim. It had two charting singles--the title track and "Bermuda Triangle." The lack of further success of this album is odd considering its high profile guest appearances from Outkast

OutKast

Outkast is an American hip hop duo based in East Point, Georgia, consisting of Atlanta native André "André 3000" Benjamin and Savannah, Georgia-born Antwan "Big Boi" Patton. They were originally known as Two Shades Deep but later changed the group's name to OutKast...

, Xzibit

Xzibit

Alvin Nathaniel Joiner , better known by his stage name Xzibit , is an American rapper, actor, and television host. He is known as the host of the MTV show Pimp My Ride, which brought him mainstream success...

 and B-Real

B-Real

Louis Freese, better known by his stage name B-Real, is an American rapper of Cuban and Mexican heritage, and a film and TV actor...

 of Cypress Hill

Cypress Hill

Cypress Hill is an American hip hop group from South Gate, California. Cypress Hill was the first Latino hip-hop group to have platinum and multi-platinum albums, selling over 18 million albums worldwide...

 amongst others. Still, many positive things have been said about the album such as that it is a "beacon of hope for the West's resurgence."

Track listing

#	Title	Songwriters	Producer(s)	Performer (s)
1	"Ricochet"	R. Smith, E. Brooks, H. Magidson, A. Wruble, C. Wallace, P. Combs, N. Myrick	E-Swift	Tash, E-Swift (additional vocals), Uncle Leek (additional), Xzibit Xzibit Alvin Nathaniel Joiner , better known by his stage name Xzibit , is an American rapper, actor, and television host. He is known as the host of the MTV show Pimp My Ride, which brought him mainstream success...  (additional)
2	"Cops Skit"		Sir Jinx Sir Jinx Sir Jinx, born Anthony Wheaton, is an American hip-hop record producer and rapper from South Central Los Angeles, California.-Beginnings:...	*Interlude*
3	"G'z Iz G'z"	R. Smith, R. Brown, K. Gilliam, R. Noble, W. Collins, G. Clinton, L. Haywood	Battlecat Battlecat (producer) Kevin Gilliam, better know by his stage name Battlecat, is an American hip hop producer from Long Beach, California.-Biography:He is well known for producing artists such as Snoop Dogg, The Game, Xzibit and Tha Eastsidaz along with a number of other West Coast rappers...	Kurupt Kurupt Ricardo Emmanuel Brown , better known by his stage name Kurupt, also known as Kurupt Tha Kingpin, Kurupt Young Gotti or Young Gotstra is an American rapper and former Executive Vice President of Death Row Records... , Tash
4	"Pimpin' Ain't Easy"	R. Smith, M. Richardson, R. Finch, H.W. Casey	Minnesota	Tash, Cha Cha (additional)
5	"Rap Life"	R. Smith, C. Woods, R. Frierson	Younglord Younglord Richard "Younglord" Frierson is an American Hip Hop and R&B record producer.A native of New York City, he was signed in November 1994, at the age of sixteen, to Puff Daddy's Hitmen Production Team producing for the label's roster including Mase, The Lox, Faith Evans & 112...	Raekwon Raekwon Corey Woods , better known by the stage name Raekwon, is an American rapper and a member of the Wu-Tang Clan. He released his solo debut, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... in 1995, and has since recorded four solo albums, as well as work with Wu-Tang and an extensive amount of guest contributions with... , Tash
6	"The Game"	R. Smith, C. Thomas, J. Foster, M. White	Knobody Knobody Jerome Foster, better known as Knobody, is an American music producer and A&R. Knobody has produced records across different genres including soul, R&B, hip hop and rock for several multi-platinum artists including Jay-Z, Ne-Yo, Akon, The Game, Big Pun, Mýa and R.E.M....	Carl Thomas, Tash, Uncle Leek (additional)
7	"Game Show Skit"		Sir Jinx	*Interlude*
8	"Only When I'm Drunker"	R. Smith, E. Brooks, J. Robinson, M. Richardson, W. Thomas, A. Moon	Minnesota	E-Swift, J-Ro J-Ro James Robinson, known by his stage name J-Ro is a hip-hop performer and former member of Tha Alkaholiks. He is also a regular guest/contributor of Combat Radio - Discography :818 Antics*Mix-CD*Released: May 5, 2006... , Phillip Johnson, Tash
9	"Goggles (Skit)"	R. Smith, E. Brooks	Sir Jinx	Danielle O'Donnell, E-Swift
10	"Nightfall"	R. Smith, F. Nassar	Fredwreck Nassar Fredwreck Farid Karam Nassar, better known as Fredwreck is a record producer from Los Angeles, California. He got his big break when he became a producer for Dr. Dre's newly founded Aftermath Records label, and went on to work with Snoop Dogg's record label Dogghouse Records and became a known producer on...	Tash
11	"Bill Clinton (Skit)"		E-Swift	Troy D. Duran
12	"Smokefest 1999"	R. Smith, A. Benjamin, A. Patton, J. Smith, E. Brooks	E-Swift	B-Real B-Real Louis Freese, better known by his stage name B-Real, is an American rapper of Cuban and Mexican heritage, and a film and TV actor... , Outkast OutKast Outkast is an American hip hop duo based in East Point, Georgia, consisting of Atlanta native André "André 3000" Benjamin and Savannah, Georgia-born Antwan "Big Boi" Patton. They were originally known as Two Shades Deep but later changed the group's name to OutKast...  (Andre 3000 André 3000 André Lauren Benjamin , better known by his stage name André 3000 is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and actor, best known for being part of American hip-hop duo OutKast alongside fellow rapper Big Boi... , Big Boi Big Boi Antwan André Patton , better known by his stage name Big Boi, is an American rapper, song-writer, record producer and actor, best known for being a member of American hip hop duo OutKast alongside André 3000. His work in the duo has produced six studio albums. During the duo's hiatus, he and André... ), Phil Da Agony, Tash
13	"Fallin' On"	R. Smith, D. Stinson, D. Axelrod	Rockwilder Rockwilder Rockwilder is an American hip hop and R&B record producer, rapper, and R&B Singer. A long term friend of Def Jam rapper Redman, Rockwilder got his start producing for East Coast Hip Hop artists in the mid 1990s. In 1999 Rockwilder produced Method Man & Redman's hit single "Da Rockwilder"...	Tash, Half Moon (additional), Miki (additional), Rockwilder (additional)
14	"Tash Rules"	R. Smith, L. Sanders, D. Stinson	Rockwilder	LV, Tash
15	"Ice-T Skit"		E-Swift	Ice-T ICE-T * Ice-T, an American rapper and actor* ICE T , a tilting model of the German InterCityExpress series of high-speed trains...
16	"True Homies"	R. Smith, A. Joiner, J. Smith, E. Brooks	E-Swift	Phil Da Agony, Tash, Xzibit
17	"Blackula"	R. Smith, E. Brooks	E-Swift	E-Swift, J-Ro, Tash
18	"Bermuda Triangle"	R. Smith, E. Brooks	E-Swift	Tash

Samples

Ricochet

• "Who Shot Ya?" by The Notorious B.I.G.
  The Notorious B.I.G.
  Christopher George Latore Wallace , best known as The Notorious B.I.G., was an American rapper. He was also known as Biggie Smalls , Big Poppa, and The Black Frank White .Wallace was raised in the Brooklyn borough...
  
  

G'z Iz G'z

• "Rockafella
  Rockafella (song)
  "Rockafella" is the first single found on Redman's second album, Dare Iz a Darkside. It is produced by Redman and contains samples from "I Wanna Do Something Freaky to You" by Leon Haywood and "Flashlight" by Parliament. It can be found on the compilation, Hip Hop Factory: The Bomb Hip Hop, Vol...
  
  " by Redman
• "I Wanna Do Something Freaky to You" by Leon Haywood
• "Flashlight" by Parliament

Pimpin' Ain't Easy

• "" by KC & the Sunshine Band

Fallin' On

• "The Edge" by David McCallum
  David McCallum
  David Keith McCallum, Jr. is a Scottish actor and musician. He is best known for his roles as Illya Kuryakin, a Russian-born secret agent, in the 1960s television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E., as interdimensional operative Steel in Sapphire & Steel, and Dr...
  
   and David Axelrod
  David Axelrod (musician)
  David Axelrod is an American composer, arranger and producer, working in several musical genres.-Biography:...
  
  

Tash Rules

• "I Want You" by Marvin Gaye
  Marvin Gaye
  Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....
  
  

Album chart positions

Year	Album	Chart positions
		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...	Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums	Top Heatseekers Top Heatseekers Top Heatseekers refers to either of two separate "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by Billboard Magazine: the Heatseekers Albums chart or the Heatseekers Songs chart. They were introduced by Billboard in 1993 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new and developing musical...
1999	Rap Life	148	28	1

Singles chart positions

Year	Song	Chart positions
		US R&B	US Rap Hot Rap Tracks Rap Songs is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States. It lists the 25 most popular hip-hop/rap songs, calculated weekly by airplay on rhythmic and urban radio stations and sales in hip hop-focused or exclusive markets. From 1989 through 2001, it was based on how much the single...
1999	"Rap Life"	86	45
	"Bermuda Triangle"	-	39