Survival Skills is the collaborative album from MC KRS-One

KRS-One

Lawrence Krisna Parker , better known by his stage names KRS-One , and Teacha, is an American rapper...

 and Buckshot

Buckshot (rapper)

Buckshot is an underground rapper, famous as the leader of Hip Hop supergroup Boot Camp Clik, and the group Black Moon. He has released one solo album, two with producer 9th Wonder, four albums with Black Moon and four albums with the Boot Camp Clik.- Biography :Born and raised in Brooklyn...

. The album was released on September 15, 2009 on Duck Down Records

Duck Down Records

Duck Down Music Inc is a New York City based record label, talent management, music-marketing, and consulting company founded by Drew "Dru-Ha" Friedman and Kenyatta "Buckshot" Blake in 1995. In Duck Down's 16 year existence, the Company has released over 40 Albums and sold more than 3 million...

. It is the 18th album for KRS-One, and the fourth for Buckshot.

The first single, ROBOT, was released on May 5, 2009. The music video was directed by Todd Angkasuwan

Todd Angkasuwan

Todd Angkasuwan is a music video and documentary film director.-Biography:Angkasuwan grew up in Riverside, California and has been making films since he was 9 years old. After college, he worked as a television news reporter for ABC, CBS and Fox...

 and debuted as the New Joint of the Day on 106 & Park

106 & Park

106 & Park is a Top Ten Hip-Hop and R&B music video show, set up in a countdown format, that airs weekdays at 6:00 PM on BET . Since its inception, it was the network's #1 rated show...

 on September 4, 2009.

Featured artists

KRS-One & Buckshot have stated that the album will feature Mary J. Blige

Mary J. Blige

Mary Jane Blige is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and occasional actress. She is a recipient of nine Grammy Awards and four American Music Awards, and has recorded eight multi-platinum albums. She is the only artist with Grammy Award wins in Pop, Rap, Gospel, and R&B. Blige has...

, Talib Kweli

Talib Kweli

Talib Kweli Greene , better known as Talib Kweli, is an American hip-hop artist and poet from Brooklyn, New York. His first name in Arabic means "student" or "seeker" ; his in Swahili means "true"...

, K'naan

K'naan

K'naan , born Keinan Abdi Warsame in 1978, is a Somali Canadian poet, rapper, singer, songwriter and instrumentalist.-Biography:Born in Somalia, K'naan spent his childhood in Mogadishu and lived there during the Somali Civil War, which began in 1991. His aunt, Magool, was one of Somalia's most...

, Naledge of Kidz in the Hall

Kidz in the Hall

Kidz in the Hall is an American hip hop duo from Chicago, Illinois.-History:Group members Jabari Evans and Michael Aguilar met in 2000 during a talent show at the University of Pennsylvania. They began recording songs, making demos, and performing at local shows which eventually led to Double-0...

, Slug

Slug (rapper)

Sean Michael Daley, better known by his stage name Slug or "'Sep Seven'", is an American rapper. He is from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Slug is best known as one fourth of the hip hop group Atmosphere, which he founded with Derek Turner...

, Smif-n-Wessun

Smif-N-Wessun

Smif-n-Wessun is a hip hop duo consisting of members Tek and Steele . Smif-n-Wessun comprise two-fifths of the Brownsville, Brooklyn supergroup Boot Camp Clik, with Buckshot, Heltah Skeltah and O.G.C...

, Heltah Skeltah

Heltah Skeltah

Heltah Skeltah is a hip hop duo consisting of members Rock and Ruck . The two are members of New York supergroup Boot Camp Clik, along with Buckshot, Smif-N-Wessun and O.G.C....

,and Immortal Technique

Immortal Technique

Felipe Andres Coronel , better known by the stage name Immortal Technique, is an American rapper of Afro-Peruvian descent as well as an urban activist. He was born in Lima, Peru and raised in Harlem, New York. Most of his lyrics focus on controversial issues in global politics...

.

Producers include Havoc, 9th Wonder

9th Wonder

Patrick Douthit , better known as 9th Wonder is a hip hop record producer, record executive, DJ, professor, and lyricist from Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S.A. He began his career as the main producer for the hip hop group Little Brother, and has also worked with Mary J...

, Black Milk

Black Milk

Curtis Cross, better known as Black Milk, is a hip hop producer and MC from Detroit, Michigan.-Biography:In 2004, he formed B.R. Gunna, with Young RJ, and Fat Ray, and together they released Dirty District: Vol. 2, a follow up to a compilation released in 2001 by Slum Village, which he had...

, Marco Polo, Illmind, Khrysis, Coptic, Moss and more

Reception

Survival Skills has received positive reviews from critics. Steve Juon of RapReviews.com gave the album a flawless 10 out of 10, claiming "Buckshot and KRS have achieved something rather remarkable here - an album I can't find a single fault with. There's not a bad beat, there's not a whack rhyme, there's not a collaborator on a track that missed the mark, and the disc itself is neither too short nor too long." A review featured on The Smoking Section states, "...the duo tries to elicit all the things that are wrong about Hip-Hop...proving that the most important Survival Skills are talent and dedication to craft. Up and comers should take notice."

Sales

Survival Skills debuted at #62, making it on The Billboard 200 selling around 8,500 copies its first week.

Track list