I Am (Yo Gotti album)
I Am is the seventh studio album by American hip hop recording artist Yo Gotti. The album was released on November 19, 2013, by Epic and CMG. The album features guest appearances from T.I., Ne-Yo, Wale, Rich Homie Quan, J. Cole, Jeezy, Meek Mill, and YG, among others. The album was supported by the singles "Act Right" featuring YG and Jeezy, "King Shit" featuring T.I., "Cold Blood" featuring J. Cole and Canei Finch and "I Know" featuring Rich Homie Quan. The first and fourth singles were later certified gold by the RIAA.
Background
On May 28, 2013, Yo Gotti announced that his sixth studio album would be titled I Am. In July 2013, it was announced that the album would be released on November 19, 2013. On August 22, 2013, he announced the I Am Tour Dates, a tour in promotion of I Am which ran from September 14, 2013, until November 19, 2013, with supporting acts including YG, Zed Zilla, Shy Glizzy and Cash Out. On September 2, 2013, Yo Gotti released the mixtape Nov 19th: The Mixtape in promotion for the album.In a December 2013, interview with Mikey T The Movie Star, Yo Gotti spoke about how the album was received, saying: "We gettin' nothin' but good, positive feedback from the album. The numbers going fairly well. Most important to me, the fans loved it. Fans fuck wit' it....Just givin' the people what they want. I've seen a lot of growth with this album. We doing different platforms, TV shows, we doing shows in different markets. Just being on different blog sites. I'm seeing a lot of different things coming. I guess it's because of the growth of the material that I put out on this album."
Singles
On July 23, 2013, the album's first single "Act Right" featuring Jeezy and YG was released. On July 24, 2013, the music video for "Act Right" featuring Jeezy and YG was released. "Act Right" has since peaked at number 100 on the US Billboard Hot 100. On October 7, 2013, the album's second official single "King Shit" featuring T.I. was released to mainstream urban radio in the United States. On October 15, 2013, the music video for "King Shit" featuring T.I. was released. "King Shit" has since peaked at five on the US Billboard Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart.On October 27, 2013, Yo Gotti premiered the album's third single, "Cold Blood" featuring rapper J. Cole and Canei Finch. Four days later on October 31, "Cold Blood" was serviced to mainstream urban radio in the United States. Then on November 19, 2013, "Cold Blood" was serviced to rhythmic contemporary radio in the United States. On February 5, 2014, the music video was released for "Cold Blood" featuring J. Cole and Canei Finch.
On November 20, 2013, the music video was released for "LeBron James". On December 10, 2013, the music video was released for "Don't Come Around" featuring Kendall Morgan. On November 15, 2013, "I Know" featuring Rich Homie Quan was released as the album's fourth single. In January 2014, it was serviced to urban contemporary radio in the United States. On May 1, 2014, the music video was released for "I Know" featuring Rich Homie Quan.
Critical reception
I Am was met with generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 64, based on 5 reviews. David Jeffries of AllMusic gave the album four out of five stars, saying "Like so many rappers who play it street level and live and die by the mixtape game, Memphis man Yo Gotti has maintained an uneasy relationship with the official album. His early work was indie to a fault, with long-players sounding patched together from mixtape numbers and other related whatnot, while his mainstream debut, 2012's Live from the Kitchen, suffered from its long birthing process, sounding patched together on the million-dollar level with too much input from the marketing department. Good news for fans who stuck it out this long is that I Am is the moment when the skies clear, as the album comes on strong with a hard-hitting set of openers, and then, the high quality is maintained with a set of easy-flowing supportive songs that broaden the LP spectrum, all without leaving Gotti's comfort zone." Ronald Grant of HipHopDX gave the album two and a half stars out of five, saying "At the end of the day, I Am’s overall passable production and flashes of potency and strength keep it afloat for a time. And Gotti deserves commendation for his talent at bringing an explicit rawness, reality and affection to his autobiographical bars. But even those considerations aren’t enough to make this album worth more than a few listens, sadly relying on a continuous set of monotonous hooks and overly used trap beats that saturate a strong majority of current popular Rap music." Reed Jackson of XXL gave the album an L, saying "On the majority of I Am, he stays rooted in the ideas and melodies that he’s been refining since he first dropped From Da Dope Game 2 Da Rap Game over 10 year ago. The self-proclaimed “King Of Memphis” has lived up to his title again, and perhaps this album will help him continue his reign for another 10 years."Paul Cantor of Vibe gave the album a positive review, saying "If there’s one glaring downside to I Am, it’s that a handful of songs sound, well, a lot like other songs. From the flows to the production, “Act Right” mimicks Young Jeezy's “R.I.P.,” and “Lebron James” apes Juicy J's “Bandz A Make Her Dance.” There are others. One on the one hand you applaud Gotti for implementing a hit-making formula so effectively, and after all, songs sounding like other songs is not an uncommon thing. But on the other hand, why couldn't Gotti couldn't come up with his own blueprint for smash records? Maybe after all these years he didn't want to leave too much up to chance. Not sure we can be mad at that." Grant Jones of RapReviews gave the album a 4.5 out of 10, saying "This album slams harder than a body slam from Sticky Fingaz, and much like Onyx, ruthless misogyny runs throughout "I Am", with ‘bitch' and ‘nigga' in every other bar. At times you'd wish Gotti had done what DMX used to do and recorded two versions, or even better, put some thought in to his writing. If you can get past the ignorance, this is enjoyable for what it is - an album to be played loudly in your car, with the windows down and a middle finger up to anybody who looks at you disapprovingly." Louis Goggans of the Memphis Flyer gave the album a positive review, saying "Gotti’s transition from dominating the underground rap circuit to enjoying mainstream success with hits like “5 Star” and “Men Lie, Women Lie” convey that hard work pays off. And he continues to utilize the very same work ethic that's brought him to this point in his career on his latest project. Although Gotti doesn't sway too far from his usual topics on the album, he doesn't display any signs of decline creatively either. After more than 10 years in the game, Gotti still has the ability to provide listeners with quality music and this is evident with I Am."