Grip It! On That Other Level

Grip It! On That Other Level
Studio album by
ReleasedMarch 12, 1989
Recorded1988–1989
Genre
Length54:03
LabelRap-A-Lot
Producer
  • DJ Ready Red
  • Doug King
  • James Smith
  • John Bido
  • Johnny C
Ghetto Boys chronology
Making Trouble
(1988)
Grip It! On That Other Level
(1989)
The Geto Boys
(1990)
Alternative cover
Reissue album cover
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
The Source[2]

Grip It! On That Other Level is the second studio album by the Houston, Texas based hip-hop group, the Ghetto Boys (later spelled Geto Boys), released on March 12, 1989, on Rap-A-Lot Records. Following the disappointing results of the group's first album, Rap-A-Lot CEO James Prince replaced two of the group members with Scarface (then known as Akshen) and Willie D, who joined original members Bushwick Bill and DJ Ready Red. Recording for the album began in 1988, and finished in early 1989. The majority of the album's tracks were produced by DJ Ready Red, and much of the album's lyrical content deals with violent and misogynistic topics, which would later be credited for pioneering the horrorcore hip hop subgenre.[3]

Upon its 1989 release, Grip It! On That Other Level reached number 166 on the Billboard 200 chart, and number 19 on the Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart. The song "Do it Like a G.O." was the album's only single used for promotion. Grip It! was well received in the hip hop community, and was considered to be the group's breakout album, as it gave them national exposure and eventually sold 500,000 copies.[4] A year after its release, super-producer Rick Rubin remixed 10 of its tracks for the 1990 remix album The Geto Boys. In 1998, The Source magazine included Grip It! On That Other Level on their 100 Best Albums list, and in 2002, they gave it the perfect five mic' rating.

  1. ^ Allmusic review
  2. ^ Kazeem (August 4, 2010). The Complete List Of 5 Mic Hip-Hop Classics. The Source. Retrieved on 2010-12-23.
  3. ^ Bruce, Joseph; Echlin, Hobey (August 2003). "The Dark Carnival". In Nathan Fostey (ed.). ICP: Behind the Paint (second ed.). Royal Oak, Michigan: Psychopathic Records. pp. 174–185. ISBN 0-9741846-0-8.
  4. ^ Caesar, Syd. Grip It on That Other Level. geniusrap.com. Retrieved 2014-02-21.