Released October 24, 1995 Length 59:14 | Recorded 1994-1995 Label Epic | |
Genre R&B
neo soul
hip hop soul Producer Jimmy Henchman (exec.), Amel Larrieux (exec.), Lamont Boles(exec.), Bryce Wilson | ||
Groove Theory is the eponymous debut studio album by the American R&B duo Groove Theory, released on October 24, 1995 by Epic Records. The album peaked at number sixty-nine on the US Billboard 200 chart. In October 1996, it was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for surpassing 500,000 copies in the United States.
Contents
Background
"Well, I mean, inspiration was being young and green and having years and years of songs written before then, and never being in the studio before. It's a live combination of inexperience, excitement, innocence, and a lot to say, you know being years and years of writing stuff, and watching things, and I grew up at the time that the Native Tongues was really popular, that really influenced me. I think I grew up in the hey day of hip hop, the best hip hop, the late 80's, early 90's, so I had a lot of stuff to inspire musically that was going on. And it was inspirational for me as a songwriter to be able to have all my own material that I was writing, as opposed to being in a group where some things are written for you."
Release and reception
Stanton Swihart of Allmusic considered the effort "an exquisite, even innovative album. Not only did it (in retrospect) help to herald the progressive neo-soul movement, but its melding of decidedly hip-hop production techniques... with the emotional impulses and themes of soul was still a novel approach to making R&B at the time."
The album was certified gold by October 1996.
Track listing
All music by B. Wilson, A. Larrieux, and D. Brown except where noted.
Singles
"—" denotes releases that did not chart.
Personnel
Information taken from Allmusic.