Rap Album One is the third studio album by American hip hop artist Jonwayne.[1] It was released on October 29, 2013 on Stones Throw Records.[2] Music videos were created for "The Come Up"[3] and "How to Be a Gemini."[4]
At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 74, based on 8 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[5]
Del F. Cowie of Exclaim! gave the album a 7 out of 10, commenting that "Jonwayne's flow is verbose, cerebral and free-associative by nature; toss in the gruff delivery, and the MF Doom comparisons are inevitable."[8] Kyle Kramer of Pitchfork gave the album a 6.0 out of 10, saying, "His sound is minimal, in many cases relying on just piano and subdued drum pattern—live he uses just a sampler and a mic—which works to vivid effect."[11]
Laurent Fintoni of Fact praised the album as "the sound of an artist who's finally found some balance between his rapper and producer halves."[9] In January 2014, it was named the Worldwide Winner of Album of the Year by British radio and club DJGilles Peterson.[14] Max Bell of LA Weekly also called it "one of the best rap albums of the year".[15]