Survival Skills (album)

Survival Skills is a collaborative studio album by American rappers KRS-One and Buckshot. It was released on September 15, 2009 through Duck Down Music. Production was handled by Illmind, Black Milk, Khrysis, 9th Wonder, Coptic, DJ Mentplus, Havoc, Marco Polo, MoSS and Nottz. It features guest appearances from Bounty Killer, Heltah Skeltah, Immortal Technique, K'naan, Mary J. Blige, Melanie Fiona, Naledge, Pharoahe Monch, Slug, Smif-N-Wessun, Talib Kweli, the Loudmouf Choir and DJ Revolution.

Survival Skills
Studio album by KRS-One & Buckshot
Released	September 15, 2009 (2009-09-15)
Recorded	2008–09
Studio	DaMan Studios (New York, NY)
Genre	Hip hop
Length	56:58
Label	Duck Down
Producer	Buckshot (exec.) Drew "Dru-Ha" Friedman (exec.) 9th Wonder Black Milk Coptic DJ Mentplus Havoc Illmind Khrysis Marco Polo MoSS Nottz
KRS-One chronology
Maximum Strength (2008) Survival Skills (2009) Meta-Historical (2010)
Buckshot chronology
The Formula (2008) Survival Skills (2009) The Solution (2012)
Singles from Survival Skills
"Robot" Released: May 5, 2009 "Survival Skills" Released: November 24, 2009

The album peaked at number 62 on the Billboard 200, number 19 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, number 11 on the Top Rap Albums and number 9 on the Independent Albums, with selling around 8,500 copies its first week in the United States.

The lead single, "Robot", was released on May 5, 2009, and accompaying music video, directed by Todd Angkasuwan, debuted as the New Joint of the Day on 106 & Park on September 4, 2009.

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	67/100^[1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[2]
HipHopDX	3.5/5^[3]
Now	3/5 (NNN)^[4]
Pitchfork	3.9/10^[5]
Prefix	7/10^[6]
PopMatters	^[7]
RapReviews	10/10^[8]
Robert Christgau	^[9]
Spin	^[10]
XXL	3/5 (L)^[11]

Survival Skills was met with generally favorable reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 67, based on eight reviews.^[1]

Steve Juon of RapReviews praised the album with 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".^[8] AllMusic's David Jeffries stated that "loyal hip-hop heads with a taste for the old-school boom bap shouldn't think twice and won't be disappointed".^[2] Prefix Magazine reviewer called it "a call to arms, and a poetic, uncompromising one at that".^[6]

In a mixed review, Andrew Rennie of Toronto-based Now said, "KRS-One's wordplay remains clever and topical, especially on the anti-Auto-Tune anthem "Robot", while his sanctimoniousness has been toned down to more tolerable levels. Black Moon's Buckshot is a comfortable pairing and, although his street-savvy sound may not have aged as well as some of his Duck Down Records brethren's, he still finds a familiar dynamic when rapping alongside old cohorts".^[4] Writing for Spin, Mosi Reeves stated that "the beats by producers Black Milk, 9th Wonder and Havoc are strictly no-frills, but just hot enough to keep these cranky yet lovable old MCs' joints from stiffening up".^[10] Quentin B. Huff of PopMatters reviewed, "Ultimately, Survival Skills does what its creators intended for it to do: to be resolute in its dedication to lyrical acumen and head nodding production. Had they also been more adventurous with the content, the album would have risen to another level".^[7] Jesse Serwer of XXL said, "KRS and Buck might have first left Timberland-shaped footprints on hip-hop in the ’80s and early ’90s, respectively, but, on their first collaborative effort, they prove that not much has changed, and it truly is survival of the fittest".^[11]

In a negative review, Tom Breihan of Pitchfork wrote, "to catch a glimpse of these guys' past glories in 2009, your best option is still to go see them live; this is just a souvenir".^[5]

In his Consumer Guide, veteran music critic Robert Christgau gave the album a one-star honorable mention, saying it was "basically an old-school mixtape, wiser when it instructs the fathers than when it criticizes the sons"; he also picked its two songs "Think of All the Things" and "Runnin' Away".^[9]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Survival Skills" (featuring DJ Revolution)	Kenyatta Blake Lawrence Parker Kurt Hoffman Ramon Ibanga Jr	Illmind	3:59
2.	"Robot"	Blake Parker Kejuan Muchita	Havoc	4:06
3.	"The Way I Live" (featuring Mary J. Blige)	Blake Parker Mary J. Blige Curtis Cross	Black Milk	3:57
4.	"Clean Up Crew" (featuring Rock)	Blake Parker Jahmal Bush Ibanga Jr	Illmind	3:57
5.	"Oh Really" (featuring Talib Kweli)	Blake Parker Talib Greene Marco Bruno	Marco Polo	3:13
6.	"Connection" (featuring Smif-N-Wessun)	Blake Parker Darrell Yates Jr Tekomin Williams Jason Connoy	MoSS	5:23
7.	"Runnin' Away" (featuring Immortal Technique)	Blake Parker Felipe Coronel Cross	Black Milk	4:40
8.	"Think of All the Things" (featuring K'naan)	Blake Parker Keinan Warsame Marc Vladimir	DJ Mentplus	4:03
9.	"One Shot" (featuring Pharoahe Monch)	Blake Parker Troy Jamerson Dominick Lamb	Nottz	3:46
10.	"Amazin" (featuring Sean Price and the Loudmouf Choir)	Blake Parker Sean Price Christopher Tyson	Khrysis	3:47
11.	"Hear No Evil"	Blake Parker Tyson	Khrysis	3:21
12.	"Murder 1" (featuring Bounty Killer)	Blake Parker Rodney Price Eric Matlock	Coptic	3:59
13.	"We Made It" (featuring Slug)	Blake Parker Sean Daley Ibanga Jr	Illmind	4:25
14.	"Past Present Future" (featuring Melanie Fiona and Naledge)	Blake Parker Melanie Hallim Jabari Evans Patrick Douthit	9th Wonder	4:35
Total length:				56:58

Charts

Chart (2009)	Peak position
US Billboard 200^[12]	62
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)^[13]	19
US Top Rap Albums (Billboard)^[14]	11
US Independent Albums (Billboard)^[15]	9

References

1. "Critic Reviews for Survival Skills - Metacritic". Metacritic. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
2. Jeffries, David. "Survival Skills - KRS-One | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
3. Cusenza, Michael (September 13, 2009). "KRS-One & Buckshot - Survival Skills". HipHopDX. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
4. Rennie, Andrew (September 30, 2009). "KRS-One & Buckshot". Now. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
5. Breihan, Tom (October 16, 2009). "Buckshot / KRS-One: Survival Skills". Pitchfork. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
6. "Survival Skills | Prefixmag.com". Prefix Magazine. October 27, 2009. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
7. Huff, Quentin B. (December 3, 2009). "KRS-One & Buckshot: Survival Skills". PopMatters. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
8. Juon, Steve 'Flash' (September 15, 2009). "KRS-One & Buckshot :: Survival Skills :: Duck Down Music". www.rapreviews.com. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
9. Christgau, Robert. "Robert Christgau: CG: KRS-One". www.robertchristgau.com. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
10. Reeves, Mosi (September 10, 2009). "KRS-One & Buckshot, 'Survival Skills' (Duck Down) | SPIN". Spin. Vol. 25, no. 10. SPIN Media LLC (published October 2009). p. 80. ISSN 0886-3032. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
11. Serwer, Jesse (September 17, 2009). "KRS-One & Buckshot: Survival Skills - XXL". XXL. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
12. "KRS-One Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
13. "Buckshot Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
14. "KRS-One Chart History (Top Rap Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
15. "Buckshot Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved October 17, 2020.

External links

• KRS-One & Buckshot – Survival Skills at Discogs (list of releases)