Ghetto Gothic - Release and Reception

Release and Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic

Capitol released a sampler to promote Ghetto Gothic, containing the songs "There", "The Apple Stretching" and "On 115", marketing the sampler to alternative outlets, including public radio. Capitol also launched an extensive press campaign for the album which tied with Gramercy Pictures' campaign for the film Panther, which was written by Melvin Van Peebles, and directed by Mario Van Peebles. Capitol's campaign for Ghetto Gothic included a biography written by author Nelson George, and appearances by Melvin and Mario Van Peebles on The Charlie Rose Show.

Melvin Van Peebles also performed a "miniconcert" for a benefit in Detroit, where Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song debuted. Detroit retailers saw potential for the album's success through airplay on jazz and urban contemporary radio stations. Captiol's vice president of creative marketing, Ruth Carson, stated in regards to the campaign, "There's a range of tastes will appeal to. It's not genre-specific in terms of music buyers: People who buy hip-hop are interested in other forms." Capitol also drew marketing value from Van Peebles' reputation as "the godfather of rap".

Allmusic reviewer Ed Hogan gave Ghetto Gothic three out of five stars, calling it "an idiosyncratic recording from an artist who has been doing cutting-edge work in film, theater and music for four decades."

Read more about this topic:  Ghetto Gothic

Famous quotes containing the words release and/or reception:

    We read poetry because the poets, like ourselves, have been haunted by the inescapable tyranny of time and death; have suffered the pain of loss, and the more wearing, continuous pain of frustration and failure; and have had moods of unlooked-for release and peace. They have known and watched in themselves and others.
    Elizabeth Drew (1887–1965)

    Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own; which is the chief reason for that kind of reception it meets in the world, and that so very few are offended with it.
    Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)