Heartbeat (Da' T.R.U.T.H. album)

Heartbeat is the seventh studio album by Christian hip hop recording artist Da' T.R.U.T.H., released on April 15, 2014 by Da' T.R.U.T.H.'s own label, Mixed Bag Records. It features artists such as Braille, Capital Kings, Chris August, Lecrae, Papa San, and Tedashii, and production by Black Knight, DJ Corbett, Justin Ebach, Jordin Endow, Epikh Pro, J.R., Joseph Love, Alex Medina, Carlin Muccular and S1.[1]

Heartbeat
Studio album by Da' T.R.U.T.H.
Released	April 15, 2014
Genre	Christian hip hop, urban contemporary gospel
Length	72:46
Label	Mixed Bag
Producer	Black Knight, DJ Corbett, Justin Ebach, Jordin Endow, Epikh Pro, J.R., Joseph Love, Alex Medina, Carlin Muccular, S1
Da' T.R.U.T.H. chronology
Love Hope War (2013) Heartbeat (2014) It's Complicated (2016)

Style

Da' T.R.U.T.H. experimented with a wide variety of musical styles on Heartbeat. Branden Murphy noted that the tracks "Loud and Clear" and "Compare" feature a very "pop-ish" sound, "Press" contains a "dash of reggae," "Promises" features a Contemporary Christian music style, and "Mixed Bag" has a boom bap sound.[2] Dwayne Lacey listed off rap, electro, Gospel, CCM, and pop as among the styles featured on the album.[3]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[4]
CCM Magazine	[5]
New Release Tuesday	[3]

Heartbeat met with generally positive reception from music critics. The four star review by CCM Magazine's Andrew Greer was given for the music coming "With a burden for bearing life-changing spiritual truths through his rhyming prowess over thick jams, the gospel hip-hop forerunner enrolls a list of Grammy-winning producers to distribute a LP that is musically both experimental and highly accessible."[5] David Jeffries of AllMusic rated the album three-and-a-half stars out of five, stating that "it's the usual T.R.U.T.H. boldness and brilliance all over again, along with the return of the overabundance issue, although even at 16 tracks, this one only seems overstuffed by about one or two".[4] At New Release Tuesday, Dwayne Lacy rated the album three-and-a-half stars, writing that "this album has so much to offer".[3] Branden Murphy of Wade-O Radio stated that while the album allowed Da' T.R.U.T.H.'s creativity and freedom that comes with recording under his own, newly established label, the wide variety of styles on the album can come across as "scattered" on first listen.[2]

Commercial performance

For the Billboard charting week of May 3, 2014, Heartbeat debuted at No. 84 on the Billboard 200, No. 7 and No. 2 on the Christian Albums and Top Gospel Albums charts, respectively, No. 8 on the Rap Albums chart, and No. 16 on the Independent Albums chart.[6]

Track listing

Heartbeat[1]

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Gray" (featuring J.R.)	Emanuel Lambert, Courtney "J.R." Peebles	J.R.	4:28
2.	"Press" (featuring Canon, Papa San)	Lambert, J.R.	J.R.	4:32
3.	"Loud & Clear" (featuring Capital Kings, Tedashii)	Lambert, J.R.	J.R.	4:24
4.	"I Made It" (featuring Black Knight, TC)	Lambert	Black Knight	4:46
5.	"Promises" (featuring Isaac Carree)	Lambert, Carlin Muccular, J. Williams	Carlin Muccular	3:51
6.	"Come Home" (featuring ZG)	Lambert, Zack Gaddis, Alex Medina	Alex Medina	3:18
7.	"Waiting (Interlude)" (featuring Joseph Lindsay)		Joseph Lindsay	1:16
8.	"Welcome Home" (featuring James Fortune)	Lambert, DJ Corbett	DJ Corbett	5:07
9.	"Standing O" (featuring TJ Pompeo)	Lambert, TJ Pompeo	S1 and Epikh Pro	5:42
10.	"Mixed Bag"	Lambert, J.R.	Joseph Love	2:35
11.	"Compare" (featuring Alexis Spight)	Lambert, J.R.	J.R.	6:09
12.	"Bully" (featuring J.R.)	Lambert, J.R.	Joseph Love and J.R.	4:56
13.	"Change the World" (featuring Chris August)	Lambert, J. Williams, Mushran Johnson, Mark Mims, Maurice Tonia	Justin Ebach and Jordin Endow	4:39
14.	"Heartbeat" (featuring Lecrae, Lauren Lee)	Lambert, J.R.	J.R.	6:42
15.	"Rising Sun" (featuring TJ Pompeo, Prayz1, ZG)	Lambert, Gaddis, Medina, TJ Pompeo	Alex Medina	4:23
16.	"Hope (Remix)" (featuring Braille, Derek Minor, and Promise)	Lambert, Medina	Alex Medina	5:58
Total length:				72:46

Charts

Chart (2014)	Peak position
US Billboard 200[7]	84
US Christian Albums (Billboard)[8]	7
US Top Gospel Albums (Billboard)[9]	2
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[10]	16
US Top Rap Albums (Billboard)[11]	8

References

1. Rood, Philip (March 31, 2014). "Da' T.R.U.T.H. 'Heartbeat' Tracklisting Revealed". Rapzilla. Philip Rood and Chad Horton. Retrieved May 18, 2014.
2. Murphy, Branden (April 14, 2014). "Album Review: Da' T.R.U.T.H. – Heartbeat". Wade-O Radio. DJ Wade O. Retrieved May 12, 2014.
3. Lacy, Dwayne (May 1, 2014). "A New Chapter". New Release Tuesday. Retrieved May 10, 2014.
4. Jeffries, David (April 15, 2014). "Heartbeat - Da' T.R.U.T.H. | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved May 10, 2014.
5. Greer, Andrew Greer (July 15, 2014). "DA' T.R.U.T.H.: Heartbeat". ccmmagazine.com. CCM Magazine. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
6. "Heartbeat - Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved May 18, 2014.
7. "Da' T.R.U.T.H.: Billboard 200". AllMusic. Retrieved May 10, 2014.
8. "Da' T.R.U.T.H.: Christian Albums". AllMusic. Retrieved May 10, 2014.
9. "Da' T.R.U.T.H.: Top Gospel Albums". AllMusic. Retrieved May 10, 2014.
10. "Da' T.R.U.T.H.: Independent Albums". AllMusic. Retrieved May 10, 2014.
11. "Da' T.R.U.T.H.: Rap Albums". AllMusic. Retrieved May 10, 2014.