Jethro
| "Jethro" | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||
| Single by Uprising featuring Jethro Collings | |||||
| from the album Renegade Riots | |||||
| Released | July 29, 2012 | ||||
| Format | Digital download | ||||
| Recorded | February 2012 | ||||
| Genre | Hip hop | ||||
| Length | 2:58 | ||||
| Label | Colossal Records, Stone Empire | ||||
| Writer(s) | Crow Smith, Eric Cooper | ||||
| Producer | DJ Crow | ||||
| Uprising singles chronology | |||||
| |||||
"Jethro" is the third single by the hip hop duo Uprising, composed of DJ Crow and Joe-Q, from their collaborative album Renegade Riots (2012). The song's existence was confirmed by Joe-Q in a press conference on July 1, 2012, also revealing that the song would heavily sample a song by the late soul legend Jethro Collings, who is officially credited as as featured performer. Jetro was purely written by Crow and Joe. On July 27, 2012, Crow revealed that the song would receive it's radio premiere on the 28th and would be released the next day for digital download on iceTunes, without any promotion besides radio airplay and with the power of the internet.
Running a length of just under three minutes, the Crow-produced song received mostly positive feedback from critics and fans. The song entered the UnitedTerra Singles Chart at number 23, but continued to climb - eventually peaking at number 1 in UTR and CP, and number 12 in the USA. The music video premiered on the same day as the album release - August 5, 2012 - and features the rappers performing the song under each of their respective enlarged country flags, and roaming around the roads.
Contents
Background[edit]
Recording and production for Renegade Riots began in November 2011. In February 2012, the two rappers hadn't gotten too far with the album. Crow suggested that they worked in something very original and old-school. Eventually, Crow decided to do something he didn't normally do when producing - sampling another song. Crow worked on the sample for just an hour. The next day Crow showcased the song to Joe, who immediately started working on writing lyrics for the song. The two agreed to put the song on the album. Both rappers wrote their lyrics to the song in an hour, and didn't even decide to proof-read. Joe suggested that they write three 8-bar verses each, and split them evenly around the song with Joe starting and Crow going after each of his verses. After finishing recording, they decided to not include a chorus. Crow then mixed the song. Upon naming the song Crow suggested "Jethro" in honour of the late soul legend. Originally Crow didn't want to release "Jethro" as an official single, but Joe persuaded him to release it as he knew it would be a hit.
Artwork[edit]
The cover was designed by Crow himself - taking a portion of the UnitedTerra flag and filling it with photoshop effects - adding the national colours orange and grey. Instead of using his usual name logo, Crow uses a simple, small, pixelated font to write "DJ Crow ① Joe-Q", "Jethro" and "Renegade Riots" near the bottom of the cover. The artwork was praised for being original and creative.
Composition[edit]
The original composition was three minutes and fifty-one seconds, but Joe suggested that he shortened it to just under three minutes. Jethro is built upon the soul song "A Little Fondness" by Jethro Collings, and differs from Crow's usual production. Crow produced the song alone, claiming sampling rights as well. The song starts with a 50 second intro, and ends with a 15 second outro.
Critical reception[edit]
Music video[edit]
Remixes[edit]
Chart performance[edit]
Live performances[edit]
Charts[edit]
See also[edit]
The song is based upon "Otis" by Jay-Z & Kanye West.
