Informal Introduction Explained

Informal Introduction
Type:	Studio album
Artist:	Shade Sheist
Cover:	Informal Introduction.jpg
Recorded:	2000–02
Label:	MCA
Next Title:	Before The Waitin' Before The Hatin'
Next Year:	2005

Informal Introduction is the debut studio album by American rapper Shade Sheist. It was released on September 10, 2002, through MCA Records. Recording sessions took place at Larrabee Studios, at Soundcastle, at Skip Saylor Recording, and at Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles. Production was handled by Damizza, Eddie Berkeley, KayGee, DJ Quik, Howie Hersh and Timbaland. It features guest appearances from Nate Dogg, AMG, DJ Clue, Fabolous, Hi-C, Knoc-turn'al, Kurupt, Vita and Warren G among others.

Due to little promotion, the album was not a commercial success, only reaching number 69 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. It did, however, feature his biggest hit to date "Where I Wanna Be", which peaked at 95 on the Billboard Hot 100 and 12 on the Billboard Hot Rap Songs. The album spawned three additional singles, "Money Owners", "John Doe" and "Wake Up" all of which became minor hits on the R&B charts.

Personnel

• Tramayne Thompson – main artist, co-producer (tracks: 7, 15), co-executive producer, mixing (track 10)

Guest artists/vocalists

• Henry "DJ Echo" Olortegui – featured artist (tracks: 1, 16)
• Eric "DJ Vice" Aguirre – featured artist (tracks: 1, 16)
• Damion Young – featured artist (tracks: 13, 16), backing vocals (track 2)
• Latonya Holmes – backing vocals (track 2)
• John Jackson – featured artist (track 3)
• Royal Harbor – featured artist (track 3)
• David Blake – featured artist (track 4)
• Crawford Wilkerson – featured artist (track 4)
• Jason Lewis – featured artist (track 4)
• Kenyan "Swift" Martin – featured artist (track 4)
• Ernesto "DJ Clue" Shaw – featured artist (track 5)
• Barbara Wilson – featured artist (tracks: 6, 11), backing vocals (tracks: 6, 7, 11, 13)
• Nathaniel Dwayne Hale – featured artist (tracks: 6, 9, 12, 14)
• Chris "Nune" McCauley – featured artist (tracks: 6, 15)
• LaVita Raynor – featured artist (track 6)
• Caz – featured artist (track 7)
• Timothy Mosley – featured artist (track 8)
• Warren Griffin III – featured artist (track 9)
• Ricardo "Kurupt" Brown – featured artist (track 14)
• King Arthur – featured artist (track 15)

Instrumentalists

• Damion "Damizza" Young – drums (tracks: 2, 5, 6, 10–13, 15), programming (tracks: 2, 5, 6, 10, 11, 15), percussion (tracks: 2, 6, 13, 15), keyboards (track 5)
• Howard B. Hersh – bass & keyboards (tracks: 2, 5, 6, 10–13)
• DeVante Swing – keyboards (track 4)
• Emmanuel "DJ EMan" Coquia – scratches (track 5)
• Anthony Mazza – guitar (tracks: 7, 10)
• Florian Ammon – Pro Tools (tracks: 6, 7, 12, 13)
• D.B. Murda – programming (track 12)
• B.W.N. – programming (track 12)

Technicals

• Damizza – producer (tracks: 2, 5–7, 10–13, 15), co-producer (tracks: 3, 14), executive producer, recording (tracks: 6, 7, 11, 13)
• Howie Hersh – producer (track 3)
• David "DJ Quik" Blake – producer & mixing (track 4)
• Timothy "Timbaland" Mosley – producer & mixing (track 8)
• Edward Berkeley – producer (tracks: 9, 14)
• Kier Gist – producer (tracks: 9, 14)
• Michael Schlesinger – mixing (tracks: 2, 5–7, 10–15), recording (tracks: 2, 5, 6, 10–15)
• Jimmy Douglass – mixing (track 8)
• Steve Penny – engineering (track 8)
• Jeremy – recording (tracks: 6, 8)
• Ray – recording (track 7)
• Jason Schweitzer – recording (track 13)
• Evren Göknar – mastering
• Brian – additional editing (track 5)
• Aaron – additional engineering (track 8)

Additional

• Jesse Alvarez – art direction, design & illustration
• JP Robinson – art direction, design & illustration
• Manuel J. Donayre – art direction, design & illustration
• David Irvin – photography
• Anthony Mandler – photography
• Naim Ali – A&R
• Alicia N. Graham – A&R
• Sujit Kundu – management, co-executive producer

Charts

Singles

List of singles, with selected chart positions

Title	Year	Peak chart positions
		US ^[1]	US R&B ^[2]	US Airplay ^[3]	UK ^[4]
"Where I Wanna Be" (featuring Nate Dogg & Kurupt)	2000	37	60	50	14
"Wake Up" (featuring Warren G & Nate Dogg)	2002	36	53	52	—
"John Doe" (featuring DJ Quik, Hi-C, AMG & Swift)		—	66	64	—
"Money Owners" (featuring Timbaland)		—	81	—	—
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that country.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Shade Sheist. Billboard . 18 November 2000 . 29 November 2023.
2. Web site: Shade Sheist. Billboard .
3. Web site: Shade Sheist. Billboard.
4. http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/_/shade%20sheist%20featuring%20nate%20dogg%20&%20kurupt/ Official charts