Gazing at the Moonlight
| Gazing at the Moonlight | ||||
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| Studio album by Hopsin | ||||
| Released | October 27, 2009 | |||
| Recorded | 2002–07 | |||
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| Length | 56:47 | |||
| Label | Ruthless Records | |||
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| Hopsin chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Gazing at the Moonlight | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Source | Rating |
| Sputnikmusic |   |
| AllMusic | |
Gazing at the Moonlight is the debut studio album by American hip hop recording artist Hopsin. It was released on October 27, 2009, by Ruthless Records. The title refers to "Gazing at the Moonlight" hoping and wishing on a dream to come true. This was Hopsin's only record released with Ruthless Records, to this day as his latest studio album released by the label, this album created bitter tension between Ruthless Records and Hopsin, due to the lack of promotion and financial compensation for the album.
The album stylistically incorporates elements of horrorcore and the contrast of this pop rap and comedy hip hop, horrorcore can be heard on songs such as "Sexy Cyber", pop rap can be heard incorporated into the albums various hooks such as "I'm Here" and "Break It Down" and comedy hip hop on "Pans in the Kitchen". In various interviews Hopsin discourages fans against buying the CD, due to its release on Ruthless, however, although the iTunes edition is widely available, the CD cannot be commonly found in music stores and is considered rare as the physical CD edition costs between $20–30.
In 2007, Hopsin signed a deal with Ruthless Records, and was hailed as one of driving forces behind the attempt to bring Ruthless Records back to previous glory. Hopsin's lead single from his upcoming album, titled "Pans In the Kitchen" was released on May 27, 2008. The album was set to be self-produced by Hopsin and feature no collaborations with other artists, however, the final edition featured vocals from DJ K on the hook of the song"Motherucker". However, this album Gazing at the Moonlight was not released until October 27, 2009, with little to no promotion. After the album's release, Hopsin sought his release from Ruthless due to lack of financial compensation, artist support, and promotion. Due to the departure from Ruthless Records, Hopsin founded his own independent label, called Funk Volume, with Damien Ritter. SwizZz, Damien Ritter's younger brother and former classmate of Hopsin at Monroe High, was the first artist to be signed to Funk Volume. After launching Funk Volume, both Hopsin and SwizZz released a collaborative mixtape, titled Haywire in June 2009, to promote the label. Funk Volume wanted to sell it for retail sale, but were unable to, due to Hopsin still being contracted by Ruthless Records at the time. On DatPiff, it has been certified gold for being downloaded over 100,000 times and it later made able for purchase digitally and physically via iTunes, Amazon.com and Funk Volume's website.
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