Islah is the debut studio album by American rapper Kevin Gates. It was released on January 29, 2016, by Bread Winners’ Association and Atlantic Records.

The album was supported by four official singles: “Kno One”, “Really Really”, “2 Phones” and “Time for That”. The album debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200, earning 112,000 album equivalent units in its first week. The album was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Background

In an interview with iHeartRadio, Kevin Gates said:

“I named the album after my daughter because of the anticipation. It was so high. I remember before the birth of my daughter, the anticipation was so high. I was scared, I was excited. I was going through mixed emotions at the time. When people set a high bar because I put out so much good quality music, that bar was so high. I just didn’t want to. I was afraid of being a letdown. I was afraid of not being good enough. I was scared to death upon making the album, upon releasing the album. The reason I named my album Islah was because it was my first album. My first real studio album, I guess, so to say. Everything else that I put out was mix tapes. The name Islah means to critique. To make better. A spiritual awakening. When my daughter came, she gave me all of those things.”

Top Comments in Release Thread

Dope fuckin album. Not as good as Luca Brasi 2, but that was probably my most listened to album last year.

Fucking gates man, no artist speaks to me like this dude. I swear to god i zone out and feel like he’s talking to me, not many artists can do that for me. Luca Brasi 2 will be in my music collection till i die. I will ALWAYS fuck with gates even when he puts out new sounding shit like this. I think we all can agree that the singles that have been released for months are the catchiest gates songs we all love on the album but he tried something new, all my favorite artists albums sound has changed lately, i wish they didn’t feel the need to change their sound {speaking of you weeknd}. Solid album, hope gates goes back to that ghetto trap shit or catchy hooks, I actually love his stitches collabs, listen to feel good by gates/stitches even though stitches is a crazy little bitch

EDIT: Yo One thing goes hard, this gonna be on repeat for a bit

So fucking pumped it came out a few hours early. Hell of an intro too, Gates is damn fine with them.

e: The guitar on Told Me is def the uncut version from Mexico

It’s solid, though my favorite songs are the singles that have been out. “Not the Only One” and “Excuse Me” are great though

Top Comments from Discussion thread

Been a Gates fan for a minute, so this wasn’t too surprising in what was included. Wish there were a few harder tracks, but the melodies/flows/beats are all on point, and Gates kills it as usual. Loved Time For That and the singles the most. Didn’t like One Thing but everything else was good. Solid 7.5/10.

Definitely felt like this was a step backwards in relation to his previous projects (My favorites being Stranger Than Fiction and Luca Brasi 1 & 2). “Islah” feels more like a retail mixtape while the projects I mentioned before feel more like albums, in my opinion. Also, I felt like the first half of the project was stronger than the second half. Once the project gets past “Hard For” it was hit or miss from there. However, I still really enjoy the track “The Truth” and I feel like it is the best track on the project even though it is on the second half of the project. Also “Islah” had 1 too many love songs for my taste. Let me be clear, I don’t hate this project, I thought it was ok. I definitely dig the production & hooks on songs like “2 phones” & “Time for that”. But I felt like some of the song topics were repetitive & the lyrical content was lacking, except for “The Truth” where it was Gates himself who held my attention with his lyrical content, not the production or hook, just Gates. Not bad, but Gates can do better.

It grew on me with each listen. The singles were probably the best songs on the album tbh. I didn’t like “Hard for” on the first listen but now I love it. The argument he has with his girl in the middle of the song had me dying. “Thought I heard” goes crazy hard too. I’d give it an 8/10, which seems pretty close to the concensus in this thread so far.

First time giving a Kevin Gates project a full listen. No complaints, but nothing that stands out especially. His voice reminds me a lot of Young Buck, which I like. Has me wanting to give some of his earlier stuff a listen. Really not bad at all, I’d give it a first-listen rating of about 6-7.

Top Comments in Pitchfork BNM thread

Pitchfork:

He bursts into melody almost as often as he raps, which has led to Drake and Future comparisons, but his closest analog might be Fetty Wap

Kevin Gates:

People tell me I’m Michael Jackson reincarnated

Well deserved, so many people love to dismiss him for his personality and the way he acts on instagram but at the end of the day the music speaks for itself and at this point Kevin Gates is without out a doubt the best street rapper out

i fucking love kevin gates. wish him, YG, and Pusha put out music as often as Future and Young Thug does.

I’m surprised at how much negativity there is in this thread towards the album. I love it, and have been playing it constantly since it leaked. Was more than happy to buy a copy and support dude. I would have liked it if there was a little more Luca Brasi present, but I feel like we’ll get another project this year that adds in more of that style. I love this album tho, the melodies are on point and Gates’ honesty and passion shines through. Only song I didn’t like was Only One, rest of the songs ranged from a 7/10 to a 10/10 for me. Initially would have given the album around a 7.5, going closer to 8/10 now. Solid tape, great debut, and glad dude is doing numbers.

Also, I don’t care if it’s just cuz he has a “good fan base”, 85-95k first week is under no circumstances a flop.

More threads: Islah debuts at #2 and Islah goes platinum (with no features)