Tha Connect is the debut studio album by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 rapper Willy Northpole

Willy Northpole

William Adams, professionally known as Willy Northpole, is an American rapper/Southwest Hip Hop artist who is signed to Disturbing Tha Peace Records. He released his first album, Tha Connect in June 2009. He is from Phoenix, Arizona.-Biography:...

. It was released on June 23, 2009. The album's first single was "Body Marked Up" and second "#1 Side Chick" featuring Bobby Valentino. The album features guest appearances from Ne-Yo

Ne-Yo

Shaffer Chimere Smith, Jr. , better known by his stage name Ne-Yo, is an American pop and R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, dancer and actor. Beginning his career as a songwriter, Ne-Yo penned the hit "Let Me Love You" for singer Mario...

, B.o.B, and Bobby Valentino. The albums first week sales were 8,000. As of October 18, 2009 the album has 20,000 record sales.

Background

The album concept is the connecting hip hop listeners to a new state, Arizona. The album was in the works for several years and was originally slated for a release of Winter 2008, but a conflict with fellow member of DTP Ludacris

Ludacris

Christopher Brian Bridges , better known by his stage name Ludacris, is an American rapper and actor. Along with his manager, Chaka Zulu, Ludacris is the co-founder of Disturbing tha Peace, an imprint distributed by Def Jam Recordings...

 set the album back to June 2, 2009. Later the album was pushed to June 23, 2009. The album had 50 songs that were slimmed down to 12 songs, taking nearly 6 months. The album had several big hits that were "Too Big" for his first album.

Promotion

The album promotion was set up to be big with commercials during the BET Awards

BET Awards

The BET Awards were established in 2001 by the Black Entertainment Television network to celebrate African Americans and other minorities in music, acting, sports, and other fields of entertainment over the past year. The awards are presented annually and broadcast live on BET...

 and billboards of the album but once the death of Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson

Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...

 all the promotion was dropped and the buzz for the album was gone.

Track listing

#	Title	Producer	Featured guest(s)	Time
1	"Intro"	Ski Beatz, Kevin "Khao" Cates		2:56
2	"Hood Shit"	M. Rell, WrighTrax		3:07
3	"The Story"	Reefa Reefa Reefa, real name Sharif Slater, is a hip-hop producer active in the mid 2000s. He was raised in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.-Production Work/Involvement:...		3:28
4	"Skit (How Hard)"			1:46
5	"Body Marked Up"	Wonka		4:01
6	"Hood Dreamer"	Nard & B	B.o.B B.o.B Bobby Ray Simmons, Jr. , better known by his stage name B.o.B, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter and record producer. He is currently signed under the labels of Grand Hustle Records, Rebel Rock Entertainment, and Atlantic Records. His debut single "Nothin' on You" reached number one in both...	4:38
7	"Feeling Alright"	Tha Bizness, Mos Def Mos Def Dante Terrell Smith is an American actor and Emcee known by the stage names Mos Def and Yasiin Bey. He started his hip hop career in a group called Urban Thermo Dynamics, after which he appeared on albums by Da Bush Babees and De La Soul. With Talib Kweli, he formed the duo Black Star, which...		3:12
8	"Skit (Ghetto Tour Guide)"	araabMUZIK		0:23
9	"Ghetto Tour Guide"	Bangladesh Bangladesh (producer) Shondrae Crawford, better known as Bangladesh or Mr. Bangladesh, is a Grammy Award winning American record producer and disc jockey and rapper, who was born and raised in Des Moines, Iowa, and now lives in Atlanta, Georgia.- Life and career :...		4:02
10	"#1 Side Chick"	Khao	Bobby V	4:31
11	"Vegas Lights"	L.T. Moe		4:08
12	"The Life"	Blac Elvis Blac Elvis Elvis Williams, better known as Blac Elvis, is an award-winning American record producer, musician and song writer. He rose to fame in 1999 co-producing alongside Polow da Don. Producing hits for Ludacris, Ciara, Kelly Rowland, Fergie, Rich Boy, Kelis, Nelly, Pussycat Dolls and Mario. Recently he...	Ne-Yo Ne-Yo Shaffer Chimere Smith, Jr. , better known by his stage name Ne-Yo, is an American pop and R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, dancer and actor. Beginning his career as a songwriter, Ne-Yo penned the hit "Let Me Love You" for singer Mario...	3:47
13	"Dear Lord"	Reefa		2:39
14	"Skit (At Salt's Grave)"			1:30
15	"Heaven"	Jelly Roll, Battlecat		4:49
16	Get Up, Get Down (iTunes ITunes iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....  Bonus Track)	Bangladesh, Christian Rich Christian Rich Christian Rich is an American music production, songwriting, artist and DJ group consisting of twin brothers, Taiwo "Christian" Hassan and Kehinde "Rich" Hassan, Born February 5, 1982. Born and raised in Chicago, the brothers learned their musical acumen in Nigeria, and experienced the business...  (add.)		3:10

Music videos

• Body Marked Up - (March 11, 2008)
• Hood Dreamer - (April 22, 2009)
• Ghetto Tour Guide - (May 11, 2009)
• 1 Side Chick - (July 1, 2009)

Chart positions

Chart (2009)	Peak positions
U.S. Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The name of the chart was changed from Top R&B Albums in 1999...	47
U.S. Billboard Top Rap Albums Top Rap Albums Top Rap Albums is a record chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks Rap and hip-hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart began publication for the week of November 13, 2004....