From Where???


From Where??? is the debut studio album by American hip hop artist Mad Skillz. It was released on February 13, 1996, via Big Beat/Atlantic Records. It was produced by Mad Skillz, Buckwild, Shawn J. Period, J Dilla, DJ Clark Kent, EZ Elpee, Large Professor, Nick Wiz, and the Beatnuts, with Rob "Reef" Tewlow serving as executive producer. It features guest appearances from Kalonji the Immortal, Dr. Mindbenda, Javon the Medieval, Large Professor, Lil' Roc, Lonnie B and Q-Tip. The album peaked at number 154 on the Billboard 200, number 18 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and number 5 on the Heatseekers Albums chart in the United States.
The album was praised for its strong lyrical content and production, however, suffered from low sales, possibly due to being released the same day as 2Pac's All Eyez on Me and the Fugees's The Score. The singles "The Nod Factor" and "Move Ya Body" received moderate radio and video airplay.

Track listing

;Sample credits

Personnel

  • Donnie "Mad Skillz" Lewis – vocals, producer, mixing
  • Kalonji Coleman – vocals
  • Jonathan "Q-Tip" Davis – vocals
  • Lonnie Battle – vocals
  • Dr. Mindbenda – vocals
  • Ahmed "Lil' Roc" Rahman – vocals
  • Javon The Medieval – vocals
  • Anthony "Roc Raida" Williams – scratches
  • Lester "Psycho Les" Fernandez – scratches & producer
  • Diallo Malbrough Moss – horns programming
  • Andrew Smith – keyboard bass
  • Joseph "DJ Riz" Rizzo – scratches
  • James "J Dilla" Yancey – producer & mixing
  • Anthony "Buckwild" Best – producer & mixing
  • Nicholas "Nick Wiz" Loizides – producer & mixing
  • William "Large Professor" Mitchell – producer & mixing
  • Rodolfo "DJ Clark Kent" Franklin – producer & mixing
  • Shawn M. Jones – producer & mixing
  • Lamont "Ez Elpee" Porter – producer & mixing
  • Rob "Reef" Tewlow – executive producer, A&R
  • Tony Smalios – recording, mixing
  • George Karras – recording
  • Rich July – recording, mixing
  • Troy Hightower – recording & mixing
  • Kenny Ortiz – recording & mixing
  • Tim Latham – mixing
  • Tom Coyne – mastering
  • Daniel Hastings – design, photography
  • Miguel Rivera – design, photography
  • Christian Cortes – design
  • Glenn Orenstein – production coordinator

Charts

;Singles chart positions