The Ghetto (6:19)

“The Ghetto” is a socially conscious, mostly instrumental funk/soul anthem, released as the first single off American soul singer Donny Hathaway’s debut album, Everything Is Everything, released as a single in 1970 on Atlantic Records.

The song was co-written by Hathaway and Leroy Hutson. The song was a six minute and fifty second workout which built upon a cinematic feel with its lengthy instrumental though it did feature vocal ad-libs from Hathaway, who played electric piano on the song, and constant chants of the song, which had a distinguished Afro-Cuban sound with congas.

The song also featured additional backgrounds, dialogue from what sound like men talking in a street corner and a baby crying before Hathaway ended the song with frenetic hand claps.

When originally released in 1970, the song became a modest charted single peaking at number eighty-seven on the Billboard Hot 100 and number twenty-three on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart.

The song was also featured on Hathaway’s revered Live album in which Hathaway and his musicians played a faster version of the song and later featured Hathaway getting the audience into it singing the final chorus.

Since then, the song has been covered in hip-hop singles, most famously, Too Short’s “The Ghetto”, which featured Gerald Levert re-singing the chorus.

Personnel

* Donny Hathaway: All vocals, spoken dialogue (except for the crying baby), hand claps and electric piano
* Instrumentation by assorted musicians
o Master Henry Gibson: conga
o Morris Jennings: drums
o Marshall Hawkins: bass