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Cocoa Sugar
Studio album by Young Fathers
Released	9 March 2018 (2018-03-09)
Genre	Garage rap indietronica neo-soul
Length	36:45
Label	Ninja Tune
Young Fathers chronology
White Men Are Black Men Too (2015) Cocoa Sugar (2018) Heavy Heavy (2023)
Singles from Cocoa Sugar
"Lord" Released: 31 October 2017 "In My View" Released: 17 January 2018 "Toy" Released: 28 February 2018

Cocoa Sugar is the third studio album by Scottish indie group Young Fathers. It was released on Ninja Tune on 9 March 2018. It won the Scottish Album of the Year Award for 2018. It peaked at number 28 on the UK Albums Chart.

Artwork

The album art, designed by Tom Hingston and photographed by Julia Noni, features band member Alloysious Massaquoi and is a direct homage to the Waldemar Świerzy's Polish poster for the 1969 drama film Midnight Cowboy.

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	8.2/10
Metacritic	87/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
The A.V. Club	B+
The Guardian
The Independent
Mojo
NME
The Observer
Pitchfork	7.3/10
Q
Uncut	8/10

At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 87, based on 21 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".

Clayton Purdom of The A.V. Club described the album as "a worthy progression, a tight stretch of otherworldly melodies, ramshackle percussion, and buzzing clouds of woozy ambient sound."

Accolades

Track listing

All tracks are written by Kayus Bankole, Timothy London, Graham "G" Hastings and Alloysious Massaquoi, except where noted

Personnel

• David Cousin – additional vocals (track 12)
• Timothy London – co-producer
• Graham "G" Hastings – mixing (tracks 1–4, 6–12)
• Laurie Ross – mixing (tracks 1–4, 6–12)
• Ben Baptie – mixing (track 5)
• Vlado Meller – mastering
• Hingston Studio – design and art direction
• Julia Noni – photography

Charts

References

1. ^ Morris, Damien (10 March 2018). "Young Fathers: Cocoa Sugar review – sounds like freedom feels". The Observer. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
2. "Young Fathers win Scottish Album of the Year for Cocoa Sugar". BBC. 7 September 2018.
3. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
4. Foster, John (14 March 2018). "Judging A Cover By Its Cover: March's best record sleeves". The Vinyl Factory. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
5. "Young Fathers: Cocoa Sugar - Campaign". Hingston Studio. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
6. "Cocoa Sugar by Young Fathers reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
7. ^ "Cocoa Sugar by Young Fathers Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
8. Kellman, Andy. "Cocoa Sugar – Young Fathers". AllMusic. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
9. ^ Purdom, Clayton (9 March 2018). "Young Fathers, Cocoa Sugar". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
10. Petridis, Alexis (8 March 2018). "Young Fathers: Cocoa Sugar review – twisted sounds for a twisted world". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
11. Gill, Andy (8 March 2018). "Album reviews: Young Fathers – Cocoa Sugar, Jonathan Wilson – Rare Birds, David Byrne – American Utopia, and more". The Independent. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
12. Cowan, Andy (April 2018). "Young Fathers: Cocoa Sugar". Mojo (293): 91.
13. Milton, Jamie (17 March 2018). "Young Fathers – 'Cocoa Sugar' Album Review". NME. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
14. Pearce, Sheldon (16 March 2018). "Young Fathers: Cocoa Sugar". Pitchfork. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
15. Doyle, Tom (April 2018). "Sugar Daddies". Q (383): 104–05.
16. Pattison, Louis (April 2018). "Young Fathers: Cocoa Sugar". Uncut (251): 37.
17. "NME's Albums Of The Year 2018". NME. 17 December 2018. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
18. "The 70 Best Albums of 2018". PopMatters. 20 December 2018. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
19. "Albums of 2018 (#1): Young Fathers – Cocoa Sugar". The Skinny. 29 November 2018. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
20. "The 50 Best Albums Of 2018". Stereogum. 4 December 2018. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
21. "BEATINK.COM / Cocoa Sugar". BEATINK.
22. "Ultratop.be – Young Fathers – Cocoa Sugar" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 2 March 2019.
23. "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
24. "Official R&B Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
25. "Ultratop.be – Young Fathers – Cocoa Sugar" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 2 March 2019.

External links

• Cocoa Sugar at Discogs (list of releases)

• 2018 albums
• Ninja Tune albums
• Young Fathers albums
• Scottish Album of the Year Award–winning albums