The Chief (album)

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	73/100[12]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[13]
Exclaim!	8/10[14]
The Guardian	[15]
HipHopDX	3.7/5[1]
The New York Times	(favorable)[16]
Pitchfork	5.8/10[17]
Filter Free Nigeria	9/10[18]

The Chief received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 73, based on 9 reviews.[12] Erin Lowers of Exclaim! said, "Just as Jidenna uses hip-hop music to convey the story of an immigrant, he reaches across the globe to pull from seemingly disparate genres as he tells his tales. Surprisingly, Jidenna makes it work, commanding the listener's attention from start to finish."[14] Preezy of XXL said, "The project gives Jidenna an identity that any artist aspires to: someone who makes pretty damn good music. He’ll still have to continue to get listeners familiar with what makes the man behind the music tick, but The Chief is an admirable beginning to what appears to be a blossoming career."[19] Eric Diep of HipHopDX said, "While The Chief sets him up for a more focused second effort, Jidenna’s genre-hopping album is merely a sliver of his versatility as an entertainer."[1] Andy Kellman of AllMusic said, "What's thrown, including tepid trap beats, passable tropical pop-house, and overly fanciful retro-contemporary touches, doesn't always stick, yet Jidenna's charismatic flair and sharp writing make almost all of it entertaining, rarely dull. In a way, he's a Kid Creole for the 2010s, mixing and matching old and new cross-continental sounds with a twinkle in his eye, a glide in his stride, and a special knack for storybook-style narration."[13] Elias Leight of Pitchfork said, A versatile dandy, Jidenna tries on many different musical styles with his debut album—but all that changing quickly grows tiresome."[17]

The Chief debuted at number 38 on the Billboard 200, selling 13,312 album equivalent units, and 8,387 pure album copies in the first week.[20]

Notes

• ^{^[a]} – signifies a co-producer
• ^{^[b]} – signifies an additional producer