Vocal Studies + Uprock Narratives is a 2001 studio album by Guillermo Scott Herren, the first released under the name Prefuse 73. The album was released on June 11, 2001 on Warp. The music was created by Herren alone, with some tracks featuring guest vocals from MCs Mikah 9, MF Doom and Aesop Rock as well as vocalist Sam Prekop from The Sea and Cake. Inspired by Miami bass and early 90s hip hop, Herren had been recording music with his Music Production Center (MPC) for Schematic Records, a label known primarily for intelligent dance music (IDM). After working with various local hip hop artists making what he described as "very boring rap beats", Herren was inspired to take his music in a more left-field direction. Vocal Studies + Uprock Narrativess music is primarily instrumental and features unintelligible cut-up vocals. Originally inspired to sample the hip hop artists he was signed to work with in the studio, the album consists of samples by more popular hip hop artists including Nas, Ol' Dirty Bastard and Erykah Badu. Despite being described as electronic music, IDM and glitch and not the kind of music a hip hop audience is used to hearing, Herren felt that his music was closer to hip hop. The album's release after a tour that included a performance at All Tomorrow's Parties in the United Kingdom as well as opening for the group Tortoise in the United States. The album did not chart in either the United Kingdom or United States, but received positive reviews from various sources including AllMusic, Spin and Uncut. It was later named as one of the best albums of the year by Rolling Stone and The Globe and Mail and one of the best albums of the first half the 2000s by Pitchfork. Background and production In the mid- to late 1990s, Guillermo Scott Herren returned to Decatur, Georgia, from New York and worked at a recording studio. Unsatisfied working with the studio's clients, who he felt made "pre-historic trap music", Herren was encouraged to take his music in a more left-field direction, as he was "bored with people barking orders at me to make them these really boring rap beats." In return for Herren handling the studio's hip hop clients, the studio owner bought him a Music Production Center (MPC) which Herren would use to create his Prefuse 73 material. While working at