Commercial performance One for All charted at number 130 on the U.S.
Billboard 200, spending 28 weeks on the chart. It also reached number 34 on the
Billboard Top Black Albums chart, on which it spent 40 weeks.
Los Angeles Times writer Steve Hochman called it "an impressive debut" and commended "the power of the lessons delivered with style and creativity", stating "There's a playful ease to this record recalling the colorful experiments of
De La Soul, and there's as much sexual boasting as
Islamic teaching."
J the Sultan of
The Source gave it the publication's maximum five-mike rating and wrote that it "overflows with creativity, originality, and straight-up talent. [...] the type of record that captures a whole world of music, rhymes and vibes with a completely new style." He commented that "most
black-supremacist rap sags under the burden of its belief system just like any other ideological music," but quipped, "This
Five Percenter daisy-age is warm, good-humored, intricately interactive—popping rhymes every sixth or eighth syllable, softening the male
chauvinism and devil-made-me-do-it with soulful grooves and jokes fit for a
couch potato." The album has reportedly sold 350,000 copies as of May 2013, and it has remained in print since its 1990 release.
Accolades In 1998, the album was selected as one of
The Sources 100 Best Rap Albums and its lead single "Slow Down" was featured on the publication's 100 Best Hip-Hop Singles of All Time list. One year later,
Rolling Stone placed it on a list of the Essential Recordings of the 90's. It was additionally ranked number two on
ego trip's 1999 list of "Hip Hop's 25 Greatest Albums by Year (1980–98)". ==Track listing==