Kool & the Gang's first album in three years,
Unite was originally released by the
Los Angeles–based JRS Records before being re-released on April 27, 1993, by Mogull Entertainment, To coincide with the 1993 release, band member
Robert "Kool" Bell presented some of the group's 1970s memorabilia at New York's
Hard Rock Cafe. As with the group's previous album
Sweat (1989),
Unite was a commercial failure.
North County Blade-Citizen reviewer Dan Bennett wrote that
Unite is "where groove meets high-tech", further describing the songs as "cutting edge
soul/
jazz bites laced with the
hip-hop urgency of that new street sound" and comparing them to
James Brown's contemporary
Universal James (1993). He found that despite the album sometimes "[straining] to find its own identity", he praised the group for possessing the "raw energy and musical know how" to survive.
Corpus Christi Caller-Times reviewed the single "Unite" as an "uplifting call for peace" and praised singer Odeen Mays for "being inspirational without showboating". == Track listing ==