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Chris Brown

 
Album Review: Chris Brown
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Chris Brown

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  • Artist: Chris Brown
  • Rating: StarStarHalf Star
  • Release Date: November 29, 2005
  • Genre: Rhythm & Blues

Review

The week "Run It!" was released, it went straight to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 and became the first single from a male artist to debut at that spot. That's no slight feat, especially for a reheated version of Usher's "Yeah!" made by a fresh-faced teenager who reps a little town in Virginia that rhymes with "grab a hammock." On "Run It!," Chris Brown is boosted by production from Scott Storch and an appearance by Juelz Santana. The song's way of tempering Brown's small-town innocence with hard-edged backing and a guest spot from an MC of ill repute is clearly a strategy to make the singer appeal to more than tween girls. (Had Brown been coming up in the early '90s, Quincy Jones -- not Dr. Dre -- might've produced him and Prince -- not Luther Campbell -- might've assisted, which just goes to show how much R&B has changed in 15 years.) Chris Brown, a durable debut album, almost always involves an even push-and-pull between what appeals to kids who don't consider street credibility and those who do, all the way down to the visuals: check the album cover, featuring the singer's strained "Don't mess with me!" face, and compare it to the photo spread inside, featuring Brown's natural "Pinch my cheeks!" face. He doesn't often try to sound harder or more demonstrative than necessary, unlike a lot of singers his age who have sprouted during the late '90s and early 2000s, and he rarely oversteps the kind of romantic territory that most teens find relatable. Toughness comes instead from the beats, whether they're provided by the Underdogs, Dre & Vidal, Cool & Dre, or the overworked Storch. While Brown's audience will be almost exclusively 18 and under, few of his fans will feel sheepish in owning this album. He's a refreshing presence, a high-schooler who's neither as family friendly as Will Smith nor as comically vulgar as Pretty Ricky. ~ Andy Kellman, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track TitleComposersPerformersTime
Intro (Lyrics) Edmund "Butter" Clement, Chris Brown Chris Brown (0:56)
Run It! (Lyrics) Scott Storch, Sean Garrett Juelz Santana, Chris Brown (3:49)
Yo (Excuse Me Miss) Andre Harris, Johnta Austin, Vidal Davis Chris Brown (3:49)
Young Love (Lyrics) Damon Thomas, Harvey Mason, Jr., Keri Hilson, Antonio Dixon Chris Brown (3:38)
Gimme That (Lyrics) Scott Storch, Sean Garrett Chris Brown (3:06)
Ya Man Ain't Me (Lyrics) Steve Russell, Damon Thomas, Eric Dawkins, Harvey Mason, Jr., Antonio Dixon Chris Brown (3:34)
Winner (Lyrics) Bryan-Michael Cox, Adonis Stropshire, Kendrick Dean, Chris Brown Chris Brown (4:04)
Ain't No Way (You Won't Love Me) Sean Garrett, Warren "Oak" Felder Chris Brown (3:23)
What's My Name (Lyrics) Chris Brown Chris Brown (3:52)
Is This Love? Steve Russell, Damon Thomas, Eric Dawkins, Harvey Mason, Jr., Antonio Dixon Chris Brown (3:17)
Poppin' (Lyrics) Andre Harris, Johnta Austin, Vidal Davis Chris Brown (4:25)
Just Fine (Lyrics) Michael Winans, Shannon "Slam" Lawrence, Chris Brown, Lance Bennett Chris Brown (3:52)
Say Goodbye (Lyrics) Bryan-Michael Cox, Adonis Stropshire, Kendrick Dean Chris Brown (4:49)
Run It! [Remix] Jermaine Dupri, Scott Storch, Sean Garrett Jermaine Dupri, Bow Wow, Chris Brown (4:04)
Thank You (Lyrics) Tina Davis, Chris Brown Chris Brown (7:00)
[Untitled Track] [CD-ROM Track] Chris Brown

Credits

Oak (Producer), Oak (Engineer), Patrick Magee (Assistant Engineer), Tina Davis (Executive Producer), Jermaine Dupri (Mixing), Jermaine Dupri (Remix Producer), Jean-Marie Horvat (Mixing), Rich Keller (Mixing), Herb Powers (Mastering), Steve Russell (Vocals (Background)), Matt Schwartz (A&R), Scott Storch (Producer), Phil Tan (Mixing), Dré (Producer), The Underdogs (Producer), The Underdogs (Mixing), Charles McCrorey (Engineer), Charles McCrorey (Vocal Recording), Mark Pitts (Executive Producer), L-Rock (Remix Producer), Andre Harris (Multi Instruments), Andre Harris (Producer), Lucas McClelland (Assistant Engineer), Shannon "Slam" Lawrence (Producer), Shannon "Slam" Lawrence (Vocal Producer), John Horesco IV (Engineer), Chris Brown (Executive Producer), Vidal Davis (Multi Instruments), Vidal Davis (Producer), Carlos Paucar (Engineer), Courtney Walter (Art Direction), Courtney Walter (Design), Cool (Producer), Clay Patrick McBridge (Photography), Brian Stanley (Mixing), Aaron Fishbein (Guitar), Bryan-Michael Cox (Multi Instruments), Bryan-Michael Cox (Producer), Wayne Allison (Engineer), Vadim Chislov (Assistant Engineer), Conrad Golding (Engineer), Dabling Harward (Engineer), Dabling Harward (Editing), Kevin "KD" Davis (Mixing), Vincent Dilorenzo (Engineer), Vincent Dilorenzo (Mixing), Tadd Mingo (Assistant), Antonio Dixon (Producer), Sam Thomas (Engineer), Keith Sengbusch (Engineer), Mike Tschupp (Mixing Assistant), Kendrick Dean (Keyboards), Kendrick Dean (Multi Instruments), Kendrick Dean (Producer), Sean Garrett (Producer), Aaron Renner (Assistant Engineer), Steve Tolle (Mixing Assistant), Val Brathwrite (Assistant Engineer), Val Brathwrite (Mixing Assistant), David Cabrerra (Bass), David Cabrerra (Guitar), Anthony G. Crisano (Assistant Engineer), Ian Crosse (Vocal Tracking), Lamont "LA" Flemming (Vocal Producer), Leticia Hilliard (A&R), Eddie Hustle (Producer), Eddie Hustle (Engineer), Eddie Hustle (Mixing), Kelly "Becky 4 Real" Sheehan (Engineer), Kelly "Becky 4 Real" Sheehan (Editing)
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Wikipedia: Chris Brown (album)
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Chris Brown
Studio album by Chris Brown
Released November 29, 2005 (2005-11-29)
(see release history)
Recorded February – May 2005
Criteria Recording Studio
(Miami, Florida)
Genre R&B
Length 55:44
Label Jive, Zomba
Sony BMG (International distribution)
Producer Chris Brown, Tina Davis, Mark Pitts (co-exec.)
Scott Storch, Jermaine Dupri, Bryan-Michael Cox, Kendrick Dean, The Underdogs, Dre & Vidal, Shea Taylor, Tyler Matthews, Cool & Dre, Sean Garrett, Nick Pope, Hunter Atkins, Dabling Harward, Shannon "Slam" Lawrence, Oak, Eddie Hustle, Carlos Paucar, LRoc
Professional reviews
Chris Brown chronology
Chris Brown
(2005)		 Exclusive
(2007)
Alternate cover
International cover
Singles from Chris Brown
  1. "Run It!"
    Released: August 9, 2005
  2. "Yo (Excuse Me Miss)"
    Released: December 13, 2005
  3. "Gimme That"
    Released: April 4, 2006
  4. "Say Goodbye"
    Released: August 8, 2006
  5. "Poppin'"
    Released: November 21, 2006

Chris Brown is the self-titled debut album by American R&B singer Chris Brown, released on November 29, 2005 in the United States on Jive Records. It was a commercial success, certified double Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for scanning two million in the United States and sold over three million copies worldwide.

In 2006 a CD/DVD set entitled Chris Brown's Journey was released, featuring behind-the-scenes footage and commentary from Brown. Chris Brown was also released twice in DualDisc format.

Contents

Background

Conception

Chris Brown, born in small-town Tappahannock, Virginia, started as a rapper. He switched over to singing in his preteen years when his mother Joyce Hawkins noticed his talent and soon begun looking for local producers. At age 13 in 2002, Brown was discovered in his birth father's gas station by a production team who were looking for local talent. They were connected with Timmy Allen, an music producer for Jive Records who lived in the Harlem neighborhood in New York City, New York.[1][2] Brown moved in, only returning to Virginia for holidays, school and basketball season.[3] He bonded with Allen's son, T.J., an aspiring rapper who went under the name "T-Breezy", as Allen begun to shop both of their demo CDs around to music labels.[1]

By August 2004, Brown, who had adapted the stage name "C Swizzle", and T.J. attracted the attention of Tina Davis, Def Jam Recordings' senior A&R executive, and auditioned them in front of Island Def Jam Music Group CEO Antonio "L. A." Reid.[1][4] Afterwards, Reid offered to sign both of them on the spot but Brown claimed Allen had become "greedy" during the prolonged negotiations that spanned two months.[1][4] Davis advised Brown not to sign the deal.[1] Davis later lost her job due to restructuring after Island Def Jam and Roc-A-Fella Records merged.[5] That same day, Brown hired her as his manager and moved in into her New Jersey home.[1]

After weeks of label searching, Brown had a deal with Jive Records, known for their pop and R&B artists such as Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake and R. Kelly, by Christmas Eve 2004.[3][4] He also dropped out of the 10th grade at Essex High School in Virginia in favor of tutoring.

Recording

Brown recorded the album in Miami with Mark Pitts, the Jive A&R who signed Brown to the label. They recorded up to 50 songs.

Music

Singles

The album's lead single was "Run It!", which features rapper Juelz Santana and was produced by Scott Storch. It received continuous airplay(topping the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay), and reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, where it stayed for five weeks. It replaced "Gold Digger" by Kanye West featuring Jamie Foxx, and was itself replaced by Mariah Carey's "Don't Forget About Us". It also topped Billboard Pop 100. Other singles released from the album include "Yo (Excuse Me Miss)", another U.S. top ten hit for Brown, as well as "Gimme That", released as a remix featuring rapper Lil Wayne, and the fourth single, "Say Goodbye", which peaked at number ten in the U.S. The fifth and final single from the album, "Poppin'", charted outside the U.S. top forty.

Reception

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 selling over 154,000 copies in first week of sales.[6] It sold over 2.1 million copies in the United States, where it was certified double Platinum by the RIAA (RIAA).[7]. It went on to sell over three million copies worldwide.[8]

Track listing

Standard edition

  1. "Intro" (C. Brown, E. Clement) – 0:56
  2. "Run It!" featuring Juelz Santana (S. Garrett, S. Storch, L. James) – 3:49
  3. "Yo (Excuse Me Miss)" (A. Harris, V. Davis, J. Austin) – 3:49
  4. "Young Love" (K. Hilson, J. Que, V. Barrett, A. Dixon, B. Elli, H. Mason Jr., D. Thomas) – 3:38
  5. "Gimme That" (S. Garrett, S. Storch) – 3:06
  6. "Ya Man Ain't Me" (E. Dawkins, A. Dixon, H. Mason Jr., S. Russell, D. Thomas, Tank) – 3:34
  7. "Winner" (C. Brown, B. M. Cox, K. Dean, A. Shropshire) – 4:04
  8. "Ain't No Way (You Won't Love Me)" (W. Felder, S. Garrett, F. Zhang) – 3:23
  9. "What's My Name" featuring Noah (C. Brown, A. Lyon, M. Valenzano) – 3:52
  10. "Is This Love" (E. Dawkins, A. Dixon, H. Mason Jr., S. Russell, D. Thomas) – 3:17
  11. "Poppin'" (A. Harris, V. Davis, J. Austin) – 4:25
  12. "Just Fine" (C. Brown, D. Glass, P. Zora, M. Winans, S. Lawrence) – 3:52
  13. "Say Goodbye" (B. M. Cox, K. Dean, A. Shropshire) – 4:49
  14. "Run It! [Remix]" featuring Bow Wow & Jermaine Dupri (J. Dupri, S. Garrett/, S. Moss, S. Storch) – 4:04
  15. "Thank You" (C. Brown, L. Flemming, S. Taylor, T. Davis) – 4:26

Bonus track

  1. "Gimme That [Remix]" featuring Lil Wayne (S. Garrett, S. Storch, D. Carter) – 3:56

International (outside of North America)

  1. "So Glad" (C. Brown, B. Gordy, I. Barias, C. Haggin, D. Lussier, A. Mizel F. Perren, Shaffer Smith) – 2:57
  2. "Thank You" – 4:49

Promotion

Through the winter, Brown joined the Scream V Encore Tour, featuring Ciara, Bow Wow, Omarion and Marques Houston, as a supporting act. Later, he headlined the Xbox 360 Presents: Chris Brown Tour, supported by T-Pain.

Charts

Chart (2005) Peak
position
Austrian Albums Chart[9] 66
Belgium Albums Chart (Flanders)[9] 47
Dutch Albums Chart[9] 47
European Top 100 Albums[10] 42
French SNEP Albums Chart[9] 51
German Albums Chart[9] 31
Irish Albums Chart[9] 71
New Zealand RIANZ Albums Chart[9] 8
Swiss Albums Chart[9] 18
UK Albums Chart[9] 29
U.S. Billboard 200[11] 2
U.S. Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums[11] 1

Release history

Region Date
United States November 29, 2005
Canada December 8, 2005
Jamaica December 21, 2005
Brazil January 18, 2006
Europe February 17, 2006
United Kingdom June 26, 2006
Mexico March 4, 2006

Personnel

  • Executive producers: Chris Brown, Tina Davis, Mark Pitts
  • Art Direction: Courtney Walter
  • A&R: Leticia Hilliard, Matt Schwartz
  • Assistant Engineers: Val Brathwrite, Vadim Chislov, Anthony G. Crisano, Patrick Magee, Lucas McClelland, Tadd Mingo, Aaron Renner
  • Bass: David Cabrerra
  • Design: Courtney Walter
  • Engineers: Wayne Allison, Vincent Dilorenzo, Conrad Golding, John Horesco IV, Eddie Hustle, Charles McCrorey, Oak, Keith Sengbusch, Sam Thomas
  • Guitar: Val Brathwrite, Aaron Fishbein
  • Keyboards: Kendrick Dean
  • Mastering: Herb Powers
  • Mixing: Kevin "KD" Davis, Vincent Dilorenzo, Jermaine Dupri, Jean-Marie Horvat, Eddie Hustle, Rich Keller, Phil Tan, The Underdogs
  • Mixing Assistant: Val Brathwrite, Steve Tolle, Mike Tschupp
  • Multi Instruments: Bryan-Michael Cox, Vidal Davis, Kendrick Dean, Andre Harris
  • Photography: Clay Patrick McBridge
  • Remix Producer: Jermaine Dupri, L-Rock
  • Vocals (background): Steve Russell
  • Vocal Producer: Lamont "LA" Flemming, Shannon "Slam" Lawrence
  • Vocal Recording: Charles McCrorey
  • Vocal Tracking: Ian Crosse

Production credits

  • "Intro" – Eddie Hustle
  • "Run It!" – Scott Storch
    • Samples "I Know What Boys Like" by Christopher Butler
  • "Yo (Excuse Me Miss)" – Dre & Vidal
  • "Young Love" – Antonio Dixon
  • "Gimme That" – Scott Storch
  • "Ya Man Ain't Me" – Antonio Dixon
  • "Winner" – Bryan-Michael Cox, WyldCard (co-producer)
  • "Ain't No Way (You Won't Love Me)" – Sean Garrett, Oak (co-producer)
    • Samples: "Song of the Dragon & Phoenix" by Zhang Fuquan
  • "What's My Name" – Cool And Dre
  • "Is This Love?" – The Underdogs
  • "Poppin'" – Dre & Vidal
  • "Just Fine" – Lance Bennett, Michael Winans, Shannon Lawrence
  • "Say Goodbye" – Bryan-Michael Cox, WyldCard
  • "Run It! [Remix]" – Jermaine Dupri, Scott Storch, LRoc (co-producer)
    • Samples "Jam Master Jay" by Run-DMC
  • "Thank You" – Shea Taylor, Lamont Flemming (co-producer)
  • "So Glad" – Carvin & Ivan
    • Samples "It's Great To Be Here" by the Jackson 5

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Is Chris Brown Violent?" (Online). Giant. 2006-03-02. http://giantmag.com/articles/chris-brown-most-likely-to-succeed/. Retrieved 2009-08-07. 
  2. ^ Robertson, Alex. "Chris Brown interview". Virgin Media. http://www.virginmedia.com/music/interviews/chrisbrown.php. Retrieved 2009-08-08. 
  3. ^ a b Eggar, Edgar (2006-02-12). "The new Michael Jackson". The Times. Times Online. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article728620.ece. Retrieved 2009-05-28. 
  4. ^ a b c "Brown runs with it". Hearst Corporation. San Francisco Chronicle. 2006-10-01. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/10/01/PKG5ULA4C41.DTL&type=music. Retrieved 2009-05-28. 
  5. ^ MacDonald, Patrick (2006-03-24). "Chris Brown, triple threat: singer, dancer, songwriter". The Seattle Times. The Seattle Times Company. http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20060324&slug=cbrown24. Retrieved 2009-08-07. 
  6. ^ Hasty, Katie (2005-12-07). "'NOW!' Rebounds, Holds Brown From No. 1". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/esearch/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001656191. Retrieved 2009-01-20. 
  7. ^ "RIAA - Gold & Platinum". RIAA. http://riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?resultpage=1&table=SEARCH_RESULTS&artist=chris%20brown&format=ALBUM&startYear=1958&endYear=2009&sort=Artist&perPage=25. Retrieved 2009-01-20. 
  8. ^ Saldanha, Evita. "Feature: Chris Brown". MTV India. http://www.mtvindia.com/music/music.php?id=18719. Retrieved 2009-01-20. 
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Chris Brown - Chris Brown - Music Charts". aCharts. http://acharts.us/album/14236. Retrieved 2007-12-21. 
  10. ^ "European Top 100 Albums - Chris Brown - Chris Brown". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/esearch/chart_display.jsp?cfi=293&cfgn=Albums&cfn=European+Top+100+Albums&ci=3064758&cdi=8560266&cid=03%2F11%2F2006. Retrieved 2009-01-20. 
  11. ^ a b "Artist Chart History - Chris Brown - Albums". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/retrieve_chart_history.do?model.chartFormatGroupName=Albums&model.vnuArtistId=679240&model.vnuAlbumId=986558. Retrieved 2009-04-12. 
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Chris Brown
Albums
Chris Brown · Exclusive · Graffiti
DVDs
Chris Brown's Journey · BET Presents: Chris Brown
Singles
Featured singles
Soundtrack singles
Other songs
Filmography
Tours
Related articles

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