Chris Brown
Discography Review by Kyra Williams
So Jay-Z has been around forever. I am certain that everyone who reads this magazine has not listened to all of his work though. To be honest, I hadn’t before this either. In a new segment that is dedicated to reviewing legendary artist’s discographies, Jay-Z gets the inaugural treatment. With a catalog that stems from 1996 to present day, Hov has managed to push 12 SOLO studio albums. This review is based soley on those projects, so sorry to fans of Best of Both Worlds and Watch The Throne. Here is Jay-Z’s discography: album by album.
Two years later, Chris released his sophomore album “Exclusive,” which also went double platinum. Then seven months after that, he released “Exclusive (The Forever Edition),” a twenty song album. I consider this project to be a transitional period in Chris’ career. He started to experiment with Auto-Tune and Pop dance music while allowing more sexy R&B records to take the forefront. He was growing up before our eyes and blowing up even more. He landed his first endorsement deal with Doublemint Gum and used “Forever,”re-written of course, as the jingle for the Wringley’s commercial. Those involved with the production of this project included Kanye West, The Runners, Bryan Michael Cox, Jazze Pha, Scott Storch, T-Pain, Tank, Sean Garrett, Swizz Beatz, will.i.am, Polow da Don, The Runners, The-Dream, The Underdogs, and more. Features also included Kanye West, will.i.am, The Game, Lil Wayne, T-Pain, Big Boi, Bow Wow, Hurricane Chris, and Keri Hilson. Chris released six singles from this album, which were “Kiss Kiss,” “Wall to Wall,” “Take You Down,” “With You,” “Forever,” and “Superhuman.”
Fav Songs- Take You Down, Forever, Heart Aint A Brain
In 2005, Chris Brown came out as a force to be reckoned with, breaking the Billboard Top 100 with his first single “Run It” and his self titled debut album went double platinum, continuing that momentum. Deservingly, this album earned him his first two Grammy nominations of Best New Artist and Best Contemporary R&B Album. To this day, I consider this project to be a classic. No matter how many times I listen or how long it’s been since I’ve listened, I always feel like it’s the first time all over again. The lisp, the riffs, the lyrics, the production, all of it captured the essence of Chris’ talent and also set the bar high for his career. There were so many hits on this album: “Run It,” “Yo,” “Gimme That,” “Poppin,” and “Say Goodbye.” The feature artists included Juelz Santana, Lil Wayne, and Bow Wow. I think each track on this album held its own and somehow, this was only the beginning for him.
Fav Songs- Young Love, Poppin, Just Fine
Chris Brown showed growth once again in his musical style with this one. In his last album, he dabbled in Pop, but this time he embraced the genre along with some Hip-Hop and his usual R&B sound. He was also more sensual this time around. “I Can Transform Ya,” the album’s lead single, set the tone for this change. There were also tracks like “I.Y.A” and “Pass Out” that took on more of an electronic sound. Contributors to his developments in production were Swizz Beatz, Ester Dean, Polow da Don, Ryan Leslie, The Runners, Scott Storch, and more. Appearances included Lil Wayne, Sean Paul, Plies, The Game, Tank, Eva Simmons, Swizz Beatz, Ester Dean, and Trey Songz. Songz was featured on “Wait” and that was the first collaboration between the two R&B dominators. Also, this album debuted in the top ten of the Billboard charts and it earned him two Grammy nominations, one for “Take My Time,” featuring Tank. Although, this was an impressive body of work, it received negative reviews because of Chris’ personal issues that took over the media before its release. His struggles during this time were fairly evident in his vulnerable lyrics and emotional tone on this project.
Fav Songs- Crawl, Take My Time, Luck Me, I Love You
This mixtape, hosted by DJ Drama, was the debut of the rapping, unfiltered, raunchy Chris Brown. Ultimately, I think he just had fun venturing off into a new lane. There were only a few features on this project which included Soulja Boy, Kevin McCall, and Sevyn Streeter. The beginning of Kevin and Sevyn’s relationship with Chris brown was around this time. You may know them for their solo careers but between them, they also write, produce, sing, and rap for Chris. In fact, they’re signed to his label, CBE. But going back to the project, outside of a few gems, the overall choice of lyrics and hooks on this tape were pretty simplistic. The 21 tracks were a mixture of original songs and some covers that included Trey Songz’ “Invented Sex” and “Say Ahh,” Ludacris’ “How Low Can You Go,” and Snoop Dogg’s “I Wanna Rock.” Also, the successful single,“No BS,” originally appeared on this mixtape, although it was later featured on “Fan Of A Fan” and “F.A.M.E.”
Fav Songs- NO BS, Twitter, Glowin In The Dark, Work Wit It
“In My Zone 2” was Chris Brown’s third release of 2010, so he was definitely on his grind that year. The mixtape was hosted by DJ Drama and DJ Baby Drew. It featured Big Sean, Kevin McCall, Petey Pablo, Sevyn Streeter, J Valentine, Lonny Bereal, Gucci Mane, and Diesel. I think that this was a nice follow up to “In My Zone.” Of course there were the party records that went hard, but he also provided R&B records that touched on something other than sex, which he didn’t do in the first installation. Also, like he did on the first mixtape, he gave us some fun and simple tracks as well some covers like “What U Doin” by Big Sean. He continued to display his rapping skills but first and foremost he showed off what he does best, which is singing. I think this mixtape along with the others are enjoyable, but they just aren’t on the same level as Chris’ albums.
Fav Songs- Talk That Sh**, F**k Um All, All Off, Life Itself
Chris Brown’s first collaboration with Tyga added yet another great body of work to his archives. “Fan Of A Fan” was an overall grown and sexy mixtape that included a few club records. On this project, Chris continued the vibes of “In My Zone” but improved it with completely original content. In terms of production and features, I noticed that Kevin McCall contributed greatly to the tape. Something that also caught my attention was the organization. The talking intro, interlude, and outro made the tape more personal. And the ratio of R&B to Hip-Hop tracks as well as Chris Brown to Tyga dominated tracks, gave the tape a nice flow and a recognizable balance. There was a song for almost every Chris Brown and Tyga fan and I think that made it a hard act to follow for “Fan Of A Fan The Album.”
Fav Songs- Deuces, Aint Thinkin Bout You, Holla At Me, Number One
2007- Exclusive
5 Spins
2005- Chris Brown
3 Spins
4 Spins
3 Spins
4 Spins
2010- In My Zone 2
2010- Fan of a Fan
2010- In My Zone
2009- Grafitti
4 Spins