Breezy’s Back
Really pumped about the new Chris Brown album, as he looks to thoroughly entrench himself in the Pop/R&B music world for the first time in almost three years. Before we move onto the review, just wanted to say thanks to anyone who looked at/read the blog yesterday, got a lot more views than I ever would have expected. Be sure to stop by again! Separate thanks are also in order for those who marketed it via facebook or told friends without me even asking. MUCH appreciated.
Last order of business, wanted to put up a link to a great article on Deadspin that really takes an in-depth look at the statistics behind one of the greatest games ever played. I am of course referring to the classic 1996 championship bout between the Michael Jordan-led Tune Squad and the heavily favored Monstars. Truly one of the all-time great comebacks and we were lucky enough that actual footage of the game was compiled to make one of my favorite movies ever: Space Jam. Heres the link: compiling-the-absurd-box-score-for-space-jam-or-shawn-bradley-sucked-against-cartoons-too
F.A.M.E.
It seems like a very long time since we’ve heard from Chris Brown. Most of you probably were aware that he released an album, Graffiti, which for me, remains very underrated. While I think several of the songs could have received significant air-play, it makes sense that they didn’t, given the circumstances surrounding his assault on Rihanna just months before (for those of you who haven’t listened to much of the album, be sure to check out Crawl, Sing Like Me, What I Do, Pass Out, So Cold, and Wait). After that, he wasn’t heard from very much in music until he exploded back onto the scene last summer with Deuces. The song rapidly rose up the R&B charts and reassured fans that, at some point, he may just be able to regain the momentum he had going into the early months of 2009 that made him seem destined for interntaional superstardom. A few months later, he released Yeah 3x, a really fun, bubbly song that only increased anticipation for the album release. While this album by itself doesn’t completely deliver him back into the good graces of the many fans he lost for the February 2009 incident, it certainly serves as a really good stepping stone to eventually get back to that level. Because Chris has been out of the music game for so long, my anticipation and expectations for the album were extremely high and it didnt disappoint. I can safely say that close to half the album needs to be on everybody’s iPods a.s.a.p. I was originally a little down on the 9-10 songs (17 total songs on the deluxe version) that weren’t quite up to the level of the other really good ones. But the more I listened, I realized that with the exception of maybe 1-2 songs, there isn’t a bad apple in the bunch. There are great songs, good ones, and a few that just might not be up to par. But in the end, every opinion varies with each listener. Give it a listen a see what you think.
Overall Grade: B+…Maybe I’m a bit of a tough grader, but if something is going to get a grade in the “A” range, I think it needs to surpass expectations and give the listener something he/she has never heard before. It needs to be something of an experience. The last album I can safely say that reached this level for me would be My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by Kanye West. Definitely one of my favorite albums of all time, but needs to be listened to in the right context NOTE: there is still A LOT of music I need to give a chance but I just haven’t had the time. A few artists I look forward to listening to very soon would be The Black Keys and Arcade Fire, I’ve heard nothing but good things about each artist, and was glad to see that each got what appeared to be some well deserved recognition at this year’s Grammy Awards. Now, we can take a brief look at some of the songs from F.A.M.E. (Songs are tentatively ranked).
MUST PURCHASE/DOWNLOAD….LIKE RIGHT NOW
1. Yeah 3x. Maybe my favorite song on the album, its basically just a really good time/instant good mood in music form. Kind of a sequel to Forever.
2. She Ain’t You. At the very beginning of the song, listeners will hear something that, depending on your knowledge of 80’s music, could seem very familiar (luckily for me, my knowledge of the music from this time period is so great, that it far exceeds any amount that could be deemed necessary). That melody at the beginning is actually a sample from Michael Jackson’s Human Nature off of Thriller. I first heard this song two weeks ago, and have been listening to it non-stop since. Its a really catchy blend of Pop and R&B, and I’m really hoping it gets some time to display its chops on the radio.
3. Deuces. Despite being released all the way back last summer, the song still holds up surprisingly well whenever its played. People haven’t gotten tired of it. Get in the car and put this on blast and you’re sure to feel like a hard-ass (could just be me though…ouch).
4. Love Them Girls. Chris, Game, and song-writer Ester Dean team up for the first time since Wait, and it doesn’t disappoint. Love Them Girls is something of a sequel to Wait in fact. It gives us a great beat, and the song seems like a combination of Wait, and Usher’s Hot Tottie (an all-time favorite song) and Lil Freak, which would make sense since the music mentioned in this section was all produced by Polow Da Don.
5. Bomb. Wiz Khalifa makes a nice cameo in this serenade to women’s prominently featured backsides. The first 35 seconds get me really jacked up, and then the song drops into something that sounds like a bit of a rip-off of Lil Wayne’s 6 Foot 7 Foot. Regardless, should be a great song to break out once the summer rolls around.
6. Beautiful People. Chris teams up with Benny Benassi (the mastermind behind the blood-pumping Satisfaction). Great dance song, and the album features a version that is a little more listener friendly. The original version that was leaked awhile back can be found pretty easily on YouTube and is about 75 seconds longer than the one on the album. Can’t decide which version is better, but both are good, so its not much of a problem.
7. Up 2 You. This is R&B at its absolute purest. Took me a few listens to really get into it, but I really like it now that I have.
8. Wet The Bed. This song is as filthy as the title implies, and features a really solid cameo from Ludacris, who has a very special talent for putting your dirty thoughts into rap form (I abstain from saying “our dirty thoughts” because I was raised as a Puritan, I have no dirty thoughts). The lyrical content may be a little bit dicey for some people, but this is a song that brings back memories of the fantastic Take You Down from his Exclusive album. This song is what I like to call a Brothers Logan Special, the significance of which I will wait for another day to explain.
SOLID (NOTHING TO WRITE HOME ABOUT)….this basically means results from song to song might be mixed, its all up to the discretion of the listener.
9. Paper, Scissors, Rock. If I had been told 6 months ago that Timbaland would produce a song on F.A.M.E., I would have been pretty ecstatic to get my hands on it. Now looking at that very Timbaland produced song, something seems to be missing. Maybe too many crappy vocals from Timbaland and not enough Chris Brown. This song probably should have been on Shock Value II rather than F.A.M.E. (which by now has become very annoying to type out with the added obstacle of having to italicize with the classic Ctrl+I combo). Regardless of its several flaws, its still a song that can get people out of their seats and moving, and theres also something to be said for its very open endorsement of the lost game of Rock, Paper, Scissors.
10. Next 2 You. The song features every girl’s favorite, Justin Bieber, who is now singing a whole octave lower than Brown in some parts (read: he is now undergoing a process many of us in the business like to call puberty (read: his career is effectively over in maybe 12 months)). As soon as I got over the prospect of having to listen to Bieber do his best to keep up with the far-superior Chris Brown, the song really isn’t too bad at all. It kind of has a classic Justin Bieber sound to it (insert joke about how I even know what the classic Justin Bieber sound is), so I’m sure the song will please many of the lady folk.
11. Should’ve Kissed You. A heartfelt ballad, produced by the same man who helped put out mega-hits like Forever, and Disturbia. Pretty solid song, depending on what your tastes are, and Chris goes all out for the last 50 seconds.
12. Say It With Me. If Michael Jackson put out a pop-song today, it might end up sounding a little bit like this (and in fact, you can almost hear him in the background in parts of the chorus). A solid change of pace since most of the songs are pretty slowed down.
13. All Back. He shows some pretty nice vocal range with this one, a song that sounds very much like I’ll Go, from his previous album. Its another slowed-down R&B jam; some may like the song, others simply won’t. With this song, we have officially entered the part of the album where reception of each song just depends on the type of music you like or detest. No right answer either way.
14. Oh My Love. Another change of pace song that has a nice feel to it. Could be a distant cousin to Say It With me.
15. No Bulls**t. One of the more graphic songs on the album and I would probably be correct in classifying it as another Brothers Logan Special. This is a different Chris than the one we saw all these years ago on Run It. It seems he has now entered the phase of his career where he wants to deal with some more adult themes. Adult themes or not, a good song is a good song regardless of content. At the same time, a crappy song about the life of MLK Jr. or Abraham Lincoln is still a crappy song.
16. Beg For It. Shows some nice vocal range with this song as well, but its a little too auto-tuned in some spots for my taste. For any R&B fiends out there, this is another song that should probably be on your iPod.
17. Look At Me Now. Despite the really awesome bass and great verses from Busta Rhymes and Lil Wayne, I just could never really get on board with this song. The consensus seems to be that people don’t want to hear Chris rap (even though he does appear to have some talent) and would rather he get back to his Pop/R&B roots, and I am definitely a part of that group of people.
Wow. That was a really long post. Congrats to the few of you (of perhaps no one made it) who made it all the way down here. I would give you some sort of cash reward or something, but I’m usually pretty frugal with my funds. Thanks a bunch for reading. Since the days in between the tournament games are a little slow on sports, thinking about putting up some newer songs tomorrow that I have really been feeling for the past couple weeks/months/whatever. Expect me to take a look at the games for the round of 16 sometime on Thursday. Once again, really appreciate the views.
JayWalking33 
No trackbacks yet.