In 2003 came the fifth solo offering from R. Kelly as the R&B star dropped “Chocolate Factory”. It was seen as a significant release from the artist as he had gone through a full transition from his nineties work to what you see now as he had complexly made the transition to create the ‘R&B Thug’ which had been present since his broke through New Jack Swinging with Public Announcement in 1991.
1. “Chocolate Factory”
The album begins in a strong way as you see that in it he gets down to one where he introduces the album and explains what he’s about to do here in this album with a nice little groover to warm you up with a light little tune which gets you up to a gradual start before the album progresses towards bigger and better things. Non-fans are bound to criticise the lack of melody in the verses, but I felt that it did its job.
**Four Stars**
2. “Step In The Name Of Love”
This is a killer tune from the artist and the original to a tune which was released as a single. In it you finds that he gets down to a fun, classy dance number to get listeners even more excited for what is to come as he gradually works his way towards the kind of material which is really going to ret listeners moving.
**Four Stars**
3. “Heart Of A Woman”
In this one you find that the singer gets down to one where he is able to show the power in his voice as in this one see that the production which he does (and solely constructs
through the whole album) is brought down to a place where he is able to really show the quality which he has in this, and I felt that in the way he write it made for a well-rounded tune to show why he was responsible not only for some of the biggest ballads in R&B, but for Pop too as he did a few for Michael Jackson.
**Four Stars**
4. “I’ll Never Leave”
With this one you find that the singer really has to do all he can in order to show that he has got skills when it comes to constructing a tune which brings together his talents at writing the songs, in addition to singing to his own beats, and I felt that this was just what you got as he sings towards his girl about how he will always say with her (in spite of what may have happened in the past).
With this one you have a collaboration of talents here as Kells gets into a R&B/Rap work where Ja Rule makes one of a few link-ups with him to make a nice little tune which has Kelly choosing to half-sing, half-rap the whole way through to come up with what you get in this one. It is a nice one, and it needs some time to really feel, but it still does its thing.
**Four Stars**
6. “You Made Me Love You”
This one has him doing a track which I have to say that I wasn’t really that keen on at all as you see that here he tries out some alternative work and the way in which he chooses to deliver the strange composition seems to get to a stage where you doubt whether he really knows how weak his work is we he doesn’t do any proper R&B singing.
**Two Stars**
7. “Forever”
This is one which seems to bring back the quality of the music as with it you can actually see where he is going with it as it is seen that with it he gets down to one where he takes on heavy influence from those who came before him as he takes on all that the seventies and eighties Soul singers brought to producer this throwback work.
This is another nice little two-stepper on the album and one which forces you to get down with him too as he sings towards the girl that does it for him. It is one which you can’t really complain about, but I would have to admit that the song itself isn’t particularly memorable in comparison to others here.
**Four Stars**
9. “Ignition”
Using a line from “12 Play” to start it up, this is one of the sexiest tunes which he had brought since “Bump N Grind” and pretty much the whoel of his first solo album. It is a killer tune and personally I prefer it over the remix which follows directly after it. You can’t really take on this one and if you liked his early material,. You will certainly like this one too.
**Five Stars**
10. “Ignition” (Remix)
This was a monster tune from 2003, a song which you simply could not escape as he made a remix out of the sensual tune and made it into a straight club banger. It is R&B at its best for that time and I don’t know how you can’t enjoy what you get from it as he just kills it with the up-tempo alterations.
**Five Stars**
11. “Forever More”
With this you get a highly-sensual offering from the singer where he is seen to make the most out of the range which his vocals have within them. I felt that for this reason, it really makes this one stand out as in spite of the fact the material remains in the smooth style which is prominent through the majority of the “Chocolate Factory” release.
**Four Stars**
12. “You Knock Me Out”
This was one of few non0singles to have the pace picked up quite significantly, and I understand why this one wasn’t chosen to promote the album as this one appears to generally be lacking something as there really isn’t sort of punch in this song and it stays on the same level throughout as he takes it to the clubs, but does nothing with it as if it is incomplete.
**Two Stars**
13. “Step In The Name Of Love” (Remix)
This was the single version of an earlier track off the album and here you have the artist making the most out of his abilities to construct a perfect two-stepper for the clubs as he matures his sound and goes out to appeal to a whole new audience this time around and do what he needs to to put across this transition.
**Five Stars**
14. “Imagine That”
With this one you find that the general theme of the album becomes much more prominent in the music as in it you see that with this one he takes things back towards the bedroom, just as he had with his highly-significant solo debut “12 Play”. It does big things and seems to take you back to his early years.
**Four Stars**
15. “Showdown”
This was one on the album which I really didn’t think much to the first time I heard it, but after some time it grew on me as I could feel much more out of the epic song as he lays down a eight minute-long display where he takes you on a trip with Ron Isley. It is a further development of the aritst as he works towards the Hip Hopera music.
**Four Stars**
16. “Snake”
This was one of the big smashers to follow0on form the success of the remix to “Ignition” and personally I was well into it as you find that in it the artist comes up with an high-tempo club-suited tune which really does its job as he sings towards the girls who he knows are able to dance in just the ways he likes.
**Five Stars**
17. “Who’s That”
The style of production remains largely the same for this one as you seer that in it he uses all the same sort of synth in the same way to guide it through as it takes on a style which was seen on the album prior to this as he brought “Fiesta”, but in this case he works with the East Coast rapper Fat Joe and comes with a decent final cut.
**Four Stars**
I felt that this was a strong album from the singer and although, like most of his albums, there are clear weak points, the singles really make up for it in this case and ensure that it isn’t brought down too far to really make this much of an issue.
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Chocolate Factory Step In The Name Of Love Heart Of A Woman I'll Never Leave Been ... more
Around The World (W/ Ja Rule) You Made Me Love You Forever Dream Girl Ignition Ignition Remix Forever More You Knock Me Out Step In The Name Of Love (Remix) ...
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Sep 5th, 2009
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