Chris Brown released his self-entitled debut album in 2005, and at the time blew up as a fresh face on the R&B scene as a 16-year-old child prodigy who was to take the R&B scene by storm as he churned out numerous hits in such a short time frame. The album sold big due to his Pop appeal and freshness.
1. “Intro”
2. “Run It”
This one was his breakthrough single, but I have to admit that this wasn’t the point where I started following him from as here, this song has him made out to basically any new Pop act on the scene performing what is a catchy song which would appeal to the teeny-boppers, and few others in addition to this. Not even the short appearance from Juelz Santana did it for me, and I saw it to be a fairly average song.
**Three Stars**
3. “Yo”
The track listings appear to follow the ordering of the singles as this one came as his second single, and I have to say that this was most certainly an improvement on what we had heard prior to this as you find him doing a song which takes down the tempo and has him basically tell the listener about his little on-going crush, and how he wishes to get the girl he wants through the lyrics of the song.
**Four Stars**
4. “Young Love”
Any Hip Hop fans would be forced to compare this to a Slick
Rick track off his debut album, and what he seems to bring in through that song, but in this case you have Chris in the actual situation and not reminiscing on it at you have him speaking on how he feels that he has found love at an early age (despite the fact that so many expect it not to last).
**Four Stars**
5. “Gimme That”
For me, the defining feature of this one, when it dropped as a single was the fact that it was around about the time when Lil’ Wayne put in a plan top feature on every major artists music from here until the release of his albums “Tha Carter II” and “Tha Carter III”, but this isn’t the remix and so this element doesn’t come into things, but aside from this short featured rap, it is a fairly good one with him doing more club work.
**Four Stars**
6. “Ya Man Ain’t Me”
The freaky beats which open this song off really reminds me of the type of R&B you would have heard throughout the nineties, and I felt that the way he goes back to this Golden Age in the genre was a very good decision as it allows him to show how he is able to adapt to amongst the best music which the genre was able to come up with. It stands right out as one of the best here.
**Five Stars**
7. “Winner”
As this one starts off, and you hear some typical beats from Bryan-Michael Cox, you know that it is bound to be a memorable one as you find him doing another love song, and he is given some likely beats to do it to in order to keep the interest of the listener there, and not lose it with soppy material. There is so much going on with this, and it is written well so you need to hear it more than once to get all of the quality out of it.
**Four Stars**
8. “Ain’t No Way”
The winding synth in this one contrasts greatly from the way he introduces this song, but it seesm to fit right in with his style of singing in such a high pitch, and I felt that by this point you realise just how strong he is as he sings as he is able to work off the production he is given to make a fantastic composition which really doesn’t have anything wrong with it (aside from its hint on Pop at times).
**Four Stars**
9. “What’s My Name”
Noah, who I have never heard of before raps on this one along with Breezy, and I felt that in this case it seemed to work a lot better than earlier on as you have him on the sort of production which you would typically hear from an act like Jagged Edge in the way that it is all done, and I saw this to be a positive in that they did well with this distinctive sound.
**Four Stars**
10. “Is This Love?”
As a naive teenager singing this song, you find him attempting to establish what he has in his life is the thing they call ‘love, and I felt that with this nice lyrics, you have him on some of the best production that you fin on the whole record as the heavy bass in it really commands it, and brings out a new side to him with the hardcore beats giving him what is needed to sing to.
**Five Stars**
11. “Poppin’”
This one came as the final single to the album, and although it didn’t receive as much attention as the first three (of the five) did, it was definitely a stand-out song in my opinion and the fact that he chose to do one which has him take on a much more mature attitude to his music means that it appeals to an older audience than the first ones do., I thought it was the best of the album, and it has him do all he can with what is some unique production from Dre & Vidal.
**Five Stars**
12. “Just Fine”
The beats in this one are likely, and they really bring back the excitement of earlier on within the album, and the club songs which were found there are he gets a big lift with the production, and it allows him to motivate his work about attempting to make his relationship work, despite the animosity which it has seen to endure over the duration of it.
**Four Stars**
13. “Say Goodbye”
The final song opens up with a piano loop which seems to take on influence from K-Ci & JoJo’s “All My Life”, and this can only be a good thing as the loop is part of some epic production which seems to take on some more elaborate things with this funky synth to push it along as he tries to break away from his girl.
**Four Stars**
It is strange for an album to be as strong as this but to have some of the weaker tracks chosen as singles. I have to say that for this reason I was surprised by how good the album was, and that the rest of the album didn’t follow what the rest did with the Pop toned-down and more retro R&B and Hip Hop coming through.
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