Chris Brown (album)

Chris Brown is the debut album by American singer Chris Brown, released on November 29, 2005, through Jive Records. The production on the album was handled by multiple producers including Scott Storch, Cool & Dre, Oak Felder, Bryan-Michael Cox and the Underdogs among others. The album also features guest appearances by Juelz Santana, Lil Wayne, Bow Wow and Jermaine Dupri.

Chris Brown was supported by five singles: "Run It!", "Yo (Excuse Me Miss)", "Gimme That (Remix)", "Say Goodbye" and "Poppin'". The album was a commercial success and debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 154,000 copies in its first week. It has been certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). At the 49th Grammy Awards, the album earned Brown his first two Grammy Award nominations for Best New Artist and Best Contemporary R&B Album.

Background and recording
At age 13, Brown was discovered in Virginia by Hitmission Records, a local production team that visited the gas station where his father worked, while searching for new talent. Hitmission helped to arrange a demo package, under the name of "C. Sizzle", and approached contacts in New York.

Tina Davis, senior A&R executive at Def Jam Recordings, heard the demo package that Brown's local team had sent to Def Jam, and among the artists contained in the CD she was impressed by Brown with his track "Whose Girl Is That". Davis later had Brown auditioning in her New York office, and she immediately took him to meet the former president of the Island Def Jam Music Group, Antonio "L.A." Reid, who offered to sign him that day, but Brown refused his proposal because Reid wouldn't talk to his mother. Brown then started to sojourn in Harlem, New York, to seek a record deal. The negotiations with Def Jam continued for two months, and ended when Davis lost her job due to a corporate merger. Brown asked her to be his manager, and once Davis accepted, she promoted the singer to other labels such as Jive Records, J-Records and Warner Bros. Records. "I knew that Chris had real talent," says Davis. "I just knew I wanted to be part of it."

According to Mark Pitts, in an interview with HitQuarters, Davis presented Brown with a video recording, and Pitts' reaction was: "I saw huge potential ... I didn't love all the records, but I loved his voice. It wasn't a problem because I knew that he could sing, and I knew how to make records." Brown ultimately signed with Jive Records on Christmas Eve of 2004. Brown stated, "I picked Jive because they had the best success with younger artists in the pop market, [...] I knew I was going to capture my African American audience, but Jive had a lot of strength in the pop area as well as longevity in careers." At the time, he dropped out of tenth grade at his Essex High School in Virginia, in favor of tutoring.

Brown developed the concept for the album along with Mark Pitts and Tina Davis, and began recording it in Miami, Florida. The singer worked with several producers and songwriters—Scott Storch, Cool & Dre, Sean Garrett and Jazze Pha among them—commenting that they "really believed in [him]". In 2023, Brown described working on his first album as a "learning experience". The singer worked on 50 songs before coming to a final 14 tracks to be included on his first album. Brown co-wrote half of the tracks. "I write about the things that 16 year olds go through every day," says Brown. "Like you just got in trouble for sneaking your girl into the house, or you can't drive, so you steal a car or something." The whole album took less than eight weeks to produce. Brown's original intention on the album was to both rap and sing on the records, but Pitts convinced him to stick to just singing, he said that "I was trying to keep it at, ‘You’re a singer’ I was caught up in the idea of ‘Stay in your lane’". The album was initially supposed to be titled Young Love, however, that idea for the album title has been discarded as being "too kiddie".

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.

On June 13, 2006, Brown released a DVD entitled Chris Brown's Journey, which shows footage of him traveling in England and Japan, getting ready for his first visit to the Grammy Awards, behind the scenes of his music videos and bloopers. On August 17, 2006, to further promote the album, Brown began his major co-headlining tour, The Up Close and Personal Tour.

Music
Chris Brown is an R&B and hip hop soul album, that was described by Pitchfork's critic Jules Verano as "the perfect epitome of 2000's R&B music sound" along with Ne-Yo's debut album In My Own Words. The album is essentially about teenage lovelife, mixing themes of first approaches to love involvement, infatuation, physical attractiveness and coolness. The album also has few episodes where the singer mentions sex with older women, explains his growing up, portrays his "young street credibility", and talks about his relationship with his mother.

Singles
His official debut single from the album, "Run It!" was released on June 30, 2005. The song features guest vocals from an American rapper Juelz Santana, with the production that was handled by a high-profile hip hop producer Scott Storch. It reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, where it stayed for over five weeks, and also achieved continuous airplays, also topping on the airplays for the Billboard Hot 100. As number one on the Billboard Hot 100, Run It! was preceded by Kanye West's "Gold Digger", and succeeded by Mariah Carey's "Don't Forget About Us". The song also topped it on the Billboard Pop 100, a now defunct chart. "Run It!" takes place in a party setting, with Brown explaining, "It's really a guy checking for a girl, or a girl checking for a guy...asking to see if they can run it. If they can be eligible to be your girlfriend, boyfriend, whatever. 'Let me see if you can run it; show me what you got.'" "Yo (Excuse Me Miss)" discusses the first conversation someone has with a girl: "Fellas, first thing they say when they see a girl is 'Yo! Yo!'. I'm saying it like that, but technically not like that. She takes my breath away, all I can say is 'Yo, let me just talk to you for a minute. Chill with me for a minute.'"

The album's second single, "Yo (Excuse Me Miss)" was released on December 13, 2005. The song's production was handled by the duo Dre & Vidal. The song charted in the top ten on the Hot 100 in the US.

The remix to "Gimme That", which features guest vocals from a fellow American rapper Lil Wayne, was released as the album's third single on May 7, 2006.

The album's fourth single, "Say Goodbye" was released on August 8, 2006. The song's production was handled by Bryan-Michael Cox. The song peaked at number 10 in the United States.

The album's fifth and final single, "Poppin'" was released on November 21, 2006. The production on this track was handled by Dre & Vidal. The song charted in the top 40 in most charts outside the United States.

Critical reception
Yardbarker listed it among "The best R&B albums of the 2000s", stating that the singer with the self-titled album "helped usher in a newer generation of R&B artists.". Vibe praised Chris Brown for showcasing the singer's "intriguingly robust level of talent", noting how the album made him being "quickly stamped as the future of R&B". Decca Aitkenhead of The Guardian defined it as "a smooth slice of commercial R&B". Andy Kellman of AllMusic said that the album "almost always involves an even push-and-pull between what appeals to kids who don't consider street credibility and those who do", praising Brown's introduction in R&B music as "a refreshing presence, a high-schooler who's neither as family friendly as Will Smith nor as comically vulgar as Pretty Ricky. Michael Endelman of Entertainment Weekly gave the album a short, mixed review, saying that the album is "Perfect for the homecoming dance, but you’ll need a chaperone."

Commercial performance
Chris Brown debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 154,000 copies in its first week. This became Brown's first US top-ten debut. The album also debuted at number one on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, becoming his first number one on that chart. On December 18, 2006, the album was a certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales of over two million copies. As of April 2011, the album has sold 2.1 million copies in the United States alone and over three million copies worldwide.

Track listing
Credits adapted from BMI and ASCAP.

The 2006 re-issue of the album includes 2 bonus tracks: "So Glad", and "Seen the Light" (feat. Rico Love).

Notes
 * (*) Denotes co-producer.
 * (^) Denotes additional producer.

Samples credits


 * "Ain't No Way (You Won't Love Me)" contains a portion of the composition from "Song of the Dragon & Phoenix" written by Zhang Fuquan.

Personnel

 * Executive producers: Chris Brown, Tina Davis, Mark Pitts
 * Art direction: Courtney Walter
 * A&R: Leticia Hilliard, Matt Schwartz
 * Assistant recording engineers: Val Brathwrite (track 7), Vadim Chislov (2, 5, 16), Anthony G. Crisano (1, 5, 9, 12, 15–16), Patrick Magee (2, 5, 16), Lucas McLendon (1), Tadd Mingo (14), Aaron Renner (4, 6, 10)
 * Bass: David Cabrerra (track 9)
 * Design: Courtney Walter
 * Recording engineers: Wayne Allison (tracks 2, 5, 16), Vincent Dilorenzo (3, 11), Conrad Golding (2, 5, 16), Dabling "Hobby Boy" Harward (4, 6, 10), John Horesco IV (14), Eddie Hustle (music 1), Charles McCrorey (2, 5, 9, 16), Oak Felder (8), Carlos Paucar (5, 16), Keith Sengbusch (9, 12), Kelly Sheehan (4, 6, 10), Shea Taylor (15), Alonzo Vargas (12), Sam Thomas (7, 13)
 * Guitar: Val Brathwrite, Aaron Fishbein (tracks 2, 5, 16), David Cabrerra (9)
 * Keyboards: Kendrick Dean (tracks 7, 13), Shea Taylor (15)
 * Mastering: Herb Powers
 * Mixing: Kevin "KD" Davis (track 8), Vincent Dilorenzo (3, 11), Jermaine Dupri (14), Jean-Marie Horvat (7, 13), Eddie Hustle (1), Rich Keller (12), Phil Tan (14), The Underdogs (4, 6, 10), Stephen "Stevo" George (15), Brian Stanley (2, 5, 9, 16)
 * Mixing assistant: Val Brathwaite (tracks 2, 5, 16), Steve Tolle (9), Mike Tschupp (2)
 * Multi instruments: Bryan-Michael Cox (tracks 7, 13), Vidal Davis (3, 11), Andre Harris (3, 11), Shea Taylor (drum machine 15)
 * Photography: Clay Patrick McBride
 * Remix producer: Jermaine Dupri (track 14), L-Rock (14)
 * Background vocals: Steve Russell (track 10)
 * Vocal producer: Lamont "LA" Flemming (track 15), Shannon "Slam" Lawrence (12)
 * Vocal recording: Charles McCrorey (tracks 1, 15), Stephen "Stevo" George (additional 15)
 * Vocal tracking: Ian Crosse (track 8)