Chris Brown (album)

Chris Brown is the self-titled debut studio album by American singer Chris Brown. It was released on November 29, 2005, by Jive Records. Receiving generally positive reviews from critics, the album was a commercial success. The album debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 chart. It has been certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)[5] and has sold over three million copies worldwide.[6] The album also earned Brown his first two Grammy Award nominations for Best New Artist and Best Contemporary R&B Album at the 49th Grammy Awards.

Chris Brown
Studio album by Chris Brown
Released	November 29, 2005
Recorded	February–May 2005
Genre	R&B hip hop soul
Length	59:00
Label	CBE Jive
Producer	Chris Brown Tina Davis Mark Pitts Scott Storch Jermaine Dupri Bryan-Michael Cox WyldCard The Underdogs Dre & Vidal Shea Taylor Cool & Dre Sean Garrett Shannon "Slam" Lawrence Oak Felder Eddie Hustle LRoc Antonio Dixon Mike Winans Lance Bennett
Chris Brown chronology
Chris Brown (2005) Exclusive (2007)
Alternative cover
International cover
Singles from Chris Brown
"Run It!" Released: June 30, 2005 "Yo (Excuse Me Miss)" Released: December 13, 2005 "Gimme That (Remix)" Released: May 7, 2006 "Say Goodbye" Released: August 8, 2006 "Poppin'" Released: November 21, 2006

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Entertainment Weekly	C+[2]
The Guardian	[3]
Rolling Stone	[4]

Background

After weeks of label searching, Brown signed a deal with Jive Records on Christmas Eve of 2004.[7][8] At the time, he dropped out of tenth grade at his Essex High School in Virginia, in favor of tutoring. Brown began recording his new debut album at Miami, Florida, with Mark Pitts, a Jive A&R representative who helped Brown sign to the label. Brown worked on 50 songs before coming to a final 14 tracks to be included on his first album. The album was initially titled Young Love, however, with that idea for the album title has been discarded as being "too kiddie".[9]

Music

"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.'"[10] "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.'"[10]

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's Pop 100, a now defunct chart.

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 became Brown's yet another top 10 hit in his career.

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 peaking 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 has been charted top 40 outside the United States.

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.

Commercial performance

Chris Brown debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 154,000 copies.[11] 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.[12] As of April 2011, the album has sold 2.1 million copies in the United States alone[5] and over three million copies worldwide.[6]

Track listing

Credits adapted from BMI and ASCAP.[13][14]

Standard edition

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Intro"	Christopher Brown Edmund Clement	Eddie Hustle	0:56
2.	"Run It!" (featuring Juelz Santana)	Scott Storch Sean Garrett LaRon James	Storch Garrett*	3:49
3.	"Yo (Excuse Me Miss)"	Johntá Austin Vidal Davis Andre Harris	Dre & Vidal	3:49
4.	"Young Love"	Harvey Mason, Jr. Damon Thomas Antonio Dixon Keri Hilson Patrick "J. Que" Smith	The Underdogs Dixon	3:38
5.	"Gimme That"	Storch Garrett	Storch Garrett*	3:06
6.	"Ya Man Ain't Me"	Mason Jr. Thomas Dixon Eric Dawkins Steve Russell Durrell "Tank" Babbs	The Underdogs Dixon*	3:34
7.	"Winner"	Brown Bryan-Michael Cox Kendrick "WyldCard" Dean Adonis Shropshire	Cox Dean*	4:04
8.	"Ain't No Way (You Won't Love Me)"	Warren "Oak" Felder Garrett Zhang Fuquan	Garrett Felder*	3:23
9.	"What's My Name" (featuring Noah)	Brown Christopher Lyon Marcello Valenzano	Cool & Dre	3:52
10.	"Is This Love?"	Mason Jr. Thomas Mason Dawkins Russell	The Underdogs	3:17
11.	"Poppin'"	Austin Davis Harris	Dre & Vidal	4:25
12.	"Just Fine"	Brown Lance Bennett Shannon Lawrence Mike Winans	Lawrence Winans Bennett	3:52
13.	"Say Goodbye"	Cox Jevon Shropshire	Cox	4:49
14.	"Run It!" (remix) (featuring Bow Wow and Jermaine Dupri)	Storch Garrett Jermaine Dupri	Storch Garrett* Dupri^ LRoc*^	4:04
15.	"Thank You"	Brown Shea Taylor Lamont "LA" Fleming Tina Davis	Shea Taylor	4:26
16.	"Gimme That" (remix) (featuring Lil Wayne)	Storch Garrett Dwayne Carter, Jr.	Storch Garrett*	3:56
Total length:				59:00

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), 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)

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2005–2006) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA)[15] 57 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[16] 66 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[17] 47 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[18] 47 European Top 100 Albums[19] 42 French Albums (SNEP)[20] 51 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[21] 31 Irish Albums (IRMA)[22] 71 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[23] 8 Scottish Albums (OCC)[24] 71 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[25] 18 UK Albums (OCC)[26] 29 UK R&B Albums (OCC)[27] 4 US Billboard 200[28] 2 US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[29] 1 US R&B/Hip-Hop Catalog Albums (Billboard)[30] 4

Year-end charts Chart (2006) Position Australian Urban Albums (ARIA)[31] 26 UK Albums (OCC)[32] 200 US Billboard 200[33] 17 US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[34] 5 Chart (2007) Position US Billboard 200[35] 199 US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[36] 62

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[37]	Gold	35,000^^
Canada (Music Canada)[38]	Gold	50,000^^
New Zealand (RMNZ)[39]	Gold	7,500^^
United Kingdom (BPI)[40]	Gold	100,000^^
United States (RIAA)[41]	3× Platinum	3,000,000^^
^^shipments figures based on certification alone

References

1. Kellman, Andy. 2005. Allmusic. Retrieved on 2012-02-12
2. Chris Brown. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved on 2018-11-15 Endelman, Michael]
3. Chris Brown, Chris Brown. The Guardian. Retrieved on 2018-11-15 Sullivan, Caroline]
4. Hoard, Christian. . Rolling Stone. Retrieved on 2012-02-12
5. Grein, Paul (March 23, 2011). "Week Ending March 20, 2011: Songs: The Chris Brown Matter". Yahoo! Music. Archived from the original on April 30, 2011. Retrieved April 19, 2011.
6. "Biography", People, archived from the original on August 30, 2016, retrieved October 18, 2016
7. Hildebrand, Lee (2006-10-01). "Brown runs with it". Hearst Corporation. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2009-05-28.
8. Eggar, Edgar (2006-02-12). "The new Michael Jackson". The Times. London: Times Online. Retrieved 2009-05-28.(subscription required)
9. Guzmn, Rafer (April 13, 2006). "COOL@NIGHT, CHRIS BROWN: Letting his feet do the talking, Only 16, he has moves like Michael and a No. 1 record". Newsday. Fred Groser.
10. Reid, Shaheem (October 5, 2005). "Chris Brown Dancing His 'Run It!' Straight Up The Charts". MTV News. Viacom. Retrieved June 23, 2012.
11. Grein, Paul (March 30, 2011). "Week Ending March 27, 2011: Albums: Chris Brown's Recovery - Chart Watch". Yahoo! Music. Archived from the original on October 5, 2012. Retrieved April 19, 2011.
12. "RIAA - Gold & Platinum". RIAA. Retrieved 2009-01-20.
13. "BMI | Repertoire Search". repertoire.bmi.com. Retrieved 2019-06-01.
14. "ACE Repertory". www.ascap.com. Retrieved 2019-06-01.
15. http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/23790/20060410-0000/issue833.pdf
16. "Austriancharts.at – Chris Brown – Chris Brown" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
17. "Ultratop.be – Chris Brown – Chris Brown" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
18. "Dutchcharts.nl – Chris Brown – Chris Brown" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
19. "European Top 100 Albums - Chris Brown - Chris Brown". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media. Retrieved 2009-01-20.
20. "Lescharts.com – Chris Brown – Chris Brown". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
21. "Offiziellecharts.de – Chris Brown – Chris Brown" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
22. "Irish-charts.com – Discography Chris Brown". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
23. "Charts.nz – Chris Brown – Chris Brown". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
24. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
25. "Swisscharts.com – Chris Brown – Chris Brown". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
26. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
27. "Official R&B Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved December 26, 2015.
28. "Chris Brown Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
29. "Chris Brown Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
30. "Chris Brown – Chart History: R&B/Hip-Hop Catalog Albums". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved January 20, 2016.
31. "ARIA Top 50 Urban Albums Chart 2006". ARIA Charts. Retrieved January 10, 2019.
32. "2006 UK Albums Chart" (PDF). ChartsPlus. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
33. "Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2006". Billboard. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
34. "Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums – Year-End 2006". Billboard. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
35. "Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2007". Billboard. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
36. "Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums – Year-End 2007". Billboard. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
37. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2006 Albums". Australian Recording Industry Association. Archived from the original on 10 August 2020.
38. "Canadian album certifications – Chris Brown – Chris Brown". Music Canada.
39. "New Zealand album certifications – Chris Brown – Chris Brown". Recorded Music NZ.
40. "British album certifications – Chris Brown – Chris Brown". British Phonographic Industry. Select albums in the Format field. Select Gold in the Certification field. Type Chris Brown in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
41. "American album certifications – Chris Brown – Chris Brown". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH.