Bass, rap, and techno computer generated beats seem to be the latest trend in music. Chris Brown’s latest album, F.A.M.E., certainly doesn’t dissappoint for fans of that.
I’ve loved Chris Brown ever since his first album. He has great vocals and usually shows them off quite well. However, this album is a little more rap than the R&B Chris Brown I was used to.
This album also has a lot of other big-name rappers featured on it, including Lil Wayne and Busta Rhymes on my personal favorite track, “Look At Me Now.” This song has boss bass mixed with astounding skill in electronic background mixes and demonstrates fantastic raps from all the artists involved.
“Deuces,” which features Kevin McCall and Tyga, is also a great rap track with other vocals showcased along with the fantastic beats.
Some songs like “Up To You” and “She Ain’t You” feature the R&B style Chris Brown of olden times with electronic and somewhat calm beats and lots of slow and pouty vocals. All about love or breakups, these songs are the perfect sweet and cute love songs.
In “She Ain’t You,” Brown makes what could be a Lady GaGa reference by saying “With you I had a Bad Romance,” which is just totally awesome to hear on a rap CD.
“Yeah 3x” serves as the album’s radio hit, and it’s a great song, full of party-riffic electronic beats made for dancing. However, the song has just about the stupidest title in the world. Why not “Yeah Yeah Yeah?” The title of this song alone almost prevented me from even buying the album; however, it is a completely worth it song.
Another song surely made for radio top 10 charts is “Next 2 You” featuring Justin Bieber. The song shows off both boys’ beautiful vocals quite nicely in a sweet and adorable love song, but it really does no favor for the album except for getting a growing fan base in the Bieber Fangirl group. It is a good song, but not particularly something I wanted to hear from Chris Brown.
The album does include a lot of slower R&B style songs, but another bright and rap-influenced spot on the album is “Say It With Me,” which has great beats and lyrics. Some of the slow songs with less rap-type-vocals also have great lyrics though, such as “All Back,” which seems to have a deeper meaning hidden in the lyrics and masked with synth beats. The case is the same with song “Oh My Love,” which has some super fast rap verses, but is balanced out with beautiful R&B chorus.
A few songs on the album seem a little inappropriate, but then again that seems to be the trend in most songs on iTunes top 10 anyway. “Wet The Bed” and “No BS” are definitely fantastic in the musical aspect, but the lyrics are kind of a gross-out and really don’t need to be paid attention to. However, the lyrics are sang by beautiful vocals, so that makes up for it.
The entire album is a fantastic mash-up of talent with a comeback artist full of talent as well. Chris Brown is probably looking forward to many more hits from this typically pop cultured album, but not as many as up-and-coming phenomenon Wiz Khalifa. If you’re a fan of R&B and rap or dance, give Chris Brown’s F.A.M.E. a try.
