Artist: Chris Brown
Mixtape: Boy In Detention
Released on: August 4, 2011
Chris Brown has officially released his fourth mixtape “Boy In Detention” and I was excited to review it. Even after a ridiculous amount of scrutiny and speculation over the past couple of years, Brown is on top and he has skyrocketed to another level. Breezy is currently the go-to-man for all collaborations these days and everything he has been releasing is serious right now. On this mixtape, Brown exhibits versatility being that he is not just singing this time around, but rapping.
“Boy In Detention” begins with “First 48″, which is produced by Jukebox. I loved it and although it was an introduction track, I wanted it to be longer. The instrumental was thumping and loved when Chris would switch the tempo of his rhyming. On the David Banner track “Crazy”, Brown started off Soulja Boy-esque & I felt the verses were crazy, but once the hook came in, it fell off to me. “Freaky I’m Iz” was a hot Swizz Beatz track, I really liked this one and I could envision Brown dancing to the track and if it was officially released as a single, I could definitely see it charting high. With “Body On Mine” I really wanted to hear the track full length. I loved the hook and the entire production. This track was a great display of how versatile Chris actually is. Subsequently, “Private Dancer” was what I was looking for, out of all of the previous uptempos (that I did feel), I still wanted Brown to do what he is best known for. I loved everything about this track. The harmonies were great and the lyrics and song structure were on point.
I loved “Leave the Club”. I felt the feature by Joelle James was a nice addition and I had to learn the lyrics right away, so that I could sing it, of course, LOL. This track had me two-stepping and everything, definitely a big look from Brown. The 9th Wonder production “Real Hip Hop #4″ showed Brown really going in and I felt his flow was tough. In fact, the whole series of “Real Hip Hop” tracks are dope. I felt “Your Body” was a great track. The instrumental was knocking, Brown was tight lyrically and the track was overall well put together. On “Ladies Love Me”, Breezy is assisted by a rapping Justin Bieber and I have to say he can flow. Whether or not he wrote the lyrics on his own, I felt he killed his verses. I was a bit surprised because I’m used to Bieber’s “teeny bopper” pop style.
Since Drake dropped “Marvin’s Room” everyone has made remixes, but I really feel this one is my favorite. I loved the track melodically and the way Brown filled the track with the featured background vocals and his modulations. Even without Big Sean on “Last”, I still felt the track, I just wish Chris would’ve added more bars though. One of my favorite tracks on the mixtape was “Strip”, I felt this was the best collaboration between Kevin McCall and Brown. I loved the track rhythmically and the way his vocals were presented, it was another track that had me up and dancing.
I’m convinced that Chris Brown can do it all, he really does possess a trifecta of singing, dancing and rapping. People really started to take notice on his mixtapes that he can be considered a serious rapper and that talent is more than a hobby, but would I want him to rap full time and abandon his roots as a crooner??? Absolutely not! Primarily because Breezy can really sing. Although, he has used autotune before, we all know it was used as a trend and not as a necessity. With “Boy In Detention”, I feel Brown’s lyrics are more sexual and explicit than ever, but his talent has the power to outshine all of that. I totally understand wanting to display a more unleashed work of art because when you are an artist under the thumb of the label, you are ultimately controlled. Therefore, with this release Brown could be as real, raw, raunchy, etc. as he wanted to be and it was fine with me. “Boy in Detention” was a great release and I honestly would have paid for the tracks had they not been free.
Rating: 4 earphones out of 5
One Response to “Mixtape Review: Chris Brown “Boy In Detention””