Don't Be Cruel (album)

Don't Be Cruel
Studio album by Bobby Brown
Released	June 20, 1988
Recorded	October 1987–April 1988
Genre	R&B, dance-pop, new jack swing
Length	47:08
Label	MCA
Producer	L. A. Reid and Babyface
Bobby Brown chronology
King of Stage (1986) Don't Be Cruel (1988) Dance!...Ya Know It! (1989)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Robert Christgau	B+
Spin	(favorable)

Don't Be Cruel is the second album by American R&B singer Bobby Brown, released in 1988 on MCA Records. It includes four hit singles "Don't Be Cruel", "My Prerogative", "Roni" and "Every Little Step." All were #1 R&B singles except "Roni," which peaked at #2, while "My Prerogative" became Brown's highest charting single at #1 on the Hot 100.

Don't Be Cruel went to #1 on both the R&B and Pop charts as an album; it first topped the R&B Albums chart for 11 nonconsecutive weeks starting in 1988, then peaked on the Pop Album chart for three weeks the year after. It was the best-selling album in 1989 on the Billboard Year-End Pop Album Chart and eventually went seven times Platinum. The album is the 33rd best-selling album of the 1980s, with sales already at 5 million copies by September 1989. Don't Be Cruel was the best selling "New Jack Swing" album at the time until Michael Jackson's 1991 album "Dangerous" was released. Bobby Brown won the Grammy for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance in 1990. Brown followed the release of his album with a 120-date world tour.

"Don't Be Cruel" appeared in popular video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, playing on fictional New Jack Swing radio station CSR 103.9. My Prerogative was later covered by Britney Spears in 2004 on her Greatest Hits: My Prerogative album, and released as a single.

Track listing

1. "Cruel Prelude" – 0:39
2. "Don't Be Cruel" – 6:52 (#8 U.S.) (Babyface/Reid/Simmons)
3. "My Prerogative" – 4:51 (#1 U.S.) (Brown/Griffin)
4. "Roni" – 5:58 (#3 U.S.) (Babyface/Darnell Bristol)
5. "Rock Wit'cha" – 4:49 (#7 U.S.) (Babyface/Reid)
6. "Every Little Step" – 3:57 (#3 U.S.) (Babyface/Reid)
7. "I'll Be Good to You" – 4:25 (Brown/Griffin)
8. "Take It Slow" – 5:22 (Logan/Peters/White)
9. "All Day All Night" – 4:40 (Peters/Sweet/Wadington/White)
10. "I Really Love You Girl" – 5:11 (Brown/Jones)
11. "Cruel Reprise" – 0:18

Production

• Producers: Babyface, Bobby Brown, Gene Griffin, Gordon Jones, Larry White
• Mixing: Larry White, Teddy Riley, Dennis Mitchell, Jon Gass, Michael Denton, Babyface
• Engineering: Babyface, Michael Denton, Jon Gass, Mitch Gibson, John Guggenheim, Fred Howard, Howard Johnston, K2, Ruben Laxamana, Dennis Mitchell, Mark Slagle, Larry White
• Mastering: Steve Hall

Credits

• Drums, Percussion: Richard Aguon, Dewayne Sweet, Larry White
• Drum Programming: Markell Riley
• Bass: Kirk Crumpler, Larry White
• Synthesized Bass: Dewayne Sweet, Kirk Crumpler
• Keyboards: Larry White, Dewayne Sweet, Percy Scott, Teddy Riley, Ben Rayes, Kirk Crumpler
• Guitars: Larry White, Emilio Conesa
• Saxophone: Melecio Magdaluyo
• Finger Snaps: Tommy Brown

Chart positions

Year	Chart	Position
1989	The Billboard 200	1

Later Samples

• "Every Little Step"
  • "If You Must" by Del Tha Funkee Homosapien from the album Both Sides of the Brain (uncredited)

References

Preceded by Giving You The Best That I Got by Anita Baker

Billboard 200 number-one album January 21 - February 10, 1989 February 18 - March 10, 1989

Succeeded by Electric Youth by Debbie Gibson

See also

• List of number-one R&B albums of 1988 (U.S.)
• List of number-one R&B albums of 1989 (U.S.)
• List of number-one albums of 1989 (U.S.)
• Billboard Year-End