Don't Be Cruel was to
Bobby Brown what
Control was to
Janet Jackson -- a tougher, more aggressive project that shed his "
bubblegum" image altogether and brought him to a new artistic and commercial plateau. With
"My Prerogative" and the title song,
Brown became a leader of
new jack swing -- a forceful, high-tech blend of traditional
soul singing and
rap/
hip-hop that's also associated with
Guy and
Brown's
New Edition colleagues,
Bell Biv DeVoe.
Brown had been a strong advocate of
rap since his days with
New Edition, and on
Cruel, he did even more rapping than before. But for all the tough-mindedness he exhibited on his
new jack hits, the charismatic Bostonian hadn't lost his love of sentimental, old-fashioned
R&B romanticism -- and he definitely excels in that area on his hits
"Every Little Step," "Roni," and
"Rock Wit'cha." Much of
Cruel was produced by the ubiquitous production/songwriting duo
L.A. Reid and
Babyface, who've often been accused (and rightly so) of taking a formulaic, cookie-cutter approach to
R&B. But here, their work is never less than inspired. ~ Alex Henderson
