Black Music (album)

Black Music
Studio album by Chocolate Genius
Released	July 14, 1998
Genre	R&B
Label	V2
Chocolate Genius chronology
Black Music 1998 GodMusic 2001

Black Music is the first album by Chocolate Genius. It was released on V2 Records on July 14, 1998.

Track 5, "My Mom", is about a return visit to his childhood home and the mother he was losing to senility ("My mom, my sweet mom/She don't remember my name.").

The song "Life" was used in the final episode of season 2 of Breaking Bad.

Background and recording

Just prior to recording the album, Chocolate Genius had finished reading The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell.^[1]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Rolling Stone	[3]
Robert Christgau	[4]
People	(positive)[5]

Spin called it "a relentlessly somber, wryly confessional avant-folk-funk rebuttal to popular notions of what constituted African-American pop."^[6] Many other critics have also highlighted the album's morose and starkly autobiographical sound.^[3]

Track listing

1. Life
2. Half A Man
3. Don't Look Down
4. Clinic
5. My Mom
6. Safe And Sound
7. A Cheap Excuse
8. Hangover Five
9. Hangover Nine
10. Stupid Again
11. It's All Good
12. Half A Man (Acoustic Version)

References

1. Johnson, Martin (1 December 2010). "The Assorted Flavors of Chocolate Genius Inc.". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
2. Raggett, Ned. "Black Music". AllMusic. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
3. Brackett, Nathan (2004). "Chocolate Genius". Rolling Stone. p. 163. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
4. "CG: Chocolate Genius". Retrieved 25 May 2014.
5. "Picks and Pans Review: Black Music". People. 17 August 1998. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
6. "The Greatest Bands You've (Probably) Never Heard". Spin. 27 July 2009. Retrieved 25 May 2014.