Foxy Brown Album: “Ill Na Na [PA]”

Description :

Personnel: Foxy Brown (rap vocals); Blackstreet, Khadijah Bass (vocals); Havoc, Method Man, Jay-Z, Kid Capri (rap vocals); Rich Nice (spoken vocals, keyboards, drum programming); George Pearson (keyboards). Producers include: Poke, Tone, Havoc, Rich Nice. Engineers include: Mario Rodriguez, John Shriver. Recorded at The Hit Factory, Chung King and Battery Studios, New York, New York. Between her appearances on Toni Braxton and LL Cool J remixes, and her anthemic duets with Jay-Z, Foxy Brown (who shouldn't be confused with the reggae singer of the same name) made a name for herself even before dropping a record of her own. Her lengthy resume and hit-making potential helped her land a deal with Def Jam Records. She now runs with the influential hip-hop crew The Firm (which includes Nas and AZ), but her debut, ILL NA NA, proves she can easily stand on her own feet. ILL NA NA finds Brown flowing over both hard-core beats ("The Promise," courtesy of Mobb Deep's Havoc) and smooth R&B tracks ("Get Me Home," featuring the harmonies of Blackstreet). Other songs are meshes of the two genres, an approach that has enabled many rappers to cross over. Labelmate Method Man contributes the chorus to the title track.

Seriously, this is a great Debut by a female rapper. This is the best female rapper out their---Lil'Kim can't touch The Ill NaNa--and wha! --Get me home and Ill be--the singles are off the chain--Ill na na and holy matrimony--are so tight and great jamming for the car--Please cop this--and dont forget about "chyna Doll" by foxy--10X better than her debut--which is rare to all artists--usually the 1st is better--but chyna doll kicks it--Ill Na NA is da bomb also

This album is classic Fox, although the intro and outro are annoying, and at a first listen had me thinking I bought a wack album, the tracks make a quick rebound. Although I listen to all the tracks now, a few of them had to grow on me. Other then the intro and outro there really isn't a low point on the album or a bad track, but a couple of the songs are huge stand outs. I like this album more then Chyna Doll but it's not quite as good as Broken Silence, although you get the feel that this album is who she is, Broken Silence tells you why she is what she is. This albums stand outs are I'll Be and Holy Matrimony, but the other tracks are tight as well.

Foxy stormed into the hip-hop world with this 1996 release. And thank God she did. This album gave us a good taste of the REAL Foxy Brown with her very deep vocals here. This album was recorded and released on the bright side of her career. She had Lil' Kim (See "Ill Na Na" ..."Waitin for Kim' album to drop...knowin' its hot") She had Jay-Z (See production and author notes) and she was happy (the whole damn CD...except maybe If I...) SO-Heres the thing. If you are a happy person who is a fan of Lil' Kim and Jay-Z as well-You'll love this. If you want something with more of a bite-Then go for "Broken Silence" and watch her use the same flow w. more lyrical content. Overall-A good CD.

Although Foxy aka Inga only co-wrote a couple a songs, this cd is bangin'. The production on this album was great. "Get Me Home," "I'll Be," & "Foxy's Bells" were some highlights. When Foxy Brown first met Nas she stated that she was a little scared writing her own rhymes because she didn't know if they were good enough. Still, Foxy Brown was only 16 when she recorded this album and her voice sounds straight up gangsta.

This was Foxy's best album, the 2 single's "I'll Be" with Jay-Z & "Get Me Home" with Blackstreet were 2 classic songs. "Ill Na Na" a colloboration with Method Man was also a very good song because of the catchy hook. "Fox Boogie" a song with Kid Capri was very good and "The Promise" with Havoc of Mobb Deep was the album's hottest song.