 | |
List Price: $13.98 | | Label: Jive
Salesrank: 5375
Released: February 18, 2003 |
| Our Price: $5.95 |
| Used Price: $2.64 |
|
| Media: Audio CD |
|
Chocolate Factory Track Listing:
1. Chocolate Factory
2. Step In The Name Of Love
3. Heart Of A Woman
4. I'll Never Leave
5. Been Around The World
6. You Made Me Love You
7. Forever
8. Dream Girl
9. Ignition
10. Ignition (Remix)
11. Forever More
12. You Knock Me Out
13. Step In The Name Of Love (Remix)
14. Imagine That
15. Showdown
16. Snake
17. Who's That
Editorial Review:
Perhaps R. Kelly's brushes with the law have caused him to turn down his love light, since his seventh album Chocolate Factory takes scrupulous pains to show an idealized high-minded face of love, eschewing his usual steamy cocktail of raunchy lust and replacing it with a sweet, winsome romanticism. "I'll Never Leave," is a wistful valentine, while "The Heart of a Woman," is embarrassingly empathetic to the plight of the feminine kind and is hardly the kind of fare that one expects from Marvin Gaye's heir apparent. Despite his real life racy escapades, Kelly is at his best musically when he's an unrepentant bad boy but he doesn't even show any grit until "Been Around the World," his confessional duet with a rasping Ja Rule, the fretful bluesy "You Made Me Love You," and "Ignition," a paean to parking. Despite "Ignition"’s first line, "Girl, please let me stick my key in your ignition, babe" it's rather tame by the standards Kelly has set on his earlier discs. "Chocolate Factory" also includes 6 bonus tracks from Loveland the album that was slated for a 2002 release, but was ostensibly shelved after it was rampantly bootlegged on the Internet. Despite the disc's soft focus, Kelly is at the height of his vocal powers, and once he weans himself from the gooey sentimentality and returns to his persona of a smooth seductive operator he'll once again be an artist to be reckoned with. --Jaan Uhelszki
Chocolate Factory Reviews:
sounds familiar 
2008-07-30 - this is a good album but sounds like all the others. i enjoy this entire album as well.
Chocolate Factory & The Power of Love. 
2008-04-23 - This is a hott cd. He really did a great job on this one. My favorite is "You made me love you!" Those are powerful words. Anyway, great cd and well worth the money. YMMV! ...Neosoul06
My jaw dropped! What an amazing album, 4.5 stars!
2007-12-28 - "God gon' judge me the same day he judge you."
-R. Kelly
Robert Kelly has called himself the Pied Piper of R&B for several years. When you think about it, he has impacted the music industry in several ways. He's a remarkable talent who usually provides music listeners with enjoyable albums, but he has also worked with the some of music's hottest artists including Michael and Janet Jackson, Usher, Celine Dion and Ciara, and believe me, those people are just a fraction of the artists he has collaborated with.
"Chocolate Factory" is one of my favorite albums of all time because the songs are great, and accompanied by magnificent production, the lyrics are well-written, and Kelly incorporates that incredible voice, making for some memorable material overall. Although most of this album is about love, Kelly speaks on many different aspects of it, and music listeners always appreciate an artist who has the ability to take one subject, and break it down into smaller ones. For the most part, this album has a relaxed feel. Most of the songs are slow jams or mid-tempo, but, of course, there are some upbeat tracks included.
"Ignition" is a slow jam, and here, Kelly creatively compares a woman and what he wants to do to her to an automobile. I really enjoy this song because it has a nice beat, memorable lyrics, and Kelly administers great falsetto here as well. Like the original, the "Ignition Remix" is also good. The smooth melody and piano helped this song to be the hit that it was when it was released. Kelly is also looking sexy in the video, ladies! "Forever" is a beautiful ballad, and Kelly gives his all vocally. The way he repeats himself in the chorus let his listeners know that he is completely sincere on this number. A touching track, indeed. "Heart of A Woman" and "Chocolate Factory" are also album highlights. Again, Kelly's harmonies are awesome. His talent as a singer is phenomenal. The beat to "Chocolate Factory" is sure to make you bop your head throughout the duration of the song. "Step in the Name of Love Remix" is one of the most popular dance songs heard at parties. It's such a laid back number, but it truly makes you want to go out on the dance floor and do some serious rug cutting!
R. Kelly has two or three missteps on this album, but it is 73 minutes, so that's expected. For example, the Ja Rule duet, "Been Around the World", is an overall corny track. It's typical R&B and it isn't necessarily a befitting song for this album. It's the weakest song on the album. "Imagine That" also falls under the "typical R&B" category. It's a decent song, and it meshes well with the album, but it wouldn't have been missed had it been omitted from the album.
Everyone, pick this album up. It's worth paying for, so don't ask your big cousin to burn it for you, hahaha. "Chocolate Factory" is R. Kelly's best work to date, so it's necessary for this album to be included in your collection. 4.5 shining stars!!! Kels!
Mikeisha's Top 5
1. "Dream Girl"
2. "Chocolate Factory"
3. "Forever"
4. "Ignition"
5. "Step in the Name of Love Remix"
R. Kelly- Chocolate Factory
2007-06-06 - This album is full just true R&B music. This is great to see R bringing back good R&B music. With this one it is not all sex or partying or getting high, which there is a time and place for all those songs. But with Chocolate factory he focuses in on the whole topic of Love. And he covers it pretty well. This is not a sexed up love story. This is just good vintage R. Kelly without all the party songs. There are a few party bangers here and there, like the massive hit "Ignition" and the soon to be hit "Snake", but for the most part we see R return to the R&B loverman that we are used to. Which is definetly a good thing with the climate of the party/dance R&B nowadays taking up all the airwaves. I mean i have never heard a better R song than the calming soothing love song "Forever More" which could possibly be one of the best songs he has ever made. Its one of those songs that just makes you wanna fall deep in love with someone. Then there is the sweet "Forever" and the candy like "Dream Girl". And of course the title track is just as sweet if not sweeter than these two. I mean this album hardly has any flaws. The only tracks that kept this from a five star rating are "You Knock Me Out", and "Whos That". Those two tracks just did not fit in at all with the mood of this album. Honestly i have not seen this type of R. Kelly in a while and its nice to see someone still is going to sing about love instead of the trendy hip hop/party r&b that has been hogging all the airwaves. Definetly buy this one!!!
Grade:
B+
Step In The Name Of Love
2007-01-10 - The CD itself is very nice and ROMANTIC. R. Kelly put his heart and soul into this cd, you have to listen to it.
