Comin' From Where I'm From by Anthony Hamilton
Comin' from Where I'm From is the second studio album by American R&B and soul singer-songwriter Anthony Hamilton, released July 15, 2003 on Arista Records in the United States. It debuted and peaked at number thirty-three on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart in October 2003 with first-week sales of 33,000 copies, spending seventy-six weeks on the chart. The run was longer on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, where it debuted at number seven (reaching its peak position of number six the following week) and stayed for one hundred weeks. Comin' from Where I'm From achieved platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in early December 2004, having sold 1.2 million copies in the United States. The single "Charlene", Hamilton's most successful single to date, peaked at number nineteen on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached the top five of the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. The album earned Hamilton three Grammy Award nominations in 2004—Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance, Best R&B Song (both for the title track "Comin' from Where I'm From"), and Best Contemporary R&B Album—and one in 2005—Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for "Charlene".
The thing about neo-soul is that, typically, it's heavy on the neo, light on the soul. Enter the corrective genius of Anthony Hamilton's <i>Comin' From Where I'm From</i>, the straight-up modern soul set so many of his peers had promised so many times before. First off, consider the production. Sure, hip-hop beats and synths are present and accounted for, but they flavor the early-'70s-vintage (i.e. real) instrumentation that forms the album's deep, earthy groove. Secondly, and more importantly, Hamilton's a natural-born songwriter wrapping his goes-down-like-good-bourbon vocals over some serious personal and social issues. "Mama knew love like the back streets/Used to wipe pee just to make the ends meet," he sings, Bill Withers-style, on "Mama Knew Love," as evocative a slice of social reality as anything on <i>Songs In The Key Of Life</i>. The on-bended-knee-plea "Baby I'm A Mess" will tear you up inside. "Cornbread, Fish & Collard Green" is as satisfying a freak jam as anything Prince ever wrote.
