Don't Be Cruel

It should have come as no surprise that, after leaving behind the strictures of the classic boy band New Edition, Bobby Brown would re-emerge as a prototype of New Jack Swing sex appeal. DON'T BE CRUEL might be somewhat tame, however, as it was still a few years before the era of unabashed rumpshakers like Bell Biv Devoe's "Poison." But the hard funk slapped over melodic, synth-heavy production gives tracks like "My Perogative" and "I'll Be Good To You" a mature, club-friendly quality sorely lacking in his former group's sunshiney tunes.