''Back Again!'' is the second solo studio album by American rapper Mr. Cheeks. It was released on March 18, 2003 through

Universal Records Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...

. Recording sessions took place at

Sony Music Studios Sony Music Studios was an American music recording and mastering facility in New York City. The five-story building was a music and broadcasting complex located at 460 W. 54th Street, at 10th Avenue, in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhat ...

Sound On Sound ''Sound on Sound'' is a monthly music technology magazine. The magazine includes product tests of electronic musical performance and recording devices, and interviews with industry professionals. Due to its technical focus, it is predominantly ...

and Daddy's House Recording Studio in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, at Circle House Studios and South Beach Studios in

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

, and at

The Hit Factory The Hit Factory is a recording studio in New York City owned and operated by Troy Germano. History In 1969, songwriter Jerry Ragavoy opened a recording studio in New York City and named it ''The Hit Factory.'' On March 6, 1975, Edward Germano, ...

Production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

was handled by

Bink! Roosevelt Harrell III (born February 20, 1972), known professionally as Bink, is an American hip hop producer from Norfolk, Virginia, who is noted for his work with Roc-A-Fella Records artists. His most high-profile work has been Jay-Z's critic ...

, Mr. Sexxx, Chuckie Madness,

Mario Winans Mario Mendell Winans ( Brown; born August 29, 1974) is an American R&B singer, songwriter, and record producer from South Carolina. An extended member of the Winans musical family, he is best known for his 2004 single " I Don't Wanna Know" (f ...

, P. Diddy and Yogi Bear. It features guest appearances from

Floetry Floetry were an English contemporary R&B, R&B duo comprising Marsha Ambrosius ("the Songstress") and The Floacist, Natalie Stewart ("the Floacist"). The group recorded two studio albums, one live album, and sold over 1,500,000 records worldwid ...

Alexander O'Neal Alexander O'Neal (born November 15, 1953) is an American Contemporary R&B, R&B singer, songwriter and arranger from Natchez, Mississippi. O'Neal came to prominence in the mid-1980s as a solo artist, with eleven top 40 singles on the US R&B char ...

Glenn Lewis Glennon Ricketts Jr. (born March 13, 1975), professionally known as Glenn Lewis, is a Canadian neo soul singer–songwriter. Lewis earned a Grammy Award nomination in 2004 and has also won a Juno Award out of a total of six nominations. Early ...

Journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

, Mario Winans,

M.O.P. M.O.P. (short for Mash Out Posse) is an American hip-hop duo composed of rappers Billy Danze and Lil' Fame, best known for their song " Ante Up." The group has frequently collaborated with DJ Premier. The group is part of the Gang Starr Fou ...

Pete Rock & CL Smooth Pete Rock & CL Smooth were an American hip hop duo from Mount Vernon, New York. They made their debut with their 1991 EP, '' All Souled Out'' and followed that with their 1992 LP ''Mecca and the Soul Brother''. Career 1991–1994: The Golden Ag ...

. The album was not as commercially successful as '' John P. Kelly'', peaking at number 75 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and number 25 on the

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip-hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Luminate. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated January 30, ...

. Its singles, "Friday Night", "Crush on You"/"The Wire" and "Hands High", also failed to make an impact on the charts, only making it to No. 52 on the

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

chart with "Crush on You".

Critical reception

''Back Again!'' was met with generally favorable reviews from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...

. At

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which assigns a

normalized Normalization or normalisation refers to a process that makes something more normal or regular. Science * Normalization process theory, a sociological theory of the implementation of new technologies or innovations * Normalization model, used in ...

rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

score of 67, based on four reviews.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

's Rob Theakston called it "easily his most accomplished record since his days in the

Lost Boyz Lost Boyz are an American Hip hop music, hip hop group from Queens, New York (state), New York, consisting of Master of ceremonies, MC Mr. Cheeks, DJ Spigg Nice, Pretty Lou, and Freaky Kah, with the latter replacing his father Freaky Tah who w ...

". Lounch.com reviewer found it "full of juicy hip-pop hooks in the grand P. Diddy tradition". ''

Blender A blender (sometimes called a mixer (from Latin ''mixus, the PPP of miscere eng. to Mix)'' or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsify food and other substances. A stationary ...

'' reviewer found it "full of standard-issue street rhymes and treacly R&B hooks, ''Back Again'' makes you want to shout "

Cut! In the post-production process of film editing and video editing, a cut is an abrupt, but usually trivial film transition from one sequence to another. It is synonymous with the term ''edit'', though "edit" can imply any number of transitions or ...

" halfway through". ''

Vibe Vibe, alternatively '' vibes,'' is short for ''vibration''. A "vibe" is an emotional reaction to the aura or energy felt to belong to a person, place or thing. Vibe may also refer to: People * DJ Vibe (born 1968), Portuguese DJ * Lasse Vibe (b ...

'' reviewer stated that the album "falters when it ventures out of party mode".

Track listing

;Sample credits *Track 1 contains elements of "Wildflower" as performed by

Creative Source Creative Source was an American R&B group from Los Angeles, who had several funk and disco hits during the 1970s. History Creative Source was formed in 1972 by several veterans of the West Coast recording studios. They were managed by Ron Town ...

. *Track 2 contains an interpolation of " They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)". *Track 3 contains elements of "Musical Love" as performed by the

Mary Jane Girls The Mary Jane Girls were an American girl group formed in 1979, best known for their songs "In My House", "All Night Long (Mary Jane Girls song), All Night Long", "Candy Man", and their cover version of "Walk Like a Man (The Four Seasons song), ...

. *Track 4 contains elements from "

Girl You Need a Change of Mind "Girl You Need a Change of Mind" is a song by American singer Eddie Kendricks. First recorded in January 1972 and featured on his album '' People...Hold On'', the track was co-produced by Frank Wilson and features Kendricks' falsetto vocals over ...

" as performed by

Eddie Kendricks Edward James Kendrick (December 17, 1939 – October 5, 1992), better known as Eddie Kendricks, was an American tenor singer and songwriter. Noted for his distinctive falsetto singing style, Kendricks co-founded the Motown singing group the Temp ...

. *Track 5 contains a sample of "Night Song" as performed by

Noel Pointer Noel Pointer (December 26, 1954 – December 19, 1994) was an American jazz violinist and record producer, whose life inspired a music foundation. Career Pointer made his solo debut at the age of 13, performing Vivaldi with the Symphony of the ...

. *Track 8 contains a sample of "I Found The Spirit" as performed by the

Four Tops The Four Tops are an American vocal group formed in Detroit, Michigan in 1953 as the Four Aims. They were one of the most commercially successful American pop music groups of the 1960s and helped propel Motown Records to international fame. The ...

. *Track 9 contains elements from "

Car Wash A car wash, or auto wash, is a facility used to clean the exterior, and in some cases the interior, of motor vehicle, cars. Car washes can be #Self-serve car wash, self-service, full-service (with attendants who wash the vehicle), or #Autom ...

" as performed by

Rose Royce Rose Royce is an American soul and R&B group. They are best known for several hit singles during the 1970s including " Car Wash", " I Wanna Get Next to You", " I'm Going Down", " Wishing on a Star", and " Love Don't Live Here Anymore". Career ...

. *Track 10 contains a sample from "Mind Power" as performed by

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...

. *Track 11 contains a sample of "Sunshine" as performed by

Personnel

*Terrance " Mr. Cheeks" Kelly – vocals, executive producer *

Marsha Ambrosius Marsha Ambrosius-Billups, born Marsha Angelique Ambrosius (born 8 August 1977) is an English singer and songwriter. She began her music career in the early 2000s with Floetry, achieving both critical acclaim and commercial success. Following the ...

– vocals (tracks: 1, 7) *Natalie "

The Floacist Natalie "the Floacist" Stewart (born 13 February 1979) is an English rapper, singer, songwriter, spoken word artist, poet, and actress. Born in Germany and raised in London, she performed in various singing and dancing competitions as a child, ...

" Stewart – vocals (tracks: 1, 7) *Peter "

Pete Rock Peter O. Phillips (born June 21, 1970), better known by his stage name Pete Rock, is an American record producer, DJ and rapping, rapper. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest hip hop producers of all time, and is often mentioned along ...

" Phillips – vocals (track 2) *Corey "

CL Smooth Corey Brent Penn Sr. (born October 8, 1968), known by his stage name CL Smooth, is an American rapping, rapper. He is best known as the vocal half of the hip-hop duo Pete Rock & CL Smooth. Early life Corey Brent Penn Sr. was born on October 8, 1 ...

" Penn – vocals (track 2) *Rafiek "

" George – vocals (track 2) *Eric "

Billy Danze M.O.P. (short for Mash Out Posse) is an American hip-hop duo composed of rappers Billy Danze and Lil' Fame, best known for their song " Ante Up." The group has frequently collaborated with DJ Premier. The group is part of the Gang Starr Found ...

" Murray – vocals (track 3) *Jamal "

Lil' Fame M.O.P. (short for Mash Out Posse) is an American hip-hop duo composed of rappers Billy Danze and Lil' Fame, best known for their song " Ante Up." The group has frequently collaborated with DJ Premier. The group is part of the Gang Starr Foun ...

" Grinnage – vocals (track 3) *

– vocals (track 5) *

– vocals & producer (track 6) *

– vocals (track 11) *Darryl "Big Baby" McClary – keyboards (tracks: 4, 7) *Tomi Martin – guitar (track 6) *Eric "E-Bass" Johnson – guitar (track 7) *Garfield "Mr. Sexxx" Duncan – producer & engineering (tracks: 1-3), executive producer *Roosevelt "

" Harrell III – producer (tracks: 4, 5, 7, 9) *Charles "Chuckie Madness" Shaw – producer (tracks: 8, 11) *Jeremy "Yogi Bear" Graham – producer (track 10) *Sean "

Puff Daddy Sean John Combs (born November 4, 1969), better known by his stage name Diddy, and formerly Puff Daddy and P. Diddy, is an American rapper, record producer, and record executive. Born in Harlem and raised in Mount Vernon, Combs worked as a ...

" Combs – producer (track 10) *Charles Suitt – executive producer, A&R, management *Charmaine Edwards – associate executive producer, A&R *Jim Caruana – recording & mixing (tracks: 1, 3) *Doug Wilson – recording (tracks: 4, 7, 9), mixing (tracks: 4, 5, 7, 9) *Kamel Abdo – recording (track 5) *Wayne Allison – recording (track 6) *Caleb Shreve – recording (track 6) *Darren Venditti – recording (tracks: 8, 11) *Rob Paustian – recording & mixing (track 10) *Rich Keller – mixing (track 6) *Hernán Santiago – mixing (tracks: 8, 11) *Bennie RM – additional Pro Tools editing (track 8) * James Cruz – mastering *Annalee Valencia-Bruch – art direction, design *Christian Lantry – photography *Sandy Brummels – creative director *Eloise Bryan – A&R *Nina Freeman – A&R *Todd Ellerby – management *Julius Erving III – management *Jackie Rhinehart – markering management *Eric Weissman – sample clearance

Charts

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2003 albums Mr. Cheeks albums Universal Records albums Albums produced by Sean Combs Albums produced by Bink (record producer)