Chris Brown And Tyga ‘Fan of A Fan: The Album’ Review: A Solid, But Underwhelming Collaboration

Chris Brown and Tyga have returned to the booth together for another collaboration project, Fan of A Fan: The Album – the sequel to their mixtape from 2010, Fan of A Fan. However, like most sequels, Tyga and Brown produce a decent, but incomparable follow up to their first project.

The Album cover, with it’s crazy colors and style of dress, shows that Tyga and Brown were heavily inspired by the 90’s, and implies that the sound will correspond to that ’90s theme. However, what the music actually feels like is a collection of throwaway tracks from Chris Brown’s most recent album, X, with Tyga’s “stunt rhymes” supplanted into it.

The singles, “Ayo,” “B***ches N Marijuana” (featuring rapper ScHoolboy Q), and “Remember Me” are a mixed bags of sounds. “Ayo” sounds like a remix of Brown’s “Loyal” and is done by the same producer, Nic Nac. “B***ches N Marijuana” suffers from the same repetitive Nic Nac production, but, thanks to a catchy hook and solid verse from ScHoolboy, the song is a certified radio hit. On “Remember Me,” a cross beween a bedroom song and a club single, the incessant switch in beat overshadows the actual artists and makes their words ironically less than memorable.

The features are plentiful on this album. In fact, of the 12 tracks on the album, (18 if you count the deluxe version on iTunes), six of them have features (eight on the deluxe version). They acquired star power, enlisting the help of rappers such as Wale, T.I., 50 Cent and Lil’ Boosie. The only issue with this is, being that this is already a collab album, all the features makes it sound and feel like too many people are on the song, even though there is never more than four artists on one particular song. The tracks featuring Fat Trel, Wale and Boosie are all solid, however the track “I Bet,” is one of the better collaborations. 50’s rhyme fits well with the song, and it may end up on the radio before this album finishes it run.

The songs without features are where the R&B sound of Brown takes over, and that is where the album truly shines. Songs such as “Better,” “Girl You Loud” and “Wrong In the Right Way” are layered well, and “Better” shows a softer side to the album.

The Album is solid, but does not have the charm and appeal of the mixtape. Without a standout track that shines above the rest, and entirely too many subpar lines from Tyga, this album plays second fiddle to it’s original.