MY PREROGATIVE
“My Prerogative” is a song by American singer Bobby Brown from his second studio album Don’t Be Cruel (1988). It was released on October 11, 1988 as the second single from the album. “My Prerogative” was written by Brown as a response to the criticism he received for his departure from New Edition. “My Prerogative” is often considered a new jack swing anthem, and contains many elements from Teddy Riley productions due to his involvement as one of the song’s session musicians. The song was positively received by critics and was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best R&B Urban Contemporary Single. It was also commercially successful, reaching number one in Billboard’s Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts. “My Prerogative” has been covered and sampled by a number of artists from different genres, including Britney Spears. (More from Wikipedia)
Bobby Brown, Don’t be Cruel – When we went to see Tina Turner not long after her hit solo album, Private Dancer came out, someone was giving away a poster as we were leaving that had Tina on one side and New Edition, the opening act on the other side. Anyone who hung onto that poster had quite a collectible I imagine, because New Edition became one of the leading teen pop musical groups not long after that, as well as a template for numerous other groups that have come along since that time – black and white, male and female. Bobby Brown was the lead singer of New Edition, and the remaining members also had success in their later incarnation as Bell Biv DeVoe. Now infamous as the troubled husband of Whitney Houston, Bobby Brown deserves to be known as a fine performer as well, and a leader in the musical scene called new jack swing that his earlier band New Edition had pioneered. Don’t be Cruel (1988) includes the powerful hit single that I still hear on the radio a lot, “My Prerogative”; Allmusic gives the album a 5 star rating.
(December 2015)
