Don't Be Cruel

Recorded for Bobby Brown’s second album during sessions at multiple studios in New York, Los Angeles, and California, with production by L.A. & Babyface and executive production by Louil Silas, Jr. Released on MCA in 1988, the song was part of the crossover run that pushed new jack swing into the pop mainstream and turned Don’t Be Cruel into a breakthrough album for Brown. It remains one of the defining Bobby Brown tracks from the new jack swing era, regularly cited as a song that helped carry the style beyond its New York club roots.