Charm (album)
Encyclopedia
Charm is the critically acclaimed third studio album from American rapper/record producer
Danny!
(see 2006 in music
) and the first of his records to be released commercially. As evidenced in the title, Charm was a huge milestone in Danny!'s career; after two unsuccessful attempts to make a name for himself in the music world (2004's The College Kicked-Out
and 2005's F.O.O.D.
), the record unanimously won rave reviews, culminating in the inclusion of the album on the 49th Annual Grammy Awards short list
and, eventually, a record deal with Definitive Jux
Records.
Widely regarded as one of the strongest entries in his discography (rivaled by 2008's And I Love H.E.R.
), Charm helped Danny! achieve a moderate, albeit brief, buzz in the underground hip-hop community and become South Carolina
's most heralded hip-hop artist to date. The song "Cafe Surreal" from this album would go on to become a signature tune in commercial bumpers for the MTV
early morning video countdown program aMTV
, being played since its pilot in early 2009.
"Poor Charlotte", a somber ballad
chronicling the life of a young woman longing for Hollywood stardom at any and all costs, was used for F.O.O.D. 's title track.
The chilling story about what one risks—in this case, one's own life—to become successful in the entertainment industry so moved Danny! that he scrapped his original plans for a third album—revealed on "We Gon' Make It" from his previous LP to be a sequel to F.O.O.D. -- to narrate a story of his own, and Charm was born.
.
Two verses into the song, Danny! receives a message on his answering machine
from an A&R
executive
at Galaxy Records willing to sign him to the label. When the next song ("Charm") begins, Danny! is riding high on his newfound success and describes in great detail the negativity he faced to get to where he is. The album then proceeds into "It's Okay", a short song in which Danny! reassures his family that things are looking up and, now that he's achieved success, their financial woes are over (it should be noted that many people in the entertainment industry who become successful feel an obligation to their respective families to rid them of any debt or financial problems).
After preparing for his first world tour ("Can't Wait"), Danny!'s employer urges him to return to his job, lest he face termination. Torn between stardom and his responsibilities at home he briefly returns, lamenting about his nine-to-five daily routine. His complaints are cut short, however, by a groupie
who sends him a text message soliciting him for sex
("Temptation"). After a battle between him and his conscience
Danny! reluctantly gives in, only to regret his decision. After finally becoming willing to leave his hometown—with the incorrect assumption that he would be escaping similar temptations in the future—he announces his arrival for a second time ("The Last Laugh") and wryly pokes fun at those who made it difficult for him to achieve success ("Duck Soup").
Much to his dismay, Danny!'s first encounter on the road is marred by racism
("Strange Fruit") as an unscrupulous hotel
manager who learns of Danny!'s skin color prevents him and his friends from checking into a room he had previously reserved. On top of that, the mother of his child has been accusing Danny! of having let the fame go to his head ("What Now"), an accusation that Danny! vehemently denies. Hoping to temporarily forget his troubles, a good friend invites him out to a club ("Move Somethin'") in the area. However, after a few drinks too many, Danny! is whisked away by his manager
to a venue in which he had been scheduled to perform (but presumably forgot about due to his excessive drinking at the club).
In his dressing room Danny! turns back to his bottle ("My Problem") and laments to himself all the issues he's had to deal with as a result of his fame. While naming out countless problems—family turning their back on him, not being able to shop without being mobbed—his only real "problem", alcoholism, takes an ugly toll and Danny! blacks out six minutes before he is scheduled to go on stage. Consequently, Danny! is rushed off to the hospital and his show is cancelled.
En route to the hospital Danny! laments again that, despite his escaping the day-to-day routine of his hometown, his life is still much like a merry-go-round ("Carousel") in which he does not wish to ride. His health regained, he heads to the studio
to begin work on his album but the label pressures him to use the same clichés and nonsense prevalent in his genre of music ("Lip Flappin'"). Frustrated, he storms out of the studio and lashes out at those who feel they deserve a piece of Danny!'s success ("You Owe Me").
Meanwhile, an affair
that Danny! becomes involved in with another man's wife takes a nasty turn as the woman is murdered by her trucker husband ("Where Were You"). Visibly shaken, Danny! resumes his tour but becomes extremely paranoid about the audience's response, or lack thereof, to his performances ("No Guarantees (remix)"). It is at this point that Danny! learns that fame is not all that it's cracked out to be. Wishing for a return to the way things once were ("Fly"), Danny! decides to resign from music while wistfully imagining how his career would've turned out without the stifling of his creative freedom ("Cafe Surreal").
Danny! eventually awakens ("Rise & Shine (interlude)") to realize that everything that had transpired was merely an all-too-real dream. The mother of his child continues to chastise him for his decision to pursue a music career, financial woes are still in existence and he is still obligated to the job he dreads going to. Despite his drudgery, Danny! couldn't be happier. His daughter's mother urges him to check the answering machine for a message left for him; upon playback it is revealed to be an A&R executive from the aforementioned Galaxy Records, interested in signing Danny! to a recording contract
just like his dream had foretold. But now that he is well aware of the dangers of fame, will Danny! bite at the chance of stardom in real life? His decision is not revealed and is left up to the listener's imagination.
Following the conclusion of the story, Danny! steps out of narrator mode and laments the loss of two former close friends, one by death and one by disassociation, on Charms epilogue ("Now You're Gone"). Danny!'s final verse on Charm reveals his real-life plans to retire from music indefinitely, and the reasons behind his decision. He likens his leaving the music business as the "death" of his Danny!/D. Swain persona, alluding to his pompous boasts and colorful lyrics over the years as being a separate entity from himself. Though he evidently regrets his decision to leave, Danny! hints at the fact that the hip-hop audience will, in time, rue it more than he ever will and would one day wish for his return. Charm ends abruptly near the end of Danny!'s final verse, making it to the 73-minute mark and ending on a defeated, sorrowful note.
's talents fell through the cracks...and remained completely beneath my radar".
Clocking in at a staggering seventy-three minutes even and twenty-one tracks, critics that have since praised the record have also, in the same breath, denounced it for being too bulky. Each track feeds on the previous song in sequence, and virtually every track is preceded by a voicemail "skit" that presumably ties in with the song that it follows.
Few have disputed the fact that Charm is one of Danny!'s strongest works to date, with much of its content either based on events that had actually transpired in Danny!'s life, or that would eerily play itself out in the wake of Charm 's success (for example, receiving a phone call from an interested record label).
During the production of Charm, Danny! revealed that his latest project would be his last, and that he had no plans to record or release any new material. Since that announcement, however, Charm has gone on to quietly achieve a great deal of success: music critics applauded his efforts immensely, media websites (AOL
Music, MTV
.com, et al.) began hosting his discography, and in October 2006, the first of two ballots drafted for the Grammy Awards of 2007
nomination process included songs from Charm in four different fields, spanning seven categories.
Definitive Jux
Records caught wind of various tracks from Charm via a talent contest sponsored in part by MTVu
and, impressed with what they heard, added Danny! to their roster of artists in January 2007, ultimately giving him his big break and causing him to recant his talks of "retirement". Danny! has since released three instrumental albums, an EP
and Charm 's follow-up And I Love H.E.R.
independently after it was revealed that the Def Jux partnership did not yield any actual music released by the label.
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
Danny!
Danny!
Danny!, also known as D. Swain , is an American rap performer and record producer from Columbia, South Carolina, a former student of the Savannah College of Art & Design and, previously, a recording artist for Definitive Jux Records. L.A. Weekly has called Danny! "the best new artist that Def Jux...
(see 2006 in music
2006 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 2006.-January:*January 10 – Eric Burdon releases his album Soul of a Man and begins touring with a new band....
) and the first of his records to be released commercially. As evidenced in the title, Charm was a huge milestone in Danny!'s career; after two unsuccessful attempts to make a name for himself in the music world (2004's The College Kicked-Out
The College Kicked-Out
The College Kicked-Out is the debut album from American rapper/producer Danny! . Originally slated for an October 12 release date, The College Kicked-Out finally saw the light of day on November 2 after being delayed by bootlegging....
and 2005's F.O.O.D.
F.O.O.D.
F.O.O.D., released under Danny!'s 1911 Music/Badenov Records imprint in 2005 , is the second full-length studio album from the American rapper/producer...
), the record unanimously won rave reviews, culminating in the inclusion of the album on the 49th Annual Grammy Awards short list
Short list
A short list or shortlist is a list of candidates for a job, prize, award, political position, etc., that has been reduced from a longer list of candidates . The length of short lists varies according to the context.-U.S...
and, eventually, a record deal with Definitive Jux
Definitive Jux
Definitive Jux is an independent record label based in New York City, United States. It was co-founded in 1999 by Jaime Meline and Amaechi Uzoigwe. The label was initially known simply as Def Jux, but in 2001, popular hip hop label Def Jam Recordings sued Def Jux over the name similarity...
Records.
Widely regarded as one of the strongest entries in his discography (rivaled by 2008's And I Love H.E.R.
And I Love H.E.R.: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
And I Love H.E.R.: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, also referred to as simply And I Love H.E.R., is MC/producer Danny!'s full-length follow-up to 2006's Charm. The record was released to universal acclaim, cited by ABC News and L.A. Weekly as one of the best releases of 2008...
), Charm helped Danny! achieve a moderate, albeit brief, buzz in the underground hip-hop community and become South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
's most heralded hip-hop artist to date. The song "Cafe Surreal" from this album would go on to become a signature tune in commercial bumpers for the MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
early morning video countdown program aMTV
AMTV
For the Ladytron song of the same name, see Witching HourAMTV is a television program on MTV in the United States, first aired unofficially as a sneak preview on March 26, 2009, and launched officially on March 30, 2009...
, being played since its pilot in early 2009.
Development
It is widely assumed that Danny!'s admiration for the Miracles' album City of Angels, and the subsequent reinterpretation of its storyline for Charm, was initiated in 2005 when he sampled one of its songs for his second album, F.O.O.D.F.O.O.D.
F.O.O.D., released under Danny!'s 1911 Music/Badenov Records imprint in 2005 , is the second full-length studio album from the American rapper/producer...
"Poor Charlotte", a somber ballad
Ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
chronicling the life of a young woman longing for Hollywood stardom at any and all costs, was used for F.O.O.D. 's title track.
The chilling story about what one risks—in this case, one's own life—to become successful in the entertainment industry so moved Danny! that he scrapped his original plans for a third album—revealed on "We Gon' Make It" from his previous LP to be a sequel to F.O.O.D. -- to narrate a story of his own, and Charm was born.
Synopsis
The album opens up with an introduction ("Intro") that features a montage of clips from Danny!'s previous songs. After a brief commentary from a very self-aware Danny!, he proceeds into a verse that explains his motives for pursuing a music career, brushes off critics by admitting he purposely chose not to be too complex with his lyrics, but that he could easily do so whenever he so chose, and reveals that during his rise to fame he nearly lost his passion. The album's "story" truly begins with the second track ("Give Me A Chance"). Now in narrator mode, Danny! plays the role of a desperate musician, also named Danny, who feels he deserves recognition for his contributions to music and longs for stardom and wealthWealth
Wealth is the abundance of valuable resources or material possessions. The word wealth is derived from the old English wela, which is from an Indo-European word stem...
.
Two verses into the song, Danny! receives a message on his answering machine
Answering machine
The answering machine or message machine, also known as the telephone answering machine in the UK and some Commonwealth countries) and previously known as an ansaphone, ansafone, or telephone answering device is a device for answering telephones and recording callers' messages.Unlike voicemail,...
from an A&R
A&R
Artists and repertoire is the division of a record label that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists. It also acts as a liaison between artists and the record label.- Finding talent :...
executive
Senior management
Senior management, executive management, or management team is generally a team of individuals at the highest level of organizational management who have the day-to-day responsibilities of managing a company or corporation, they hold specific executive powers conferred onto them with and by...
at Galaxy Records willing to sign him to the label. When the next song ("Charm") begins, Danny! is riding high on his newfound success and describes in great detail the negativity he faced to get to where he is. The album then proceeds into "It's Okay", a short song in which Danny! reassures his family that things are looking up and, now that he's achieved success, their financial woes are over (it should be noted that many people in the entertainment industry who become successful feel an obligation to their respective families to rid them of any debt or financial problems).
After preparing for his first world tour ("Can't Wait"), Danny!'s employer urges him to return to his job, lest he face termination. Torn between stardom and his responsibilities at home he briefly returns, lamenting about his nine-to-five daily routine. His complaints are cut short, however, by a groupie
Groupie
A groupie is a person who seeks emotional and sexual intimacy with a musician or other celebrity. "Groupie" is derived from group in reference to a musical group, but the word is also used in a more general sense, especially in casual conversation....
who sends him a text message soliciting him for sex
Sex
In biology, sex is a process of combining and mixing genetic traits, often resulting in the specialization of organisms into a male or female variety . Sexual reproduction involves combining specialized cells to form offspring that inherit traits from both parents...
("Temptation"). After a battle between him and his conscience
Conscience
Conscience is an aptitude, faculty, intuition or judgment of the intellect that distinguishes right from wrong. Moral judgement may derive from values or norms...
Danny! reluctantly gives in, only to regret his decision. After finally becoming willing to leave his hometown—with the incorrect assumption that he would be escaping similar temptations in the future—he announces his arrival for a second time ("The Last Laugh") and wryly pokes fun at those who made it difficult for him to achieve success ("Duck Soup").
Much to his dismay, Danny!'s first encounter on the road is marred by racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
("Strange Fruit") as an unscrupulous hotel
Hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...
manager who learns of Danny!'s skin color prevents him and his friends from checking into a room he had previously reserved. On top of that, the mother of his child has been accusing Danny! of having let the fame go to his head ("What Now"), an accusation that Danny! vehemently denies. Hoping to temporarily forget his troubles, a good friend invites him out to a club ("Move Somethin'") in the area. However, after a few drinks too many, Danny! is whisked away by his manager
Talent manager
A talent manager, also known as an artist manager or band manager, is an individual or company who guides the professional career of artists in the entertainment industry...
to a venue in which he had been scheduled to perform (but presumably forgot about due to his excessive drinking at the club).
In his dressing room Danny! turns back to his bottle ("My Problem") and laments to himself all the issues he's had to deal with as a result of his fame. While naming out countless problems—family turning their back on him, not being able to shop without being mobbed—his only real "problem", alcoholism, takes an ugly toll and Danny! blacks out six minutes before he is scheduled to go on stage. Consequently, Danny! is rushed off to the hospital and his show is cancelled.
En route to the hospital Danny! laments again that, despite his escaping the day-to-day routine of his hometown, his life is still much like a merry-go-round ("Carousel") in which he does not wish to ride. His health regained, he heads to the studio
Studio
A studio is an artist's or worker's workroom, or the catchall term for an artist and his or her employees who work within that studio. This can be for the purpose of architecture, painting, pottery , sculpture, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, radio or television...
to begin work on his album but the label pressures him to use the same clichés and nonsense prevalent in his genre of music ("Lip Flappin'"). Frustrated, he storms out of the studio and lashes out at those who feel they deserve a piece of Danny!'s success ("You Owe Me").
Meanwhile, an affair
Affair
Affair may refer to professional, personal, or public business matters or to a particular business or private activity of a temporary duration, as in family affair, a private affair, or a romantic affair.-Political affair:...
that Danny! becomes involved in with another man's wife takes a nasty turn as the woman is murdered by her trucker husband ("Where Were You"). Visibly shaken, Danny! resumes his tour but becomes extremely paranoid about the audience's response, or lack thereof, to his performances ("No Guarantees (remix)"). It is at this point that Danny! learns that fame is not all that it's cracked out to be. Wishing for a return to the way things once were ("Fly"), Danny! decides to resign from music while wistfully imagining how his career would've turned out without the stifling of his creative freedom ("Cafe Surreal").
Danny! eventually awakens ("Rise & Shine (interlude)") to realize that everything that had transpired was merely an all-too-real dream. The mother of his child continues to chastise him for his decision to pursue a music career, financial woes are still in existence and he is still obligated to the job he dreads going to. Despite his drudgery, Danny! couldn't be happier. His daughter's mother urges him to check the answering machine for a message left for him; upon playback it is revealed to be an A&R executive from the aforementioned Galaxy Records, interested in signing Danny! to a recording contract
Recording contract
A recording contract is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist , where the artist makes a record for the label to sell and promote...
just like his dream had foretold. But now that he is well aware of the dangers of fame, will Danny! bite at the chance of stardom in real life? His decision is not revealed and is left up to the listener's imagination.
Following the conclusion of the story, Danny! steps out of narrator mode and laments the loss of two former close friends, one by death and one by disassociation, on Charms epilogue ("Now You're Gone"). Danny!'s final verse on Charm reveals his real-life plans to retire from music indefinitely, and the reasons behind his decision. He likens his leaving the music business as the "death" of his Danny!/D. Swain persona, alluding to his pompous boasts and colorful lyrics over the years as being a separate entity from himself. Though he evidently regrets his decision to leave, Danny! hints at the fact that the hip-hop audience will, in time, rue it more than he ever will and would one day wish for his return. Charm ends abruptly near the end of Danny!'s final verse, making it to the 73-minute mark and ending on a defeated, sorrowful note.
Reception
Both fans and music editors have since praised Charm not just for its cohesiveness and overall concept, but for Danny!'s seemingly effortless way of pulling it all off. Even the most hard-nosed of critics, who may have previously bashed Danny!'s first two albums, have admitted to the appeal of the record, considering Charm to be Danny!'s definitive album. Since this was the first time many had even heard of Danny!, most reviewers felt as if he just "popped up out of nowhere"; RapReviews's Steve Juon inquired how "somebody with Danny!Danny!
Danny!, also known as D. Swain , is an American rap performer and record producer from Columbia, South Carolina, a former student of the Savannah College of Art & Design and, previously, a recording artist for Definitive Jux Records. L.A. Weekly has called Danny! "the best new artist that Def Jux...
's talents fell through the cracks...and remained completely beneath my radar".
Clocking in at a staggering seventy-three minutes even and twenty-one tracks, critics that have since praised the record have also, in the same breath, denounced it for being too bulky. Each track feeds on the previous song in sequence, and virtually every track is preceded by a voicemail "skit" that presumably ties in with the song that it follows.
Few have disputed the fact that Charm is one of Danny!'s strongest works to date, with much of its content either based on events that had actually transpired in Danny!'s life, or that would eerily play itself out in the wake of Charm 's success (for example, receiving a phone call from an interested record label).
During the production of Charm, Danny! revealed that his latest project would be his last, and that he had no plans to record or release any new material. Since that announcement, however, Charm has gone on to quietly achieve a great deal of success: music critics applauded his efforts immensely, media websites (AOL
AOL
AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...
Music, MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
.com, et al.) began hosting his discography, and in October 2006, the first of two ballots drafted for the Grammy Awards of 2007
Grammy Awards of 2007
The 49th Annual Grammy Awards was a ceremony honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning September 15, 2005 and ending September 14, 2006 in the United States. The awards were handed out on Sunday February 11, 2007 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. The Dixie Chicks...
nomination process included songs from Charm in four different fields, spanning seven categories.
Post-success
Despite all of this, Danny! remained steadfast in his decision to retire from the music business, though he would later clarify that he planned to work on other artists' projects as a producer rather than release anything of his own. All the same, his decision continued to baffle many who considered Danny! to be on the brink of recognition and real-life success. Danny! professed his disenchantment with the music business in the last verse of "Now You're Gone", and some people theorize that the loosely-based cautionary tale of Charm, and its prevalent warning of the negative consequences that fame can have, was a reflection on Danny!'s true feelings about "blowing up" and his desire not to go down the same path.Definitive Jux
Definitive Jux
Definitive Jux is an independent record label based in New York City, United States. It was co-founded in 1999 by Jaime Meline and Amaechi Uzoigwe. The label was initially known simply as Def Jux, but in 2001, popular hip hop label Def Jam Recordings sued Def Jux over the name similarity...
Records caught wind of various tracks from Charm via a talent contest sponsored in part by MTVu
MtvU
mtvU is a division of Viacom's MTV Networks which produces a 24-hour television channel that is available on more than 750 college and university campuses across the United States, as well as several digital cable packages...
and, impressed with what they heard, added Danny! to their roster of artists in January 2007, ultimately giving him his big break and causing him to recant his talks of "retirement". Danny! has since released three instrumental albums, an EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
and Charm 's follow-up And I Love H.E.R.
And I Love H.E.R.: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
And I Love H.E.R.: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, also referred to as simply And I Love H.E.R., is MC/producer Danny!'s full-length follow-up to 2006's Charm. The record was released to universal acclaim, cited by ABC News and L.A. Weekly as one of the best releases of 2008...
independently after it was revealed that the Def Jux partnership did not yield any actual music released by the label.
Track listing
Credits
- Danny!Danny!Danny!, also known as D. Swain , is an American rap performer and record producer from Columbia, South Carolina, a former student of the Savannah College of Art & Design and, previously, a recording artist for Definitive Jux Records. L.A. Weekly has called Danny! "the best new artist that Def Jux...
- Executive Producer, Producer, Composer, Featured Vocals - Alex Goose - Producer
- Guleus "G. Test" Edwards - Featured Vocals, Producer
- Angela "Peace" Hunter - Featured Vocals
- Andrea Boutte - Featured Vocals
- Christopher "Jinx" Dorrah - Featured Vocals
- Morgan Sherman - Special Consultant
External links
- "Charm" audio snippets courtesy of Barnes & Noble
- "Charm" lyrics courtesy of the Original Hip-Hop Lyrics Archive (OHHLA.com)