Following the disappointment in the cancelled promotion of her studio album 'Ill Na Na 2: The Fever', Foxy Brown left Def Jam Records, and in 2004 she began recording new material, later reuniting with Jay-Z and performing dates on the Best of Both Worlds Tour. After signing back to Def Jam under his regime, Brown and Jay-Z began work on her new album 'Black Roses', with production by The Neptunes, Kanye West, Timbaland, Trackmasters, and Dave Kelly. Guest appearances were confirmed from Barrington Levy, Dido, Luther Vandross, Mos Def, Baby Cham, Spragga Benz, Shyne, Big Daddy Kane, Rakim, KRS-One, Roxanne Shante, and Jay-Z, although it was uncertain whether all would make the final cut for the album. In November 2004, Brown confirmed that the title for her upcoming album would be 'Black Roses', explaining that her best friend Barrington Levy has a song called 'Black Roses', and while he'd been traveling all over the world he'd never seen a black rose in any other garden, so when he found his black rose, he knew that shit was special. Brown identified with this, saying "you can have all the female rappers in the world, but there's only one black rose. I feel that's me." Brown also announced that she would be the first artist signed to Jay-Z's upcoming imprint record label S. Carter Records, although rather than launching the imprint, Jay-Z became the new president and CEO of Def Jam Records, where he signed Brown as one of the first artists on his new roster.
On 08 December 2005, Brown announced she had experienced severe and sudden hearing loss in both ears and she had not heard another person's voice in six months, and so 'Black Roses' was put to one side while her health issues were investigated. In June 2006, she announced that her hearing had been restored through surgery, and that she was planning to resume recording, and although her label did not set a release date, she hoped the album would be out by the end of 2006. It was unsure if the title 'Black Roses' would be retained, but in the end that turned out to be the least of her worries, as in November 2006 there was speculation that Jay-Z was disappointed in Brown's "lack of productivity on the album", and was planning to drop her from the Def Jam label, and so the planned December 2006 release of 'Black Roses' was cancelled. In May 2007, Black Hand Entertainment announced a management deal with Brown, and although she confirmed that the album was nearly complete, the release would be six months later, on 06 September. On August 16, Black Hand Entertainment announced that Brown would leave Def Jam to launch an independent record label, Black Rose Entertainment, distributed by Koch Records, but despite the name of the label, 'Black Roses' would not be the first album to appear on the label. A brand new record titled 'Brooklyn's Don Diva' was eventually scheduled with a release date of December 4, although it was delayed until the following year, coming out on 13 May 2008, after many delays triggered by Brown's prison sentence, after she was jailed for a year in September 2007 for violating the terms of her probation after she was accused of hitting a woman with a cell phone. 'Brooklyn's Don Diva' included two previously unreleased songs from her shelved album 'Ill Na Na 2: The Fever', but none from 'Black Roses', which became yet another legendary unreleased record from the rapper, and although no definitive track listing circulated like that for 'The Fever', most reconstructions agree on about two thirds of the intended songs, and so I've added in the best of the rest to make up this version of this second cancelled album from Foxy Brown.
Track listing
01 Intro/Dem Don't Like Me
02 That Dude/That Chick (feat. Mos Def)
03 In A Trap (feat. T.I.)
04 X-Clusive (feat. Stacy McKenzie)
05 Hennesey & Bacardi
06 Come Fly With Me (feat. Sizzla)
07 Mr. DJ (feat. Barrington Levy)
08 Boss (feat. Young Gavin & Mousey Baby)
09 Drugz
10 Too Ill (feat. Loon, Coke & Exo)
11 Ride Ya Bike (feat. Ron Browz)
12 All Night (feat. Lady Saw)
13 Why You Hating (feat. Red Handed, Young Gavin & Curtains)
14 Art Of War
15 Up Jumps The Boogie
16 I Don't Need Nobody
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