Music & Film

IN MY MIND

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I’m going to admit that I have really been sleeping on BJ The Chicago Kid!  When he released the single Church a while back I thought it was a cool club song but other than that I didn’t know much about the artist. I recently listened to his album In My Mind and I completely fell in love with his music.  I usually don’t listen to albums the whole way through but I enjoyed every song.   Looking at BJ’s appearance you would think he was a rapper but when he opens his mouth you can’t help but to take notice of his vocals. His voice is very soulful. If you mix the sounds of Usher, Luke James, and D’Angelo blended with a little gospel you get BJ The Chicago Kid.

After researching BJ, I learned he has been in the music industry for a while but mostly behind the scenes. He started off singing backup for Mary Mary and has written for other gospel artists which would explain his soulful sound. He has also worked with other artists like Kanye West, School Boy Q, and Big Krit.  In My Mind is BJ’s second studio album but it’s his first album release from Motown Records.  Each song on the album tells a unique and different story.

When I initially heard the first released single from his album Church, I thought it was making a mockery of the church but after listening to an interview from BJ he explained that the song was about conflict between the flesh versus being righteous.  The song is definitely a clever way of describing temptation from a man’s point of view. In the hook BJ sings:

She say she wanna drink, do drugs and have sex tonight
But I got church in the mornin’, church in the mornin’

I had a lot of favorite songs on the album but my top five would have to be Heart Crush, Falling On My Face, Woman’s World, Wait To The Morning, and Love Inside.

In the song Heart Crush BJ sings about falling out of love and the pain of letting go.

And that fire we had girl just couldn’t survive the rain
Heard the weather man telling us that it was gonna shower some pain

One of the most beautiful songs off of the album in my opinion is Falling On My Face. In the song BJ sings about the imperfections of a man and how as humans we all make mistakes and fall short of where we want to be in life.  In one verse of the song he sings:

Cuz I can’t erase all my mistakes
I’m just a man who falls on his face
Servants and kings have all felt this way
By now I should be sick of falling on my face

In Woman’s World which is actually a remixed rendition of James Browns’ It’s A Man’s World, BJ soulfully pays homage to the woman.

Let’s talk about the power
The power of a woman
Tell me who can give life to a baby boy and turn him in to a man

Wait To The Morning is reminiscent of Usher’s 2004 single “Confessions”. In the song BJ pleads with his wife’s friend who has caught him cheating to wait until the morning to tell her about his infidelity.

Could we just hold this off and wait till the morning
I know I did her wrong
But you tryna cut us off
Can we just hold this off
And wait till the morning

I think my favorite song off the entire album is Love Inside. It is a sexy love song in which BJ sings about making love to not just a woman’s body but to her soul, to the point where she can literally feel the love inside of her. (Or maybe I’m over-analyzing the lyrics and he’s just seductively saying he wants to smash LOL!)

I want you to feel the love I have inside me
Inside you tonight
I want you to feel the love I have inside me
Inside you tonight

Although In My Mind is primarily R&B, BJ also mixes elements of hip hop with songs like “Man Down” and “The Resume” which features Big Krit.

I absolutely loved this album and BJ The Chicago Kid has now become one of my new favorite R&B artist! If you’re a real R&B lover In My Mind definitely needs to be in your music collection!

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