All Eyez on Me

All Eyez on Me is Monica's third studio album.

The album was released on October 21, 2002 in Japan.

The tracks on the album are a mixture of uptempos and ballads, which are basically inspired by contemporary R&B and soul genres.

It also features elements of hip hop, dance pop and gospel music, crafted by musicians suchs as Dallas Austin, Bryan-Michael Cox, Jermaine Dupri, Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins and Soulshock & Karlin.

The album was expected to be released on November 12, 2002 in the United States, it was eventually put on hold after it had experienced heavily bootlegging following its Japan-wide release and became widely available through Internet file-sharing services.

The album was then partially re-recorded and retooled as "After the Storm" in 2003 with the original album cut "U Should've Known Better" released as its fourth single in 2004.

Album Background
In an interview with MTV News in June of 2000, Monica revealed that she was planning to start work on a follow-up to her 1998 album "The Boy Is Mine" throughout the summer season with a first single to be released by October of the same year.

Expressing her interest in reteaming with the core musicians she had worked with on her second album, including frequent collaborators Dallas Austin, Rodney Jerkins, David Foster, Daryl Simmons, and Jermaine Dupri, Monica expected the album to be released in the first quarter of 2001 following her involvement with Oscar Mayer's "Jingle Jam Talent Search" contest and the filming of her first major motion picture, the 2001 MTV Films production "Love Song."

The following month, personal tribulations put a temporary halt on the album's production when her former boyfriend Jarvis "Knot" Weems committed suicide.

In July of 2000, Monica and Jarvis were together at the graveside of Jarvis' brother (who had died in an automobile accident in 1998 at the age of 25) when Jarvis without warning, put a gun to his head and shot himself to death.

He left behind a daughter from a previous relationship who Monica took into care after going into hiatus.

In 2001, Monica said about her boyfriend's death:

"Jarvis' death had everything to do with me not working. I was not able [...] I was working all these hours after it happened, [but] I realized in the midst of everything, I couldn't handle it. I'm not ashamed to say that I decided to step back and get the help I needed to really come from within."

In the first quarter of 2001, her single "Just Another Girl" (which was taken from the soundtrack of the 2001 film "Down to Earth") was released.

Monica noted that the song didn't "pertain to the stage in my life I'm in, so I'm really waiting and looking for material that will take you to some of the depths in my soul. It was very difficult to juggle all of those things and then try to be a family for his kids at the same time. I'm hoping to be an inspiration to a lot of young women."

Monica eventually decided to return to the recording studio to prepare the release of her third album in the fall of 2001.

Over the course of the sessions Clive Davis (who had taken Monica with him from his former label, Arista Records) to his latest venture, J Records emerged as her new mentor replacing producer Dallas Austin while longtime contributor Jermaine Dupri served as the album's executive producer.

Throughout the process, Monica primarily focused on working with her usual stable of producers which also included Dallas Austin, production team Soulshock & Karlin, Bryan-Michael Cox and Rodney Jerkins & his Darkchild crew.

Even though Monica "had never thought about writing much" by then, her producers encouraged her to intensify her work on the album and to write and contribute own lyrics and ideas to the songs.

She stated:

"I didn't have one concept in mind: I just thought about the situations and that they might be worth sharing."

In the end, Monica came up with nine songs for her third album which she declared as "quite serious" because of its more adult subject-matter and moreover called her "coming of age' record" with the view to "establish the kind of fans who will be with me for the next ten years and more ..."

Although the album was originally titled "I'm Back" and Monica at one time or another, the longplayer was eventually named after the album's lead single "All Eyez on Me."

Tracklisting
Bonus Album Tracks Sample Credits
 * 1) I'm Back (3:35) (written by Monica Arnold, Bryan-Michael Cox, Harold Lilly, Andy Armer & Randy Alpert; produced by Bryan-Michael Cox & Jermaine Dupri)
 * 2) All Eyez on Me (4:00) (written by Monica Arnold, LaShawn Daniels, James Ingram & Quincy Jones; produced by Rodney Jerkins)
 * 3) U Should've Known Better (4:18) (written by Monica Arnold, Bryan-Michael Cox, Jermaine Dupri & Harold Lilly; produced by Jermaine Dupri & Harold Lilly)
 * 4) Too Hood (feat. Jermaine Dupri) (4:04) (written by Monica Arnold, Bryan-Michael Cox, Jermaine Dupri & Harold Lilly; produced by Jermaine Dupri & Bryan-Michael Cox)
 * 5) I Wrote This Song (4:04) (written by Monica Arold, Shamora Crawford, Kenneth Karlin, Shuggie Otis, Carsten Shack & Damon Sharpe; produced by Soulshock & Karlin)
 * 6) U Deserve (feat. Hussein Fatal) (4:24) (written by Monica Arnold, R. Cooper, Katari Cox, Yaleu Fula, Harold Lilly, Joseph Paquette, Tupac Shakur, Bruce Washington & Tyrone Wrice; produced by Dallas Austin)
 * 7) Breaks My Heart (4:27) (written by Carsten Shack, Kenneth Karlin & Shamora Crawford; produced by Soulshock & Karlin)
 * 8) Ain't Gonna Cry No More (4:10) (written by Monica Arnold, Fred Jerkins III, Rodney Jerkins & LaShawn Daniels; produced by Rodney Jerkins)
 * 9) If U Were the Girl (3:51) (written by Monica Arnold, Calvin Broadus, Bryan-Michael Cox, Jermaine Dupri, Awood Johnson, Craig "KLC" Lawson, Harold Lilly & Corey Miller; produced by Jermaine Dupri & Bryan-Michael Cox)
 * 10) What Hurts the Most (4:44) (written by Carsten Shack, Peter Biker & Shamora Crawford; produced by Soulshock & Karlin and Peter Biker)
 * 11) Searchin' (4:30) (written by Monica Arnold, Harold Lilly; produced by Bryan-Michael Cox)
 * 1) Just Another Girl (3:24) (written by Damon Sharpe, Lindy Robbins, Carsten Lindberg & Joachim Svare; produced by Ric Wake)
 * 2) What My Heart Says (3:59) (written by Diane Warren; produced by David Foster)
 * "I'm Back" contains a sample of Herb Alpert' 1979 song "Rise"
 * "All Eyez on Me" contains a sample of Michael Jackson' 1983 song "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)"
 * "I Wrote This Song" contains a sample of Shuggie Otis' 1970 song "Aht Uh Mi Hed"
 * "U Deserve" contains a sample of Tupac Shakur's 1996 song "Hail Mary"
 * "If U Were the Girl" contains a sample of C-Murder' 2000 song "Down 4 My Niggas"

Album Release
Originally expected to be released worldwide, "All Eyez on Me" received a wide release on October 21, 2002 in Japan only.

The set was initially scheduled for a US release in July of 2002 and then pushed back to September before setting a November 12th release date.

However, by the time it was being scheduled for domestic release, the album had been heavily bootlegged in Japan and become widely available through Internet file-sharing services.

In addition, the first single released from the project, the title song had experienced moderate success on the charts while the follow-up single "Too Hood" also got a lukewarm response.

As a result, the album was pulled from stores days after the release.

Monica's label asked her to substantially reconstruct the record with a host of new producers including musician Missy Elliott who would emerge as the new version's executive producer.

Chart Performance
"All Eyez On Me" peaked at #14 on the Japanese Albums chart and it was certified Gold by the RIAJ.

Album Reception
Upon its limited release, "All Eyez on Me" received generally mixed reviews from music critics.

Michael Endelman wrote in his early review for The Boston Globe that:

"like recent releases from Christina Aguilera and Brandy, the new album from Monica finds the 21-year-old R&B singer trying to escape her teen-pop past. Thankfully, the result is more successful than Aguilera's recent foray into brazen sexuality and strained grunge rock. Her first album in four years, All Eyez on Me continues the pleasant, light-hearted soul that Monica is known for, while expanding into more mature subject matter."

On the other hand, Blender magazine rated the album two out of five stars only.

Personnel

 * Montez Arnold – keyboards
 * Shamora Crawford – backing vocals
 * DJ Mars – programming
 * Eric Jackson – guitar
 * Marc Kelly – bass
 * New Birth Praise Team – backing vocals
 * Tommy Martin – guitar
 * William Odum – guitar
 * A&R – Larry Jackson, Keith Naftaly
 * Album coordination – Melinda Dancil
 * Art direction – Alexis Yraola
 * Engineering – Ralph Cacciurri, Doug Harms, Tim Lauber, Carlton Lynn & Bill Malina
 * Mastering – Tony Dawsey
 * Mixing – Kevin Davis, R. Jerkins, Manny Marroquin, Carsten Shack, Dexter Simmons & Phil Tan
 * Mixing assistance – John Horesco IV
 * Photography – Joshua Jordan
 * Photo shoot production – Chris LeBeau
 * Vocal production – LaShawn Daniels, Harold Lilly & Rodney Jerkins