Aaron Hall - Don't Be Afraid (1992)

SOUL Records, MCA Records - MCSTD 1632

I originally posted this in April '09, but as this is a brand new, 320kbps rip with some extra tracks,  so I've made a new post.

Don't Be Afraid, alongside Teddy Riley & Tammy Lucas' brilliant Is It Good To You, were the lead singles from the Juice OST, one of the very best Original Motion Picture Soundtracks I've ever heard.

Instead of working with his former colleague Riley, Hall made this track with heavyweight Hiphop producer Hank Shocklee (of The Bomb Squad fame), whose 'wall of sound' production style blew so many of us away on the first three Public Enemy albums.

As far as CD singles go, this is a fine, FINE release, and fantastic value for money.

There are eight(!) tracks, two of them instrumentals; there's a 7" Edit of the original Juice OST track (which is still the best mix for me) which removes the female singer's parts, a track called Vocal Files (which is an alternative acapella take on the chorus), a nice downtempo, quiet storm type mix in the form of the Sex You Down Version, and a funkier-than-James-Brown's-socks version in The 125th Gangster of the Posse Mix, in which Mr Hall struts his stuff in a jazzy, semi-scat manner, and proves nobody can shout "oooh-wee" quite like he does. I aint even joking! Oh, there's also the tweaked Nasty Man's Groove mix, which is a slightly less street, more melodic pop take on the original, without straying too far from it (for the record, 'Nasty Man' was Aaron's nickname in Guy).

Don't Be Afraid is something of a classic, and certainly one of my favourite R&B tracks of the nineties.

- Kymba :)

PS - I've re-ripped this in 320kbps, and I've added the full length Juice OST album version, not listed on the CD single (as it's still the best version of the track) along with the versions from The Truth album

1. Don't Be Afraid (7" Edit)
2. Don't Be Afraid (Nasty Man's Groove)
3. Don't Be Afraid (Sex You Down Version)
4. Don't Be Afraid (Sex You Down Instrumental)
5. Don't Be Afraid (Nasty Man's Groove Instrumental)
6. Don't Be Afraid (The 125th Gangster of the Posse Mix)
7. Don't Be Afraid (Piano Jam)
8. Don't Be Afraid (Vocal Files)

• Bonus:  Don't Be Afraid (Introduction - taken from The Truth)
• Bonus:  Don't Be Afraid (Sex You Down Some Mo' Version - taken from The Truth)
• Bonus:  Don't Be Afraid (Jazz You Up Version - taken from The Truth)
• Bonus:  Don't Be Afraid (Original - taken from the Juice OST)

Download here: Don't Be Afraid (Single).zip | File size: 83.450MB