Anthony Hamilton's Ain't Nobody Worryin':

It’s an understatement to say Anthony Hamilton’s breakout success wasn’t hard-fought nor well-earned. The man did spend much of his career playing musical chairs with various record labels before he was finally able to plant roots over at Jermaine Dupri’s imprint, So So Def, and find a niche in the mainstream. 

Once in the spotlight, Anthony easily won his newfound audience over with his ruggedly soulful voice, earnest lyricism, and world-weary tales of life, love, and heartbreak, selling well over a million copies of his “debut” album, Comin’ From Where I’m From, in the process. Not to mention the enormous amount of critical acclaim he earned for himself. But once CFWIF rode its wave, many were left wondering how Anthony would follow up such a near-perfect record.

Many were afraid, with good reason, that Anthony would make the classic mistake of streamlining the sound on his follow-up to make it even more palatable to the mainstream, thus perpetuating, and hopefully increasing, his existent success. And after our appetites were whet with the release of Ant’s thought-to-be-long-lost Soulife this past summer, the anticipation for his proper “sophomore” release seemed unbearable. But as the title of Anthony’s new record states, when it comes to the sound of the record or the material on it or his success or his career in general; Ain’t Nobody Worryin’.

Now what’s surprising about this album is how it sounds just a little more organic and just a little less mainstream than its predecessor; Comin’ From Where I’m From not being an easy sell to the mainstream itself. Production duties are kept pretty tight, with stalwarts Mark Batson and James Poyser handling the majority of the work, sans a little assistance from Dre & Vidal and Raphael Saadiq. And Anthony’s lyricism is as earnest as ever while managing to dig a little more deeper; balancing out the album with stories of life, love, heartbreak, and inspiration.