"Can't Get Any Harder" is a song by American singer James Brown from his fifty-sixth studio album, ''

Universal James ''Universal James'' is the fifty-sixth studio album by American musician James Brown. It was released on March 9, 1993, via Scotti Brothers Records. Recording sessions took place at Soul II Soul Studios in London and at Studio South in Augusta, Ge ...

'' (1993). It was released in January 1993 via

Scotti Brothers Records Scotti Brothers Records (typically spelled Scotti Bros. Records) was a California-based record label founded by Tony and Ben Scotti in 1974. Their first success was releasing singles and albums from teen pop star Leif Garrett. They later helped ...

as the album's

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

. Written by

C+C Music Factory C, or c, is the third letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''cee'' (pronounced ), plural ''cees''. History "C" ...

members Robert Clivillés and David Cole,

Trilogy A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected and can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, and video games, and are less common in other art forms. Three-part wor ...

's Duran Ramos, and

Leaders of the New School Leaders of the New School was an American hip hop group based in Long Island, New York. History The crew was composed of Uniondale, New York, natives Charlie Brown (born Bryan Higgins on September 19, 1970) and Dinco D (born James Jackson on No ...

, it was produced by

Clivillés and Cole Robert Clivillés (born July 30, 1964) and David Cole (1962–1995), known collectively as Clivillés and Cole, were American record producers, songwriters, and remixers active from the late 1980s who achieved success in the 1990s. Career Begin ...

with co-production by Ricky Crespo, and features guest rap vocals from Trilogy and Leaders of the New School. The single peaked at number 59 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, as well as number 76 on the

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

and number 7 on the

Dance Singles Sales In the issue dated March 16, 1985, ''Billboard'' magazine debuted its first chart devoted exclusively to 12-inch Singles Sales. The 50-position weekly ranking joined ''Billboard''s established Club Songs chart, reduced to the same 50 positions, ...

, making it Brown's last charting single in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. It was also a Brown's final music video to date featured a live dancer and college students.

Critical reception

It was poorly received by critics;

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

described it as "strain ngfor rap credibility", while ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...

'' dismissed it as "junky".

Track listing

Personnel

* James Brown – vocals *

– rap vocals *Bryan "

Charlie Brown Charles "Charlie" Brown is the principal character of the comic strip '' Peanuts'', syndicated in daily and Sunday newspapers in numerous countries all over the world. Depicted as a "lovable loser," Charlie Brown is one of the great American a ...

" Higgins – songwriter, rap vocals, additional producer (track 4) *Sheldon "

Cut Monitor Milo Leaders of the New School was an American hip hop group based in Long Island, New York. History The crew was composed of Uniondale, New York, natives Charlie Brown (born Bryan Higgins on September 19, 1970) and Dinco D (born James Jackson on ...

" Scott – songwriter, rap vocals, additional producer (track 4) *Trevor " Busta Rhymes" Smith – songwriter, rap vocals, additional producer (track 4) *James "

Dinco D Leaders of the New School was an hip hop music, American hip hop group based in Long Island, New York (state), New York. History The crew was composed of Uniondale, New York, natives Charlie Brown (born Bryan Higgins on September 19, 1970) and D ...

" Jackson – songwriter, rap vocals, additional producer (track 4) * Robert Clivillés – songwriter, producer, arranger, editing, mixing, remixing * David Cole – songwriter, producer, arranger, mixing, remixing *Ricky Crespo – additional producer, programming, editing *Alan Friedman – programming *Acar Key – recording, mixing, engineering *Katherine Miller – recording, engineering *Richard Joseph – recording, engineering *Herbert Powers Jr. – mastering

Charts

References

External links

* 1992 songs 1993 singles James Brown songs Songs written by Busta Rhymes Scotti Brothers Records singles Songs written by Robert Clivillés Song recordings produced by Robert Clivillés Songs written by David Cole (record producer) {{1990s-R&B-song-stub