''Dear Diary'' is the debut studio album by American rapper Cha Cha. It was released on September 14, 1999 through

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

. Recording sessions ttok place at Noontime Studios, at Triangle Sound Studios, at DARP Studios, at Patchwerk Recording Studio and at Krosswire Studio in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, at Hit Factory Studios, at

Unique Recording Studios Unique Recording Studios was a five-room recording studio operating near Times Square in New York City from 1978 until 2004. Founders and co-owners Bobby Nathan and Joanne Georgio-Nathan installed the first Otari 24-track tape deck in New York. ...

and at Lion's Den Studio in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, and at Studio A in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

. Production was handled by several high-profile R&B/hip hop record producers, including

Bryan-Michael Cox Bryan-Michael Paul Cox (born December 1, 1977) is an American record producer and songwriter who is notable for his work with artists such as Usher, Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, and Toni Braxton. Among his most notable productions are "Be Wit ...

, Deric "D-Dot" Angelettie,

Irv Gotti Irving Domingo Lorenzo Jr. (born June 26, 1970), professionally known as Irv Gotti, is an American DJ, music producer, record executive, and the CEO and co-founder of Murder Inc. Records. He is best known for producing multiple number-one rec ...

Jazze Pha Phalon Anton Alexander, (born April 15, 1974), professionally known as Jazze Pha ( ), is an American record producer, singer, songwriter and rapper from Memphis, Tennessee. He is the founder and chief executive officer of Sho'nuff Records, to wh ...

and

Kevin "She'kspere" Briggs Kevin "She'kspere" Briggs is an American record producer, known for producing the TLC #1 hit " No Scrubs" and various Destiny's Child songs from the album ''The Writing's on the Wall''. Briggs' then girlfriend, former Xscape singer Kandi Burrus ...

. It features guest appearances from

Jim Crow The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...

, Bareda,

Black Child Ramel Leroy Gill, (born October 18, 1973) better known by his stage name Black Child, is an American rapper from New York City. He is best known for his time being signed to Irv Gotti's Murder Inc. Records and being affiliated with Irv Gotti, ...

, Jagged Edge,

Ja Rule Jeffrey Bruce Atkins (born February 29, 1976), better known by his stage name Ja Rule (), is an American rapper and actor. Born and raised in New York City, he debuted in 1999 with ''Venni Vetti Vecci'' and its lead single "Holla Holla". Durin ...

Jermaine Dupri Jermaine Dupri Mauldin (born September 23, 1972) is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, record executive, entrepreneur, and DJ. Early life Jermaine Dupri Mauldin was born on September 23, 1972, the son of Tina (Mosley) and Michael ...

, Juvenile,

LaTocha Scott LaTocha Reney Scott (born October 2, 1973) is an American R&B singer, songwriter, and occasional actress. She is best known as a member of the multi-platinum selling R&B group Xscape, who rose to popularity in the 1990s. Biography Scott was ...

Memphis Bleek Malik Deshawn Cox (born June 23, 1978), known by his stage name Memphis Bleek, is an American rapper who was a protégé of fellow New York rapper Jay-Z. Cox started his own labels: Get Low Records in 1998, and #Warehouse Music Group, Warehouse M ...

Nas Nas (born 1973) is the stage name of American rapper Nasir Jones. Nas, NaS, or NAS may also refer to: Aviation * Nasair, a low-cost airline carrier and subsidiary based in Eritrea * National Air Services, an airline in Saudi Arabia ** Nas Air ( ...

Trick Daddy Maurice Samuel Young (born September 27, 1974), better known by his stage name Trick Daddy, is an American rapper from Miami's Liberty City (Miami), Liberty City. Early life Trick Daddy was born on September 27, 1974, at Jackson Memorial Hospita ...

and Madd Rapper. The album peaked at number 86 on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated J ...

chart. Its lead single " New Millenium (What Cha Wanna Do)" peaked at number 20 in Germany, at number 68 in Switzerland and at number 28 on the US ''Billboard''

Hot Rap Songs Hot Rap Songs (formerly known as Hot Rap Tracks and Hot Rap Singles) is a chart released weekly by '' Billboard'' in the United States. It lists the 25 most popular hip-hop/rap songs, calculated weekly by airplay on rhythmic and urban radio stat ...

Track listing

;Sample credits *Track 5 contains a sample from "

Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" is a 1969 song recorded by Sly and the Family Stone. The song, released as a double A-side single with "Everybody Is a Star", reached number one on the soul single charts for five weeks, and reached numb ...

" performed by The Crusaders *Track 13 contains a sample from "Shut The Eff Up (Hoe)" performed by

MC Lyte Lana Michele Moorer (born October 11, 1970), better known by her stage name MC Lyte, is an American rapper, DJ, actress and entrepreneur. Considered one of the pioneers of female rap, Lyte first gained fame in the late 1980s, becoming the first ...

*Track 15 contains a sample of " Sunglasses at Night" performed by Corey Hart

Personnel

*Parris " Cha Cha" Fluellen – main artist, vocals, vocal arrangements Vocalists *Nasir "

" Jones – featured artist, vocals, vocal arrangements *

– featured artist, backing vocals, vocal arrangements *

Brandon Casey Jagged Edge is an American R&B group from Atlanta, Georgia. The group, initially signed to record producer Jermaine Dupri's So So Def Recordings, is best known for their string of hit singles including " Let's Get Married" and "Where the Party A ...

– featured artist, backing vocals, vocal arrangements *Brian Casey – featured artist, backing vocals, vocal arrangements *Yero Brock – featured artist, vocals, vocal arrangements *Damon " Mr. Mo" Green – featured artist, vocals, vocal arrangements *Jamal "

Polow da Don Jamal Fincher Jones (born October 15, 1977, or 1978), professionally known as Polow da Don, is an American record producer and rapper. Jones has produced a variety of singles for a multitude of artists including "Anaconda" by Nicki Minaj (2014) ...

" Jones – featured artist, vocals, vocal arrangements *Maurice "

" Young – featured artist, vocals, vocal arrangements *Ricardo "Cutty Cartel" Lewis – featured artist, vocals, vocal arrangements *Terius " Juvenile" Gray – featured artist, vocals, vocal arrangements *Devon "Bareda" Dowdell – featured artist, vocals, vocal arrangements *Jeffrey "

" Atkins – featured artist, vocals, vocal arrangements *Malik "

" Cox – featured artist, vocals, vocal arrangements *Ramel "

" Gill – featured artist, vocals, vocal arrangements *

Deric Angelettie Deric Michael Angelettie (born July 31, 1968), otherwise known as D-Dot, Papa Dot, and Madd Rapper, is an American artist, music producer, songwriter, TV & film producer and entrepreneur. He is the winner of The Grammy's NARAS Governor's New Ho ...

– featured artist, vocals, vocal arrangements *

– featured artist, additional vocals, vocal arrangements Instrumentalists *Benny "Dada" Tillman – drum programming *Carlos "Los Vegas" Thornton – drum programming *

– bass, drum programming *Irving "

" Lorenzo – drum programming *Robert "Lil' Rob" Mays – drum programming *Anthony Dent – piano, drum programming *Jeffrey "J-Dub" Walker – piano *Teddy Bishop – drum programming *Phalon "

" Alexander – drum programming *Kevin Hicks – guitar *Eric "Coptic" Matlock – drum programming *

– drum programming *Donnie Scantz – additional programming Technicals *Benny Tillman – producer *Carlos Thornton – producer *Arnold "AJ" Wolfe – recording *Kevin Briggs – recording, producer *Alvin Speights – mixing *Claudine Pontier – assistant mixing *Vernon Mungo – assistant mixing *Irving Lorenzo – producer *Rob Mays – producer * Ken "Duro" Ifill – mixing *Brian Stanley – recording *Flip Osman – assistant recording *Steve Mazur – assistant mixing *Anthony Dent – producer *Jeffrey Walker – producer *Steve Capp – recording *Josh Butler – mixing *Jason Hofer – assistant recording *Billy "BC24" Calloway – assistant mixing, A&R *Teddy Bishop – producer *Mike Alvord – recording *Jason Rome – recording *Mike Wilson – recording *Phalon Alexander – producer * Adam Hawkins – recording *Mario Maren – assistant recording *Deric Angelettie – producer *Eric Matlock – producer *Kevin Hicks – mixing, recording *Bryan-Michael Cox – assistant recording, re-mixing *Jermaine Dupri – mixing *Brian Frye – recording *

Phil Tan Phil Tan is a Malaysian-American music and audio engineer. Early life and education Tan was born in Malaysia. He attended Full Sail University in Florida in the U.S., where he attained a degree in Recording Arts in 1990. Afterwards he moved to Atla ...

– mixing Additional *Wendell White – associate executive producer *Ron Jaramillo – art direction, design *Keith Major – photography *James Hunter – graphic design *Adrienne Muhammad – A&R *David McPherson – A&R *Kenyatta "Tally" Galbreth – A&R

Charts

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1999 debut albums Epic Records albums Albums produced by D-Dot Albums produced by Irv Gotti Albums produced by Jazze Pha Hip hop albums by American artists Albums produced by Bryan-Michael Cox