Real Men... Wear Black

Real Men... Wear Black is a studio album by the funk group Cameo released in 1990 on Atlanta Artists/Mercury Records.^[3] The album reached No. 18 on the Billboard Top Soul Albums chart.^[4]

Real Men... Wear Black
Studio album by Cameo
Released	June 11, 1990
Recorded	1989–1990
Studio	Bazooka Studios (Miami, Florida) Encore Studios (Burbank, California)
Genre	Funk[1] black rock[2]
Length	40:35
Label	Atlanta Artists/Polygram Records
Producer	Larry Blackmon
Cameo chronology
Machismo (1988) Real Men... Wear Black (1990) Emotional Violence (1991)

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[5]
Los Angeles Times	[6]
Chicago Tribune	[2]
New York Times	(favourable)[1]
USA Today	(favourable)[7]
Rolling Stone	[8]
People	(favourable)[9]
Select	2/5[10]

Jon Pareles of the New York Times stated that "Larry Blackmon's cracked nasal voice keeps the band funny and unpretentious, especially when kicking up its well honed midtempo funk".^[1] Allmusic gave the album a three out of five star rating.^[5] Chris Heim of the Chicago Tribune noted "The sound is a bit harder and the themes a bit lighter, but this new album basically continues down the path Cameo has followed since trimming down to a trio in the early 1980s. It was then that the group began seriously to experiment with what Blackmon tagged ”black rock,” a musical mix Cameo has never really been adequately credited for helping create. ”Real Men” is another solid example of Cameo`s approach to the sound."^[2] Don Waller of the Los Angeles Times also proclaimed "using a krazee-quilt combination of synthetic/organic keyboards ‘n’ hipshot! percussion, greazy basslines and goofbawl vocals, (heavy on the minor sevenths), Cameo rolls back the rug for a wall-to-off-the-wall dance party".^[6]

Singles

I Want It Now reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot R&B Songs chart.^[11] Close Quarters also reached No. 38 on the Billboard Hot R&B Songs chart.^[12]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Close Quarters"	Larry Blackmon, Robert Smith, Billy Allen	6:11
2.	"I Want It Now"	Larry Blackmon, Robert Smith, Billy Allen	4:32
3.	"Me"	Larry Blackmon, Robert Smith, Billy Allen	4:31
4.	"Attitude"	Larry Blackmon	3:44
5.	"Get Paid"	Larry Blackmon, Robert Smith, Billy Allen	4:58
6.	"Am I Bad Enough"	Larry Blackmon, Robert Smith, Tomi Jenkins, Billy Allen	5:25
7.	"Time, Fire & Space"	Kevin Kendricks, Tomi Jenkins, Larry Blackmon	3:40
8.	"Nan-Yea"	Jemeal Leftenant, Larry Blackmon, Nathan Leftenant	4:36
9.	"Just a Broken Heart"	Larry Blackmon, Robert Smith, Tomi Jenkins, Billy Allen	4:34

Personnel

Cameo

• Larry Blackmon – lead vocals, backing vocals, drums, percussion
• Tomi Jenkins – lead vocals, backing vocals
• Nathan Leftenant – backing vocals, trumpet

Additional musicians

• Billy Allen – keyboards, programming
• Kevin Kendricks – keyboards, programming
• Charlie Singleton – keyboards, guitars, backing vocals
• Robert Smith – keyboards, programming
• Aaron Mills – bass
• Melvin Wells – saxophones
• Jeryl Bright – trombone
• Smoove & Konduko – scratches
• Willie Morris – lead vocals, backing vocals

Production

• Larry Blackmon – producer
• Barney Perkins – recording, mixing
• Christopher Rutherford – recording
• Milton Chan – assistant engineer
• Paul Speck – assistant engineer
• Sterling Sound (New York, NY) – mastering location
• Reiner Design Consultants, Inc. – album design
• David Vance – photography
• Fleur Thiemeyer – fashion
• Anderson Phillips – hair

^[3]

Charts

Chart (1990)	Peak position
US Billboard 200[4]	84
US Top R&B Albums (Billboard)[4]	18