How Chris Brown Rose From Super-Talented Teen Star to One of the Most Polarizing Entertainers Ever!!
Something still has not quite clicked yet
for Chris Brown's comeback.
Not that He is not back. He is definitely back.
In fact, He is smack in the middle of the Party Tour with 50 Cent, Fabolous and others.
He was scheduled to host a party last night in Miami. He is working on his
eighth studio album and over the past year He is collaborated with the likes
of Usher,DJ Khaled,Fiddy,Zendaya.
But somewhere amid all the music and all the
doting He is done on daughter Royalty since becoming a dad,
there remains the guy who just punched a photographer at
a nightclub in Tampa, Fla., after a Party Tour show. Police confirmed to our
source that the paparazzo communicated his intent to press charges—and history
would suggest that a lawsuit is next.
Not that this would excuse anything, but Brown
isn’t the first celebrity to get angry and clock a photographer. If only
it were the first time Breezy had been accused of a violent act.
Time usually play tricks on us when it comes to the
famous, with headlines and the occasional official document we really have to guide our selves, but it is
starting to feel like a lifetime ago that the 2005 debut single "Run It!"
climbed the ladder and made 16-year-old Chris Brown a star.
"He is such a talented person and is held
at such a high level in entertainment because of his ability to dance and his
ability to sing...I wanted to be better," Zendaya explained to our team Ryan
Seacrest at the 2016 Grammys about what made Her to collaborate
with Brown on "Something New."
Which, again, would be a no-brainer question
except for the fact that, in 2009, Chris Brown beat up his
then-girlfriend Rihanna and pleaded guilty to felony
assault. After that eye-opening turn of events, public opinion of Brown
splintered into jagged fragments of repulsion, dismay and sympathy, while
still others never gave a shit about what He did—about what he admitted to
doing—and have remained die-hard fans throughout.
You cannot mention Brown on social media
without getting a heated reaction from the factions with the strongest
opinions—those who were done with him the instant they saw Rihanna's bruised
face in leaked police photos and can't for the life of them figure out how
He is still touring, and those who think His critics are full of crap and He's
the most talented thing since baked bread.
If you are like most people, you long ago stopped wondering why
Chris Brown is still a thing and just accepted that He is. You do not seek
him out, but you feel no need to complain if you hear his voice on the
radio. And they say, if you are going to forgive, or at least overlook, it is not
really useful to keep bringing up his biggest mistake, one He has publicly
apologized . Even Rihanna kept dating him. He is won almost two dozen industry
awards since then, including a Grammy and the 2016 American Music Award for
Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist, and sold millions of albums.
And that is ultimately what would have
happened. His sordid history would have faded into the background, if He
had stopped making headlines for questionable—and at times downright
bad—behavior.
Do you remember when you could listen to
a Brown song and not have to have a moral reckoning with yourself?
His self-titled 2005 debut album sold more
than 3 million copies, He was in Stomp the Yard and This
Christmas, He and Jordin
Sparks had a hit single with "No Air," He and
Rihanna were one of the cutest young couples around—and to top it all
off, Billboard named him Artist of the Year at the end of
2008.
Then on Feb. 8, 2009, He was arrested after
Rihanna needed medical treatment for facial injuries He had inflicted, and the
following month He was charged with felony assault and making criminal
threats. That same June, He pleaded guilty to assault and was sentenced to five
years' probation (the start of a tortuous odyssey of violations and
revocations), community labor in lieu of six months in jail, and anger
management counseling.
"I went from being on top of the world,
No. 1 songs, being kind of like America's sweetheart to being Public Enemy No.
1,"Chris Brown's heard saying in the 2016 documentary Welcome to
My Life: The Official Chris Brown Documentary. He continued, "I felt
like a monster."
"Everybody's want to say He is a monster without looking at
the source," Rihanna told Oprah
Winfrey in 2012, explaining why she did not ditch
Brown when he became abusive. "And I was more
concerned about Him”.
While Chris became persona non grata on the
radio for awhile, it did not really take that long for his comeback to begin.
The song "Crawl" was a
misinterpreted nonstarter in November 2009 (it was not about any of his
relationships, Brown insisted), but in May 2010 he and Tyga
released the mix tape Fan of a Fanand "Deuces" gave
Brown his first No. 1 single singe 2006. He earned support from a number
of his peers (male and female) when He broke down in tears while performing
"Man in the Mirror," part of a Michael
Jackson tribute at the 2010 BET Awards, held roughly a year
after He struck his plea deal.
"He was so vulnerable," Taraji
P. Henson told MTV News afterward.
"I love you, Chris!"
He also won the AOL Fandemonium Award that
night, telling the audience, "I let you all down before, but I promise I
won't do it again..."
And then it was fairly full speed ahead, music-wise. F.A.M.E. debuted
at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in March 2011 (his first No. 1 album in the U.S.)
and then won the Grammy for Best R&B Album in 2012—three short years after
his arrest.
It took Mel
Gibson 10 years to get another Oscar nomination (or even
another invitation to the Oscars) after his 2006 DUI meltdown, and he had
been an A-list star for decades beforehand, so Chris—a relative newcomer
when his PR disaster occurred—was really on the fast track back to mainstream
acceptance (with the people who were opening the doors for him, at least, if
not everyone with an opinion on the matter).
But his comeback was soon a distant memory. In
August 2013, He was slapped with another 1,000 hours of
community service. That October He was charged with assaulting a man who had
asked for a photo in Washington, D.C.; He pleaded down to a misdemeanor and was
sentenced to time served in September 2014. He settled lawsuits filed by that
guy and a member of Frank Ocean's entourage stemming from a
fight in a parking lot outside an L.A. recording studio.
Also in March 2014 Brown was kicked out of a
treatment center for violating the rules, and in turn jailed for not being in rehab,
and that May served three weeks of a 131-day jail sentence for violating his
2009 probation with the 2013 D.C. arrest. (It all became very convoluted, what
He was being cited for and when.) Court documents also revealed that experts at
the treatment facility determined Chris was suffering from bipolar
disorder and PTSD.
"Mr. Chris Brown became aggressive and acted out physically
due to his untreated mental health disorder, severe sleep deprivation,
inappropriate self-medicating and untreated PTSD," a filing read.
After a most tumultuous five years, Brown
copped to still having issues and credited twice-weekly therapy with helping
him to get a grip.
"I think it is all about the choices you
make," He told MTV News in
September 2014. "With me, I deal with a lot of anger issues from my
past—not knowing how to express myself verbally and, at the same time, not
knowing how to cope with my emotions and deal with them and understand what
they are."
He learned the importance of expressing His
emotions, He said, finally realizing "it is not supposed to stay there;
you are not supposed to keep it inside because it will bottle up and you will become
a monster."
At the time, former Baltimore Ravens star Ray Rice had
recently been suspended from the NFL for knocking his then-fiancée (now
wife) out in an elevator and Brown directed a message
saying: "To Ray, or anybody else—because I am not better than the next
man—I can just say I have been down that road. I deal with situations and I have
made my mistakes too, but it is all about how you push forward and how you
control yourself."
Rihanna was scheduled to perform on Thursday
Night Football on a night the Ravens played and CBS canceled her
appearance. (Rice's fiancée, like Rihanna did with Brown, had stood by him,
even criticizing the Ravens and the NFL for his suspension.)
"It is not a subject to sweep under the
rug, so I cannot just dismiss it like it was not anything, or I do not take it
seriously," Rihanna later told Vanity Fair. "But, for me,
and anyone who has been a victim of domestic abuse, nobody wants to even
remember it. Nobody even wants to admit it. So to talk about it and say it
once, much less 200 times, is like...I have to be punished for it? It did not
sit well with me."
Rihanna
emerged from her entanglement with Brown unscathed and is now widely considered
one of the most influential pop artists around—a chart-topping singer,
untouchable when it comes to style,all guy's dream date and a general giver of
zero f--ks.
Yet somehow it also became easy to forget that, when
it comes to stories about Chris, "Rihanna" is more than just a
word that indicated a really terrible thing occurred in 2009. There is a whole
person who would prefer that that moment in time not trail her into
perpetuity.
But so long as Chris Brown's temper keeps
flaring up in the most public of settings, He is ensuring that his checkered past will
continue to weigh him down and grow heavier along the
way, like Jacob Marley's chains.
At the same time, not every charge has born
fruit, and it is obvious that not every accusation thrown
His way has been an accurate representation of events. And yes, He
probably looks like an easy mark to those seeking a quick payday.
Yet getting nasty on Twitter,
getting sued by his manager for
alleged assault and battery, having an ex take out a restraining order against
him, all in the course of one year, on top of everything else—it all adds up.
And Brown cannot just cry "provocation!" when he does do
something violent, as He is said to have done in Florida. It is obvious that
the artist who was getting help for His problems in 2014 still needs that help
in 2017—and He may need help forever, as so many people with chronic issues do.
Club Aja, the scene of the altercation, said
in a statement, "Dear patrons: Incidents like the ones caused by Brown and
his team are very sad to see. As everyone witnessed He showed up to the club at
around 1:30 am. After only a few minutes of being there, Brown and his team
assaulted our club photographer and proceeded to walk out of the venue.
"AJA Channelside and our employees
apologize for the inconvenience. Assault charges were pressed and we are
dealing with the authorities accordingly. We appreciate your support!"
Before the incident, the club had no problem with Chris Brown
until there was a problem. Just how like most people, by now, no longer have an
active problem with him until He inevitably causes one. And the club's
statement could be addressed from Brown to his loyal fans
Post a Comment