Freedom, Fatherhood & The Future (VIBE Cover)Three weeks ago, Chris Brown didn’t exactly f**k with VIBE. In December 2. 00. Unwillingly forced to don the inquiry “R U STILL DOWN?” on his black t- shirt, and forcibly pinned against his split cover with Drake, who was adversely labeled “Unstoppable,” Brown felt betrayed. One month after its release, the singer expressed his displeasure with the lead image and story, claiming that its concept was not the one agreed upon.

Dry, warm Hollywood, California is unseasonably rainy and chilly, and Brown is early for his 8 p. Clad in distressed jeans, a plain white t- shirt, orange Tampa Bay Buccaneers throwback Starter jacket and a pair of highly sought- after white Supreme Jordans, the music phenom is calm and collected, and his shoulder is outwardly void of chips. No longer a defenseless young’n’, the singer/dancer turned multi- art hyphenate is in command and ready to make amends on his own terms.“In the past, I don’t think I was able to capitalize fully off of the exposure that was given to me by VIBE,” he says matter- of- factly. Along with VIBE and other various different people and other things, I just separated myself from a lot of negative things, or things that I feel that I couldn’t be protected under.”Now, at 2. Brown is in the position to protect himself–literally.

Karrueche Tran finally granted five year restraining order against ex Chris Brown after threats of violence. By Ross Mcdonagh For Dailymail.com. Rock at the 2012 premiere of What to Expect When You’re Expecting. Birth name: Christopher Julius Rock III: Born February 7, 1965 (age 52) Andrews, South Carolina, U.S.

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Propping open a jewelry box filled with his own diamond- encrusted pieces, including a wildly oversized championship- style “OHB” pinky ring (which stands for One Hunnid Billion, Outta Here Bitch and various other creative concoctions), an iced- out Allen Iverson logo pendant and a host of other blinding chains and bracelets, Brown incredulously answers an inquiry on the whereabouts of a lock for the case that houses such prized possessions. I can fight,” he says, flashing his 1. This is the essence of today’s Brown: confident, comfortable and unapologetically open to life’s lessons. And in order to grasp this updated version of everybody’s favorite crooner to hate, one must forget what they think they know.

Get the latest Rolling Stone new music news, song and album reviews, free music downloads, artist videos & pictures, playlists and more. Read news updates about Chris Brown. Discover video clips of recent music performances and more on MTV. Lyrics to 'Open Road' by Chris Brown. I shoulda been a better man / Instead of wasting time spending my life searching for the finer things / Woaaah, you always.

Dispose of the headlines. Dump the assumptions.

Discard the labels. Seeing the sum of Chris Brown’s parts on this Thursday night requires the art of letting go. With pretenses set aside, an objective fly on the wall would be admittedly impressed watching Breezy in his milieu as a professional. In a room manned by a stylist, publicist, photographer and editor- in- chief, he is choosing his own clothes, setting up his own shots and peering at proofs. He’s also holding a rather informed conversation about celebrities’ impact on fashion over the years. And in between setting the stage for the task at hand, Chris is also discussing upcoming designs for Black Pyramid, his own line. But he doesn’t characterize any of this as exerting creative control.

It’s just freedom,” he says, marking the first of 2. The way I look at it is, I’m fearless.”“It’s not my job to be your role model; my job is to be your inspiration.” – Chris Brown. Either f- words–free or fearless–are commendable labels for Brown to have named and claimed. Of the decade- long stretch since his 2.

Brown has spent the last seven years on an uphill climb, from the celebrity domestic violence case heard . Free and fearless? The nerve of this guy. Judging by his body language he is, as he squats down on a wooden box next to an open awning- covered window that allows the sound of traffic on Cole Avenue to seep through. Chris Brown is finally at ease with being Chris Brown: good, bad and ugly included. Now, he asserts, his only mission is to inspire, a word that will also come up a number of times.

Sixteen to be exact. Credit: VIBE/Peter Dokus“It’s not my job to be your role model; my job is to be your inspiration.

There’s a difference,” he says precisely, with a piercing gaze. With his creative passions fluidly–and successfully–weaving through music, dance, video directing and visual arts, even his detractors cannot deny that Chris is a truly talented artist through and through. It also shouldn’t be as easy as it is to dismiss his impact; the Grammy- winning singer/songwriter has assassinated the charts, transforming R& B for ages to come by injecting the genre with pop, EDM, dubstep, reggae, hip- hop and everything in between. This remarkable feat is not an easy sell to an R& B purist. One such purist is Mark Pitts, president of urban music at Brown’s RCA Records homebase.

Credited with helping to launch the singer into superstardom, Pitts was also a key component of the almighty Bad Boy era, having partnered with Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs to manage the careers of The Notorious B. I. G. Pitts recalls meeting Brown for the first time as a talkative teenager with his shoelaces tied around his ankles, a smile that reminded him of his son, and the voice and hunger needed to land a win. Through the years, Pitts admits that Brown has pushed his limits, forcing the seasoned industry exec to draw outside of the proverbial lines. Take Brown’s rapping, for example.

Pitts was not immediately a fan. You damn- near rapping nicer than a lot of these rappers!’” But it was deeper than rap. According to Pitts, Brown had managed to garner a position that a precious few progressive black acts can pull off: the audience allegiance necessary to allow for experimentation.

But I have other artists that try other records, and it just doesn’t work because you don’t believe them.”Fortunately for him, faith in Brown is not just a practice of his following, whom he affectionately refers to as “Team Breezy.” Singer/songwriter Sevyn Streeter, a signee to his CBE imprint, attributes her own multi- faceted approach to music to working with Brown. Having penned tracks for the likes of Alicia Keys, Kelly Rowland, Trey Songz, Tamar Braxton and a host of other artists, Streeter says one thing sets Chris apart. And he owns all of them.”“When the fans and the people connect to the person, the artist, it could take them down any musical path.” – Mark Pitts. Latest Corel Draw Torrent Download X4 Full Throttle.

According to Brown, however, defining his music as anything other than soul is crude and cynical. The singer defines soul as an inclination to feel something, anything.

Using his hands to gesticulate his ideology, Brown offers a complex yet simple idea: “Soul” is not reserved to one genre of music, one form of art or one situation. What soul is, is that unconditional emotion you emit when you’re at a concert, or when you’re watching your favorite person do a TV show. Or if you got somebody that you love, you could be sitting there, and for no reason, you just smile. It might not even be a song, but just right now, something’s telling me to give a great energy off, negative or positive. What that is, we don’t identify it, but that’s our soul.” Brown’s musical palette ranges from mainstream icons like Phil Collins and Bruce Springsteen to leaders of the new school like PARTYNEXTDOOR and Bryson Tiller, so his description of soul as “not a black and white thing” is no surprise. Whether or not he extracts the fatback and collard greens from his tunes though, Chris Brown knows he’s still a black man in America. CREDIT: VIBE/Peter Dokus.

On a late- night November Twitter rant, Brown professed his willingness to model the “black male stereotype.” Speaking his 1. Just last week, yet another screed found him comparing Meek Mill’s impending sentencing to the case of Freddie Gray. Still crouching on the wooden box in the photo studio, Brown mentions being a young black male, reiterating his social media sentiments aloud before a question is even asked. On one hand, he’s not responsible for speaking out against injustice because he isn’t running for office. On the other, he separates his celebrity status from his personal thoughts and feelings.