Down With Chris Brown: Why The Hell Is He Even Still Relevant?
Chris Brown has been a prominent member of the hip hop community since the early 2000s. His 2007 hit, Kiss Kiss, will remind anyone in their early twenties of their awkward transition to high school phase. He was a stylish, attractive pretty boy with a dark side. He was making huge hits and he was becoming an icon of meshing r&b, hip hop, and dance.
And, of course, we all remember when he physically abused then girl friend at the time, Rihanna. And how his overly committed fan base defended him on the issue. She wasn’t the only account of physical abuse from Chris Brown, there is a Rolling Stone article dedicated to the 8 different reports of abuse from woman.
The artists recently released a new song on March 24 titled Privacy. The song is nothing to be impressed by. It is an average hip hop style tune about the overused hip hop topic of having incredible sex with an extremely hot and sexy woman. His lyrics are extremely basic, with no attempt to be clever or artistic at all. He uses lines like, “you don’t need a shower you already wet” and “Ima slow it down, ’cause ain’t no speed limit / when we’re moving at the speed of sound.” He also repeats the phrase “boom shakalaka” after two different phrases, “shake that ass like” and Liking your private parts.” The wordless phrase itself sounds like at attempt to create a catchy tune that would hook people to the song, but it ended up sounding awkward and out of place.
The lyrics, besides being very simple, are bluntly about sex with a woman in such a way that makes it seem like Chris Brown is flaunting his sexual abilities and sex appeal. He kind of seems like that douche that stares at any woman as if he oozes sex and she obviously wants him. He uses lines like “why your pussy so damn good miss lady?” and “I’m lovin’ how that pussy taste” as if they’re like sincere compliments, but what I really get from it is a man bragging out how he can get “good pussy.”
There is no art to it, which is an important part of any type of music. This song was made to generate an income, and it’s upsettingly obvious.
And again, he has a history that is unacceptable so why is this single okay? Clearly since he has been accused of more than one account of physical assault, he doesn’t learn from his mistakes. And people, especially his fans, think that the media is too hard on him. The media has written, recently, plenty of articles about him that praise his new music and don’t mention his dark but honest past.
HE TITLED THIS SONG PRIVACY. A song where he illustrates his attraction and desire to have sex with a woman in the comfort of a bedroom, and with her consent. He is not aggressive in the song, if anything it is closer to passionate. And yet, he has this horrible history of being physically abusive to the very gender he wrote this sexual song about. And these woman that were attacked were either attacked in public, or the assault became public knowledge, and with that they lost their privacy. These woman had to deal with the traumatic experience and know that everyone else, friends, family, and strangers, knew about it. They lost their own privacy about a very private and invasive experience. For Chris Brown to send this song out into the world, he is sending a clear message that he is not learning from his past and possibly will still defend, deny, or down play his past actions.
The worst part is he is normalized, so his behavior is normalized. There is a larger issue of celebrities getting away with abuse because they are celebrities, and Chris Brown is no exception. He was on a Nicki Minaj song about two years ago, Only, that also featured Drake and Lil Wayne. He sings the chorus of the song, but his face in the music video is terrifying. None of the other artists appear in the music video like this, just him. Knowing the power he thinks he has to be able to physically abuse people and looking at his face like this is beyond unsettling.
Drake, Lil Wayne, and Nicki Minaj and also such icons of hip hop and for them to welcome Brown onto this song shows how normalized his past behaviors have been. It is especially upsetting for Nicki to have Brown on a song, with her being a role model for woman in this male dominated industry. The song didn’t need him either, his voice didn’t bring anything to the song, especially compared to Drake and Lil Wayne’s versus. But that face that he makes in the video, it drips with powerful madness and should be haunting for anyone that knows his past.
Normalizing Chris Brown and his music is normalizing his behavior. Hip Hop music degrades women enough as it is, artists like Chris Brown drag the genre down while it is struggling to crawl up.
