Chris Brown

From Aggiegreenhouse

Can an apology change and heal the past?

I can personally feel for Chris Brown. Remorse is a helluva burden served cold. Then, my mother shakes me up to the reality of how she as a woman survivor views the once promising young black male. As the late Senator Kennedy said after a fatal accident,

"Atonement is a process that never ends, which is as it should be."

Not a rap lover, I found the genre lacking the soul that is significant for the history behind the music from Black people(s). But like everything else in Hollywood, if it sells CDs, produce it... produce it... produce it!

Hasn't everybody had a version of a storybook relationship gone into disaster? Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy. Read Shakespeare! They both die! The days are long when you ask yourself, how did I get here? How did this happen to us? And who was that person who did what they say I did? Chris Brown has got millions to comfort him in his 20/20 retrospective. The hundreds of thousands of other youths, have to live the new criminal lifestyle the best they can. Do you think Chris Brown can be a role model to reshape that America?

One thing that gripped me more than anything in his interview with Larry King was his statement, "I'm not a man yet. I'm learning to be one. I'm learning to take control of my emotions." Learning and living to pass those lessons on to others is exactly what Chris Brown may be called to do. Time is long overdue for an artist who does NOT glorify what happens in the streets. Maybe he can model a kind of Tupac who made poetry out of the hardest part of our lives.

Rather than being like Michael Jackson, bring back the song that told YOUR real story. I do not live in Neverland. I don't know about you. The number of female artists who vocalize surviving through hard times and pain goes beyond Mary J. Blige. Male artists so often rap about getting it on with girl in the shorts and thong. What happened to you gotta make a change, because that's just the way it is? What happened to dust yourself off and try again? What happened to always and forever?

Clean style, smooth and snappy lyrics symbolized this new face. Far from the Lil' Wayne gangsta, and the Dr. Dre thug kingpin, it seems every time the music world creates a wholesome face, the reality is far from Brady Bunch. The last musical artist I remember who crossed-over was Will Smith. Now he is a role model with a track record. Don't even think about forgetting about Jada Pinkett-Smith either.

In contrast, this was reportedly the third incident where Chris Brown acted violently with Rihanna. Once in Europe smashing the windows in a rented Range Rover, and another time where Rihanna slapped Chris Brown and he shoved her into a wall. Retrospection obviously was no longer working and intervention was necessary.