chris brown the hometown hero

Author's note: This is an old post I wrote in 2014 when I was still a fan of Chris Brown. Now, I feel otherwise, however I feel like this is a good example of my writing so enjoy.

Chris Brown is such an interesting topic to talk about mainly because Chris Brown is sort of like a hometown hero for me. I grew up in Richmond, Virginia and there have been so many memories that I hold close to me that associate with Chris Brown that it's hard for me to just leave Team Breezy forever. I mean honestly. You don't think about things like this but Chris Brown has been around for like almost 10 years...isn't that crazy? His album first came out in 2005. One of my earliest memories of him include making a dance to "Run It!" with my volleyball teammate freshman year of high school. Another one includes my friend burning me a copy of "Exclusive" (which I still have) that I blasted in my mom's car once I first started driving. I've met Chris countless times and been to so many concerts of his that it's hard to count now. I feel like I have such a bond with him that it's kind of hard for me to just give up on him so easily, he's like my brother.

Chris Brown has so much talent. So much fucking talent. When he first came out I wasn't a fan of his (it was 2005 and I was totally into the emo rock trend) but I was so excited to see a young black man with so much talent musically really make it in this industry and fucking go places. I mean honestly, who else can really dance like Chris? He makes it look so effortless that sometimes it pisses me off. Mainly because I can't dance worth shit, so it's probably a jealousy issue on my end. Either way, I mean the kid has talent. No matter how much you hate him, he has a talent that you can't deny. In addition, he's made a lot of classic albums. "Exclusive" was so fucking good. There was so much emotion in the songs, and how can you honestly argue with the classic love song "With You"? I will play that song at my fucking wedding.

It was so great to see him reaching the height of his career when you were thinking "Wow this kid can only go up from here" when it all came crashing down in 2008 with the domestic violence case against Rihanna. I literally remember that day. I remember my mom waking me up before school and telling me what happened. And I was just like noooooo. NOT Chris and Rihanna. They were my OTP.  They were the pinnacle of the young black love that I looked up to. I didn't want to believe it. Especially not after that Wall to Wall/Umbrella performance that they did at the VMAs. How could Chris have done that to her? It really fucked me up. I just could not believe it. But I mean, we all know the story and we all know what happened.

In the aftermath of the incident that happened, it was tough watching him being vilified by the media because I know he fucked up, but I didn't want to believe it. But the evidence was right there, right there in front of us. It sucked watching him reach that peak point of his career only to see it crashing down in front of him.

In the aftermath of the incident, it's not like he did anything better to clear up his name. The constant stints in rehab, the "gang affiliation", and going to jail really did not help anything at all. And every time I would read the news about him I was like "God damnit Chris, get your fucking shit together!!!!!" like honestly! Just go away for a while, chill and then come back stronger than you were before. I mean I guess we can count the CDs he released in that time period, Grafitti, F.A.M.E, Fortune and most recently X, and honestly, it's not like those CDs were inherently BAD, they were actually solid! And his mixtapes were fucking dope! I actually found out about Big Sean through the "Fan of a Fan 2" mixtape. So it's not like the quality of his work slipped, it was just like...dude chill, take some time off, get off Twitter ranting because no one is going to take you seriously, just stay in your lane and chill.

At the end of the day, I am 500 percent here for Chris Brown. I want him to move on from his past mistakes and go back to making music and dancing his ass off. After following his career for so long, it's hard to just drop him without wanting to see him do well. I can't be mad at him for still keeping up his music career, you can tell it's the only thing that he genuinely loves and does well. So here's to you Chris, I'll always support you and be cheering for you, because I know you can make it.