Good luck listening to Brown’s third album if you know anything
about his assault on Rihanna earlier this year. Brown’s image used to
be that of a young R&B singer exploding with life and talent. Now
he’s a portrait of rage — the sort of guy who beats his
girlfriend during an argument. Where his ex (on her just-released and
terrific Rated R) confronts the incident head-on, Brown tiptoes
past the subject on Graffiti. For the most part, he acts like
nothing happened, settling into a formulaic (but expertly produced) set
of bedroom jams and smooth ballads.
It’s disheartening to hear Brown hitting up girls in the club and
getting his swag on while sidestepping responsibility. He brings up the
confrontation only once, on the ambiguous “So Cold,” where he begs,
“Please forgive me.” And even here he sounds sorrier that the whole
thing had to play out in public. Brown is more sincere on “Sing Like
Me,” where he proclaims, “So many different type of women I’m into …
I wanna take ’em back to the crib.” Shorties beware. — Michael
Gallucci
This article appears in Dec 9-15, 2009.
Why?