A year ago, Chris Brown had sworn off interviews, but now he’s everywhere and telling all. The R&B superstar sat down with Angie Martinez on Hot 97 for yet another promo stop on his road to X.
No topic was off limits—from his love triangle with Rihanna and Karrueche Tran to his beefs with Drake and Frank Ocean to why he won’t do an interview with Oprah. A carefree Chris also shared his plans to shoot 10 music videos and release them by the time his sixth album drops in July or August.
Read highlights from their candid conversation below.
On why he put out a video last fall addressing his love triangle with Rihanna and Karrueche: “I wanted to be more of a man. Me being young, even with relationships in the past, I did a lot of lying, I did everything just to make sure nobody gets hurt in the process. I just don’t feel it’s necessary anymore in my life. Nobody can hate me for being honest. I had to just be brutal. I told both of them that the video was coming out. … I’m not trying to be a player. It’s never an easy situation to tell another person that you still love another person, so that’s kinda difficult. But our friendship, me and Karrueche’s friendship, is still cool. We’re still good friends.”
On whether Rihanna is cool with him being friends with Karrueche: “Yeah, to a degree…”
On Drake: “Me and him don’t see eye to eye. We never gonna see eye to eye, so you go your way, I’ma go mine.”
On whether Rihanna has issues with Drake: “I don’t really try to talk about him when I’m around her. I just lay the pipe.”
On Frank Ocean: “I think it’s a lot of strategies people try to use when they’re up for awards. It’s a sympathy role. I don’t have to go that route. I just do my music, do my thing. For him, it’s whatever. Love your music, bro. Have fun.”
On doing an interview with Oprah: “I’ve been invited, I just say no at this point. I’ll go to people that I’m comfortable with. I never wanna be in a situation where I feel like I’m attacked or I’m gonna be trapped. I think I’m paying for whatever I’ve done and I’ve learnt from it and I’m moving forward, so I only want to surround myself with the people that are about positivity.”
On his X plans: “I’m trying to do 10 videos because my album is X. I’m gonna do 10 videos and I’m gonna start shooting them before the album comes out. When the album drops, I drop all 10 videos so you see the visuals with the actual songs that you’ll love.”
On the “Law & Order” episode inspired by his relationship with Rihanna: “I didn’t even watch it ’cause I feel like it was ignorance. I feel like they were reaching.”
On whether Rihanna is his soul mate: “To a degree, yeah. Before I was madly in love with her and when I lost her, I was like, ‘Man, I don’t know what I’ma do.'”
On his legacy: “I just want to be a legend. I think my [goal] now is just to make my mark in the game as just an established artist and just a real artist and a culture ambassador. I feel like I’m just getting successful. I think the hard part is over. I went through the obstacles that God kinda made me go through so I could be humble.”