Chris Brown has become a controversial figure in the music industry. Some applaud his talents above all while others condemn the actions in his personal life as reason not to support the singer. So when it was confirmed that Brown would be performing at the BET Awards last night, many people were curious how audiences would react to his comeback after being released from jail June 2.
Prior to his performance, Jermaine Dupri sat down to talk to Hot 97 about his thoughts on Brown and the idea of second chances following Breezy's performance at 1Oak's Scam Artist Party the night before.
"He's a musician; that's what people need to understand. What happens in our regular lives, you can't put that into the music all the way," he said, explaining that this dichotomy is the truth of the music industry. "It is what it is. Stars have problems."
When asked what he thought of the roller-coaster of public opinion about Brown, Dupri said he thinks that people are starting to realize that Breezy was just making mistakes like all young people do.
"He's young. He's going to make mistakes, and I think people have started realizing that...everybody when they young make mistakes. People was looking at him like he was grown before. Then people started realizing he's not really grown; he might not know everything that he needs to know to go through life."
He also believes that part of the reason that young artists such as Breezy and Justin Bieber get in to trouble is because they don't have a mentor to put them in their place and really look out for them.
"People are young for a long time. Last night me and Snoop [Dogg] was having the same conversation with Bow Wow. Bow Wow has me and Snoop as mentors to make sure he don't get caught up in none of that. If Bow Wow started doing something wild, me or Snoop is going to call him up and we going to wring his neck out; and you've never seen Bow Wow in no trouble. But a lot of these other kids don't have that. So that youngness goes for a long time because they don't have anyone. They got managers that are out for money...that didn't watch them grow up. You gotta have somebody around you when you're a young artist that actually is there for the well-being of the artist."
The most surprising thing that Dupri said of Brown, however, was comparing him to Tupac Shakur.
"He's a star, though. I told people when he came out of jail, he's going to be Tupac," he said. "He's an R&B singer and a singer's music is supposed to go farther than rap. And, it stretches over different boundaries. To me, he's going to be more famous than Tupac. I mean, he's a star, and I can't front on it."
As Hollywood Life notes, however, not everyone is supportive of Brown's return. As he was introducing Brown's performance, Chris Rock took a jab at the singer saying, "He just signed a new deal. Too bad it was a plea deal. Give it up for Chris Brown!"
Despite the diss, Brown hit the stage to perform "Loyal" with Lil Wayne, Tyga and Travis Barker on drums then came out again with August Alsina and Trey Songz to perform the "I Luv This Sh-" remix.
It appears as if Breezy's comeback is in full swing. He released the finished version of his new track featuring Rick Ross and Usher, "New Flame," onto SoundCloud.
Check out Brown's BET Awards performance and listen to his new track below. Let us know what you think in the comments section!
