Chris Brown has turned over a new leaf, likely thanks to his daughter, Royalty.
He's been going on Twitter rants as of late, weighing in on life's deeper meanings, what really matters in this world and how he's trying to be the best person he can be. He opened up in a very personal way during a recent interview with Vibe magazine. Here are three revelations from that discussion that shed light on his new journey:
1. He, as R. Kelly also argued recently, wants black people to "stick together" and support one another more. Brown realizes the hypocrisy he lives as a celebrity, and how he and his peers in entertainment are "prisoners to our own materialism," Brown explained. But he's hoping to use that same passion to help and advocate for the less fortunate:
If I can complain about the diamonds not being bright enough on my chain or my ring, I should also be fighting just as hard to put somebody else in a house, helping somebody that’s homeless, feeding somebody, showing my concerns.
2. Brown was initially told that his daughter, Royalty, wasn't his. But her resemblance to him was too uncanny for him to shake off the feeling. The minute he got confirmation, he put aside his differences with Royalty's mother, Nia Guzman, and focused on being with his daughter:
I had thought about it. I had saw pictures, and I was like "Damn." So I asked, and [Royalty's mother] was like "Nah, it's not you." So I was like, "Cool," I didn't think it was an issue. But when I found out, it was kind of like, "Damn, she looks just like me." And I didn't care about how me and her mother didn't have a relationship, I didn't care about any situation. I just wanted to see her. I just wanted to be able to have that opportunity, as something personal to me. I'm not gonna be upset, I'm not gonna be mad. I have to be honest with myself and pick the priorities over the situation. I had to make my priority my daughter.
3. He's very aware of how stereotypical he seems in terms of all he's been through as a young black man in America:
I'm the general statistic of the young black male: a father out of wedlock, tattoos, sags my pants, hangs with people that would be called outcasts, been to jail, has a criminal record.
He's working on his character, but even still, he says that he's come to accept that he's still a little crazy:
See now, the zen gets confused when a motherf**ker might cuss somebody out. Nah, I'm 100-percent passionate, and at ease with the fact that I might be a little bit crazy.
Nice to read about Brown's maturity.
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Diana Ozemebhoya Eromosele is a staff writer at The Root and the founder and executive producer of Lectures to Beats, a Web series that features video interviews with scarily insightful people. Follow Lectures to Beats on Facebook and Twitter.