bboy87 said:

The Brits are doing something right. We Americans are stuck in dumb.

Timmy84 said:

The British market doesn't suffocate its artists with compartmentalization. We Americans have too many boxes for our music. Too much math (statistical financial projections based on target market to demographic purchasing ratios), not enough art.

uhh jay z, yo otha wife is in trouble.

Timmy84 said:

It's all about bottom line and context.


CB's positioned himself as the billionth "next MJ," a mainstream, multimedia star, and is accused of criminal assault. So in that vein, I can see why he's being treated like a pariah. Perhaps unfairly because not all of the facts are out. Until both CB and Rihanna go on the record, or an investigation is completed, it's all speculation.

That being said, the hypocrisy persists. Like I said, if CB were an MC, his songs would still be on the radio. R. Kelly was accused of far more serious stuff over the years -- including against a very popular young singer -- and became more popular as the charges got bigger.

And you're right, I doubt these stations even listen to their own songs in the rotation. They probably play 20 songs a day that talk about some type of abuse towards women.

BlaqueKnight said:

That's true. I've tried listening to lots of US radio stations online and the music is all so samey. Sometimes it seems like the playlists just repeat the same 10 songs over and over - it's no wonder a lot of the younger generations are growing up with such a narrowed view of music and genres. You get those sorts of stations here too, but there are a lot more where you can hear a bit of anything and everything at any time.

BlaqueKnight said:

Not being smart-alecky here -- is it easier to do that because of Britain's size? If Britain were 35 times larger, would its music industry's process be different?

And yet while the land mass may be 35 times smaller than the US, the population is only 5 times smaller. Far more people per square mile, so I guess we all have to live with eachother and there are far fewer people who live in remote places without any kind of multi-culture.

Ellie said:

Thanks! That makes BK's comments all the more astute to me.

Yeah, our brothers and sisters across the pond make efficient use of space. Everyone who hasn't gone over, should.

Ellie said:

I've been listening to 1xtra alot again these days. They play R&B, hip hop, dancehall, Garage, House, Reggae....the list goes on and on

Whereas here, an "urban" station here plays R&B, hip hop, and a sprinkle of dancehall

You won't believe how surprised I was when I found how many black people in the UK embrace dance music like Garage, House, Drum and Bass, and Jungle

pacey68 said:

First off, thank you for being one of the few people to have an un-biased post because that's basically what this all boils down to for me at this point. I'm not a fan of either of them, but will admit that I like some songs from both of them; but definitely wouldn't waste my money on either of their albums, so I'm not going to take either of their sides. I'm going to look at this whole situation in an unbiased way. If she hit him first, than he had the right to defend himself regardless of what sex or age she is. If the roles were reversed and she had whooped his ass and left him jacked up on the side of the road, there are people on here who would have probably taken her side and agreed that he had probably done something wrong to deserve that somehow, which is extremely disturbing, very hypocritcal, and downright sad to me.

I'm sorry, but this isn't an 'Ike and Tina' situation. Ike was beating Tina's ass for no reason whatsoever for years until she finally decided to hit his ass back and then grew a brain and left him. I personally believe that she hit him first, and he defended himself, but then he let his anger get the best of him and took it waay to far, which is the only thing I will say he is guilty of. He beat her like she was a man, which is the only thing that makes this soo terrible in my eyes. He really beat her like she stole something, which she kinda did if you count taking the car keys and throwing them out the window, which was a dumbass move on her part, because keys are weapons that can protect you in the event of a possible beatdown. She should have at least grabbed that umbrella in the backseat or the cigarette lighter and defended herself, but from the reports of the injuries she got, she sounds like she just stood there and let that nucca hit her, which was just dumb on her part because my stiletto would have been making contact with his nuts at some point and we both would have been going to the hospital that night.

I was telling my boss about this story just yesterday, because he's not up on this type of thing, and he agreed with my ideas 100%; and then commenced to telling me about how he had just seen three people fist-fighting each other in a car while the car was in motion. The front seat passenger and the back seat passenger were both fighting the driver, who was fighting them back; I believe the driver was the only male in the car. First off, how fucking stupid are you to fight with the driver especially if the car is in motion? If he/she wrecks the vehicle, everyone inside the vehicle could be killed or severely injured; or the driver could lose control of the vehicle and hurt other drivers. He said they eventually pulled over; but that whole story just shocked me that people would risk their own lives in such a manner and if this turns out to be what initially lead to Rihanna's ass-whoopin', than I really don't feel sorry for her at all. Take that drama mess behind closed doors instead of making a spectacle and possibly hurting an innocent bystander in the brawl.

I think the word 'abuse' really gets thrown around way too much and used waay to loosely most of the time. Fighting someone who was fighting you is not abuse in my eyes, just like slapping your kid because they start acting an ass in the middle of the supermarket isn't abuse...that's discipline and if more people would do it, maybe kids nowadays wouldn't be so damn out of control. He may have hit her before, but who's to say that she didn't start that fight too. I don't side with instigators and shit starters no matter how bad they get beat down in a fight because they brought that pain on themselves and usually over some dumb, childish shit which, if the reports about the whole text message is true, would fit in that category. She should have walked away just as much as he should have, period.

Now, in saying all this, I do think he needs to be taught a lesson just so he won't try to pull this type of shit ever again, but the radio stations and his sponsors shouldn't be the ones to be doing that especially since it's become a legal issue. I just think they need to stay out of it until a verdict is reached in this whole matter and then make their decisions based off of that. Honestly, the only reason I'm not seeing this as being fair is because he's not the only celebrity to have committed a terrible crime. Amy Winehouse assaulted several people on several occasions, yet nobody stopped playing her songs and the Grammy's went out of their way to make sure she could be at the show via satellite. I didn't here anything about her having to serve any jail time for the fan she hit in the face or the crack she smoked; and all those moments were caught on video...seriously, that's some biased and retarded shit right there and it's not right; not right at all.

Plus, I have to commend you, pacey68, for not whipping that chick's ass after she hit you, because you should have, just so she could learn that hitting anyone, male or female, could get you knocked the fuck out. I always say there are two types of people in this world: 1) those who like to learn things the easy (usually pain-free) way; and, 2) those fucktards who like to learn things the hard way...well, that chick would have been learning things the hard way that night if she didn't understand the word, 'stop'. Wish I had been there, because I would have kicked her ass for you. Chicks that start fights, then want to play the victim when they get their asses kicked make me sick to my stomach. Just my

estelle81 said:

While I cant agree with everything you said, that shit was funny.

Sorry, but I can't help but think of it every time I hear any song from either one of them.

A local radio station was mocking them, with Chris & Rihanna's Greatest "Hits".

I thought it was funny.

And yes, I know I'm an asshole.

estelle81 said:

Don't presume. If she did anything first she would've been charged by now, or Chris would at least be defending himself. Anyway, anyone who did anything first does not deserve to be beaten. It's one or the other person's responsibility to get control of the situation, not worsen it.




Are you serious?

You're obviously biased against Rihanna, and want to somehow blame her for this happening. You "personally believe" she hit him first? Based on what? Tabloid speculation? Come on.

That whole paragraph is just disgusting, you should be ashamed of yourself.

First you try to say it's not that bad because he only beat her once, not for years like Ike did. Abuse has to go on for a certain amount of time before YOU classify it as abuse? Let's hope you never get beaten up one day, I'm sure you wouldn't want people putting time limits on when they'll start to care about your injuries!

Then you try to find any evidence you can to blame Rihanna for it happening.

Then you try to say that the girl should've fought back against a raving mad grown man.

Maybe she DID try, you do realise the difference in physical strength and if he got the upper hand inside a CAR, it's no wonder she didn't inflict any damage on him.

But in the earlier paragraph, you're basically saying you think she hit him first...but she then seemingly sat there and took the abuse?

Are you high?



It's very easy for you to tell these people exactly what they should've been doing in their heated situation with emotion no doubt soaring as you sit comfortably at home behind your computer screen.

We're looking at this in hindsight with the lovely benefit of not having been a part of the situation.

They were in their car, how is that making a spectacle? Stop being so damn judgmental.



The woman had to stay in hospital for a night, was screaming and crying, had BITE marks on her and you think the word abuse is too much?

And I see once again, you've completely convinced yourself it was her fault and that Chris was defending himself. Where's your source for all of this speculation? I've seen maybe one article saying it MIGHT have been Rihanna's fault.

Also your comparison of abuse to keeping someone in control is quite unnerving.

If it were in any way Rihanna's fault, not only would Chris have said something besides "I hope she's okay", she would have been charged too. Chris was turning himself in within hours of it happening.



She has every right to get angry if she thought he was cheating.

He does NOT have the right to beat her up because of that. No matter what she says or does, and no matter what HE says or does, NEITHER of them should get physical. And so far, it seems only ONE did.



That's pretty much what they're already doing. Choosing not to air or show it until more info comes out.



Probably because the assault wasn't clear. Obviously, it was as clear as day that Chris had beaten Rihanna. I've seen the supposed Winehouse elbowing fan video and it could easily be misconstrued.

Anyway, I really wish you'd stop trying to categorise abuse into "bad" and "not so bad" sections. Abuse is abuse, no matter who started it or why. I'd feel a lot more disturbed if the media turned a blind eye to this.



Wow.

Anger management issues aside, none of this, none of ANY of what you've said, means Rihanna started it.

You just WANT to believe that.
[Edited 2/14/09 23:46pm]

SoulAlive said:

SOULALIVE... don't believe every speculative report you read.

purplesweat said:

[b] I thought your responses were pretty good.
So many folks want to make this her fault. Boyfriends and Girlfriends can't cheat on each other. They have no legal binding in a relationship. Hell them shits come and go. Oh he cheated on me - then get a gotdamn ring on it, and then it is cheating and divorce his ass and take him to the cleaners.
It is a crock of horsehit that radio and advertisers pick and choose whom they wanna play moral czar to. If they would stop putting celebs on pedestals and separate their careers from theor personal lives then they wouldn't have to make such decisions.
I do not care for Rihanna (Robyn Fenty)'s artistry at all. Chris Brown seems to be a good dancer/entertainer, but his singing is like a limp member.
When you are 19 years old and going around renting Lambhrogini's for 2k a day, well it kind of shows where your head is. They were a disaster waiting to happen, but it seems to me that the real issue here is whether she was criminally assaulted.
She had injuries, he fled the scene after bystanders called 911 - so he showed consciousness of guilt. He was not scene at any emergency room in the Los Angeles area and no police report was issued after a statement from him alleging he was assaulted by Miss Fenty. so one can reasonably deduct that since he fled, was a fugituve for 18 hours, didn't file a police report, didn't seek medical treatment, has expressed remorse through surrogates, and has not spoken himself or had his diarhea of the mouth lawyer Mark Geragos say anything, Christopher Brown did something not so good a week ago (Feb. 8th).
He beat her ass, and fled like the punk he is. This is a non-brainer.

BlaqueKnight said:

There's no "public" evidence that it wasn't a recurring situation. Proof may or may not come out indicating that. But it very well could be. No one on here knows so folks need to stop assuming shit.

SCNDLS said:

Exactly. "Assuming shit" is implying that its reoccurring.

BlaqueKnight said:

I'm just saying that it works both ways and it's entirely possible that there was a pattern of abuse and it doesn't look like you and others are leaving room for that possibility.

SCNDLS said:

Incorrect. It is possible. I'm just not assuming that this was a frequent event. There's no evidence that it was, so there's no reason to jump to the conclusion that it was.

Ya'll could carry on with the "abuse Vs not abuse" discussion back & fourth all day.

In HER case, you don't get hit like that the 1st time,,,,,that alone should tell you it was a pattern.

I'm more disgusted by the hypocrisy of the situation, there're high profiled people who physically abuse women and nobody say JACK about them. If you wanna pull the self-righteous card, bring them ALL down.

BlaqueKnight said:

Like I said to Estelle, lets hope you never get beaten up. I'm sure you'll be throwing the term "abuse" around pretty easily then.

Im still sticking to yes, besides, he has issued a "I regret what I did" statement anyway. He basically admitted to messing up bigtime.

BlaqueKnight said:

I disagree, my brother. I get what you're saying. But a man hitting a woman generally crosses the "abuse" threshold, to me. Nevertheless, if the incident caused severe injury, it could be termed "abuse" or "assault," which often get you to the same place.

But I don't know whether there's enough info to make a conclusion as to what went down.

Harlepolis said:

gets kidnapping net and goes huntin' for Arruh Kewways