Chris Brown: Welcome to My Life Page #2

supportive of his career.

From the beginning she

always believed in him.

She's actually the one

that said, you can sing!

We, his father worked

at the gas station,

there was a guy came by

and he said he was

looking for some talent,

and his father said

well, you know, my son sings.

It was something that I knew

that he was just interested in,

so I just went with the flow.

She pretty much dropped it and

went to New York to be with him.

From there, they did

a little video,

and the video got into

the hands of L.A. Reid,

and L.A. Reid saw it and

fell in love with him.

When I heard about Chris,

L.A. Reid wanted my influence,

and he said, you know, I

really wish that you could

have a conversation with Chris.

I mean, you tell him

what you wanna tell him,

as long as you tell

him to come with me.

Tell me about the phone

call from Usher,

that was a little crazy.

Yeah, I mean, it was exciting,

because, like, I never talked

to a celebrity before.

Yeah?

But, like, it was my first time,

he called me, and he

was like, what's up?

And I was like, who is this?

He's like, oh, Usher,

I was like, oh, word?

I told him to make his

decision where he goes

based off of what's real

more than anything.

You gotta rock with family.

So he was like, "Yeah, man, I

hear you about to get signed

with a different label.

I was just asking him, like,

who should I go with?

And he was like, just make sure

it's the best decision for you,

whatever decision you pick,

and whatever decision you make

is the best for you.

That was our first conversation,

across the board.

It started from there.

His fame came instant, you

know, it came all at once.

He was discovered at the

age of 13 at a gas station

where his father worked,

now he is a platinum

recording artist.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Chris Brown.

Being able to maneuver at

15 and try to, you know,

and having the success that

I did have at the time,

I was like, man, this is crazy.

When "Run It" came out, I heard

him screaming all the way out,

Mom, Mom, my song

is on the radio!

I remember meeting Chris

Brown for the first time

in Miami, we just got

done recording "Run It,"

and as soon as it got

done out the studio,

it got in my hands and

I went on the radio

and broke it, helped

break that record,

it was a record I believed in,

I knew he was gonna

be the next superstar

the day I met him.

I remember the first time Chris

Brown came on 106 & Park.

I saw people lined up all

the way down the block,

and I didn't know, I thought

some kind of fire drill

was taking place

or something like that,

and as I got closer,

I just, you know,

and I saw all those kids,

and then I looked,

and I saw they had spray

paint on the t-shirts and,

you know, the signs that

said marry me, Breezy,

I love you, Breezy,

Chris Brown for life,

and I was like,

what is going on!

It was fun, but also I'm

sure it was very stressful,

because he couldn't just

walk into the store

and go shopping and just go

play basketball at the gym

like he used to.

It wasn't the same anymore.

He didn't understand that,

because he figured he could

just go, and he'd be fine.

I'm a normal kid,

I'm just Chris,

I'm like, no, it doesn't

work that way anymore.

Well, you know, being 14

and 15 with a record deal,

you know, it's the best

feeling in the world,

but it also comes with

complications, you know.

I think it's tough for anybody

to start out at 14, 15,

'cause you ain't

went to high school,

you ain't had a chance to like,

just live a regular life,

you've already been a star, so

a lot of that's overwhelming.

Being that, most of your family

have dealt with poverty,

and under minimum wage kind

of living most of your life,

$10,000 to me was like,

dang, I'm rich, you know?

My son calls me, I'm at work,

and he goes, Mom,

like, you know,

there's people outside

our door recording

and taking pictures,

from paparazzi to,

even people you knew just made

it different and difficult

having a normal life.

I just was more overwhelmed by--

but just not letting

it shape me like,

not letting the

money kind of shape

what I wanna do as an artist,

like with every family

you had problems

and complications, you know.

Sometimes jealousy and

envy plays a big role.

It's kind of new to them,

it's not really something

that even myself

really could comprehend

at the time.

His mom and dad, they had

a great relationship,

and one day I guess they

were all together home

as a family and then it,

you know, it fell apart.

Chris not having a

father in the house

made him to grow up faster

than what he actually had to.

It was a lot, it was more than

I knew that he could handle.

What I always called it

is, is I'd tell Chris,

it's God's balance,

God is gonna give you

that great opportunity

to be something fantastic,

and then at the same time,

he's gonna level

darkness around you

that's gonna keep you balanced.

So, with a person that's 14, 15,

hopefully they have someone

there to recognize

the dark patches, and say,

"okay, yeah, we can do this,

but you just gotta be

mindful of that. "

Yeah, it was a challenge,

and this growing up

thinking that he was

in this adult world,

and thinking that he could

deal with the adults, too,

but no, just because

it's there for you,

you're not gonna do that,

that is not what you do.

For me, having my mother

there created a balance,

and I think it was a bit

difficult, period, for him.

You sound very driven.

- Yeah, definitely.

- Yeah.

- You live with your mom, right?

- Yeah.

I think he felt that he

had to take care of me.

I gotta take care of my mom

because my dad is not there,

I'm the dad of the house,

or he felt that he was

the man of the house,

that's how he thought, and

that's actually what he said.

Your family you expect

to be your family.

So, even family sometimes,

you know, change, and.

At that point, it

was kind of hard,

'cause Chris was back and

forth with me and his father.

Um... and it was hard for his

father because I had left.

He grew up so fast he

didn't really get to have

a childhood or a teenage

life of a normal person.

I actually wanted him

to actually speak

to a psychiatrist

to just prepare him

for what was about to happen,

because he blew up so fast,

knowing that he would not

know how to handle it,

so that he could talk about

it, and how it made him feel,

but we never could

get him to do that.

I wanna be at the

pinnacle, like,

the highest point to

where I'm known as like,

a legend, almost.

Two years ago, this artist

was just another kid

in high school.

Now, two years later,

he's one of the biggest

stars in the world.

Tonight, performing at the

VMAs for the very first time,

Chris Brown.

I was backstage and my,

my dancer, he ran in,

Moody, he was like,

"yo, you gotta see him,

he's on stage right now,

he's crazy," and I was like,

"I'm coming, I'm coming."

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