Andrew Finch Pg.

BIOGRAPHY

The artist that I chose to write about is Chris Brown. I have been a fan of Chris ever since

he started his singing career back in 2005. Chris Brown is a nickname, his full name is actually

Christopher Maurice Brown and he was born on May 5, 1989 in Tappahannock, Virginia. His

mother Joyce Hawkins worked as a daycare center director. However, his father Clinton Brown,

was a corrections officer for the nearby prison. He only has one sibling and that is his older sister

Lytrell Bundy, she works at a bank. Chris had always been interested in music and dancing, he

even taught himself to sing and dance when he was young, saying that Michael Jackson was his

inspiration. He started out small and performed in his church choir as well as he would perform

in various talent shows. One day he had impersonated a performance by Usher and that is when

his mother recognized his talent, shortly after they started looking for any opportunity of landing

a record deal. Chris was first discovered by Hitmission Records when he was only thirteen, they

entered his fathers gas station in search for someone with great talent. Hitmission Records

helped Chris improve his vocals and start a demo for them to take to other contacts and see if

they could land him a record deal. After a bit of searching Chris was able to get himself a

manager that helped him with his search even more so to eventually find a record company

willing to sign him. That company was Jive Records. Chriss singing career kicked off with a

bang when he came out with his first album at sixteen years old called Chris Brown. His

album premiered as second on the Billboard 200, within just a week he had sold 154,000 copies.

He sold over five million copies in worldwide including the U.S., his album was also certified by

the platinum RIAA twice. The albums lead single Run It made Chris the first male act since

1995 to have his premiere single reach the top of Billboard Hot 100 and reman there for four

weeks after. Chris had even made a bit of an acting career for himself as well, appearing in the
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fourth season of the TV series The O.C. as a band geek. He then also made his film premiere in

Stomp the Yard, with Ne-Yo, Columbus Short, and Meagan Good. Chris then started appearing

on other various shows and magazines, he also appeared as a featured artist in other singers

songs and even had the opportunity to open a concert for Beyonc. Everything was going so well

for Chris up until 2009, where he had physically abused his girlfriend at the time, pop/dance star

Rihanna. Afterwards, there were many radio stations that refused to play his songs on the radio.

Chris had gotten into an argument with Rihanna that resulted in physical violence, Chris had

turned himself in and was arrested. He was even pulled out of the 2009 Grammy Awards where

he was replaced by Al Green and Justin Timberlake. On November 22, 2009, Chris pleaded

guilty to the felony where he was sentenced to community labor, and five years of domestic

violence counseling and probation. He had spoken out after the fact multiple times explaining to

everyone that he regrets what he had done and takes full responsibility in his actions. He

apologized to his family, his fans, and multiple times to Rihanna as well and he expressed he will

do anything in his power to better himself and to ensure something like this never happens again.

Throughout all of this happening, Chris still continued to produce music, his sales for the next

while producing was nothing close to what he had accomplished before, he lost the support of a

large portion of his fan base. It took him a while to get back up on his feet and for his fans to

finally start to forgive him. This had all been true up until 2011 when he released his R&B album

F.A.M.E. This album premiered at first on the US Billboard 200 Chart selling 270,000 in the

first week. He received six nominations for the 2011 BET Awards and won five of those. The

album also got him three nominations for the 54th Grammy Awards for Best R&B Album, as

well as Best Rap Song for Look at Me Now and Best Rap Performance. Chris ended up

winning the Grammy Award for Best R&B Album. During the ceremony, Chris performed many
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songs making it his first appearance at the awards show since his conviction of assault.

Afterwards, Chris continued making albums but on October 27, 2013 his album X was

delayed because he was again arrested for assault. When he was released from prison he was

able to release it on August 25, 2014. He didnt have any more acts like that since and still to this

day. In 2013, him and Rihanna had even tried their relationship out again but eventually broke

up. Chris brown had been with another woman but had separated because of confirmation of his

new baby girl with Nia Guzman in 2015. His daughters name is Royalty Brown, who he made

an album about called Royalty and a single called Little More. Up until this point he has

been doing well, he has not had any felonies or anything, he has continued to make music and

has since released his latest album Heartbreak On a Full Moon which has a whopping 45

songs. He has had a long journey to get to where he is at now, with a large fan base, a new child,

and many, many new and amazing songs.

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HISTORY/INFO GUIDE

The three songs that I have chosen are Beautiful People, Little More, and Crawl.

These three songs are all very meaningful and I enjoy a whole lot. The first song of Beautiful

People is a very uplifting song encouraging people to instead of looking at the beauty of people

from the outside, to rather look at the beauty inside. In the song there are some lyrics that say

Dont let em bring you down, Live any thoughts you dreamed of. These are very selfless

lyrics that catch my eye every time I listen to this amazing song. Chris had an interview with

MTV where he explained, "It wasn't a selfish record, it wasn't me bragging or boasting or talking

about cars or money or girls. It was me being able to inspire people with dance music. We have a

lot of tragic things going on and the world needs to come together as a whole and stop the

negativity." I love the meaning behind the song, that is why I chose this song as one of the three.

The next song, Little More is definitely my favorite because it is actually a song that he

dedicated specifically to his daughter Royalty. The lyrics actually say Wake me up before you

go, ooh I need a little more, Just a little more, a little more of your love. He is referencing that

he only gets 12 days out of the whole month to spend with his daughter since he has 50/50

custody of her. He cherishes every moment that he gets to spend with her and he needs her to

wake him up before she has to leave back to her mother Nia Guzman. This song is just so

beautiful to me and I love how he shows his amount of love for his daughter. The last song that I

have chosen, Crawl is also very uplifting and powerful. The metaphor of the song is just a

beautiful way to rebuild a relationship after a major bump in the road. The lyrics to the chorus

go, If we craw til we can walk again, Then well run until were strong enough to jump, Then

well fly until there is no wind, So lets crawl, crawl, crawl, Back to love, yeah, Back to love,

yeah. However, these lyrics do not only apply to just rebuilding a relationship, that is the
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greatness of the song is that these lyrics can be applied to nearly everything. Any hardships that

you are going through in your life, just start from the basics. That is the main reason I chose this

song as well because of how his lyrics are used in his song to reveal the stepping stones to

rebuilding a relationship, while also helping to solve other problems with the same logic.
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Music 1010 Listening Guide Template

Composition Title: Little more Composer: Chris Brown
Composition History
Publication Date: Dec 18, 2015
Producer: Poo Bear, Daniele Autore, and Razihel
Performers: Chris Brown
Influences: Royalty Brown (Chriss daughter)
History of the creation of the song: Chris found out that he had a daughter of two years that he had
never known about. His daughters mother, Nia Guzman, tried to get full custody of their daughter so
Chris couldnt see her. He was eventually able to get 50/50 custody of his daughter.

Tell us why this song/composition is important: He shows his audience just how much his daughter
means to him and how much he loves her

What touches you personally about the music: I think that it is amazing and beautiful how much he
loves his daughter to go out of his way and make an album and single based all around her.

Timing Form Descriptions: Rhythm, Melody, Harmony, Dynamics, Timbre, Texture

0:01 Chorus Starts off with a very soft tone and slow rhythm. You can hear the
slight echo of his voice and the long notes of the piano in the
background emphasizing his amazing vocals.
0:29 Verse 1 The piano is now gone and you can hear the drum bass kick in. You
can hear a new sound come into the picture most likely from a
synthesizer. The new beats give us a more upbeat sound to the song
still with his voice echoing through the background.
1:05 Pre-Chorus Starts off with same style and rhythm as in verse 1 but you can hear at
the end of the short span the music in the background stop for a
moment for you to hear his voice clearly
1:13 Chorus Still uses all of the same techniques and sounds through the first little
bit. However, it kicks it up a notch near the end of the chorus and you
can hear the drums get faster and louder. You then hear Chris shout
out loud his next line of lyrics when the drums fade out, and new
sounds and lyrics come into play that express happy emotions.
2:10 Verse 2 Same as in verse 1 he utilizes the drum bass, and the same sounds
from what it seems to be is the synthesizer. He puts more emphasis
on his lyrics and how he presents them this time around.
2:53 Pre-Chorus Same as last, he utilizes all of the same techniques
3:00 Chorus Starts the same way as previous chorus, shows repetition which I love
and it makes it easier to listen to and learn. Song ends with some
beautiful background sounds from the piano and synthesizer.
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Music 1010 Listening Guide Template

Composition Title: Beautiful People Composer: Chris Brown

Composition History

Publication Date: Mar 11, 2011

Producer: Benny Benassi and Alle Benassi

Performers: Chris Brown and Benny Benassi

History of the creation of the song: He created it wanting to inspire people with the type of music and
with all of the tragic events happening at the time. He wanted people to come together and stop the
negativity.

Tell us why this song/composition is important: It has true meaning behind it trying to get people to
stop judging other just because of the way that they look or act. To try and promote loving one another
because everyone is just a person wanting to be loved by others.

What touches your personally about the music: I just love the fact that Chris was trying to do
something good with the spotlight that he has and trying to make a difference in the world in some way.

Timing Form Descriptions: Rhythm, Melody, Harmony, Dynamics, Timbre, Texture

0:01 Chorus Starts off with just a simple beat not from a normal instrument, he utilizes
a synthesizer in this to create a sort of electro sound. It keeps at a very
steady pace the entire time. He echoes his voice a lot as well which gives
the song nice background vibes.
1:00 Verse 1 The tempo immediately kicks up with a lot of electro sounds coming
through with the lyrics. You cant help but bob your head to the beat as it
is very catchy and fun to listen to.
1:30 Chorus The chorus this time keeps the same tempo going from the first verse at
the same rate. It dies off at the end to lead into the next verse.
1:52 Verse 2 This verse now has the same tempo as in the first chorus, it is very slow
paced and calm with the same simple beat in the background. The beats
made a full 180 in the middle of the song which was really cool to see and
it worked out great.
2:22 Chorus The music stays simple in the beginning but ends up picking right back up
in the middle of the chorus. It has the electro sounds in the background
with the echo in his voice and it really gives off a beat that I love and cant
help but want to dance to.
3:22 Outro It continues to have the same tempo with the very electric music through
the last bits of the song that really mesh well together with the lyrics.
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Music 1010 Listening Guide Template

Composition Title: Crawl Composer: Chris Brown

Composition History

Publication Date: Nov 23, 2009

Producer: The Messengers

Performers: Chris Brown

History of the creation of the song: He wanted to make a message to people showing what you can do
to help get yourself out of a rough patch in life by starting from the basics.

Tell us why this song/composition is important: The song actually has a lot of different ways that it can
be interpreted, whether it be for a relationship or any other hardship in someones life. They could take
the lyrics from the song and apply it to a situation they have and help themselves out of it.

What touches your personally about the music: What I love most about the song is that it has so many
different meanings and so many different things that you can apply it to.

Timing Form Descriptions: Rhythm, Melody, Harmony, Dynamics, Timbre, Texture

0:01 Verse 1 The song starts off with the sound of a heartbeat and a hum in the
background. It gives off a confused and sad vibe, as if the singer had
lost hope in something.
0:31 Pre-Chorus The humming and the heartbeat remain the only sounds other than
his voice echoing in the song as well. The change remains in the
volume, the humming, heartbeat, and his vocals get just a bit louder.
0:53 Chorus You can no longer hear the heartbeat; you continue to hear the
humming along with some more electronic sounds that come in as
well. The volume kicks up another notch to match Chriss vocals.
1:28 Verse 2 The same beats continue to play along with a loud clap about every
four seconds. I absolutely love how the music replaces a single sound
every step of the way and how it just makes the song sound better
each time.
1:48 Pre-Chorus At this point with the different mix of electronic sounds and the clap,
it seems to shift your focus onto the lyrics and the vocals of the song.
2:10 Chorus All of the same sounds continue to play at the same tempo except
with a boost in the volume until the end of this chorus, where they all
stop.
2:43 Bridge All background sounds are gone, it only has the humming and the
heartbeat in the background just like at the beginning of the song. I
love how it went from loud directly to quiet and calm in a second, it
worked perfectly and sounded great.
2:53 Chorus All previous sounds come into play instantly and it sounds great, it
makes you want to get up, sing, and dance along, then it all fades out.
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CITATIONS

Chris Brown. (2017, December 09). Retrieved December 09, 2017, from

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Brown#Personal_life_and_legal_issues

Beautiful People by Chris Brown Songfacts. (n.d.). Retrieved December 09, 2017, from

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=22564

Chris Brown. (2017, October 31). Retrieved December 09, 2017, from

https://www.biography.com/people/chris-brown-265946

Chris Brown Crawl. (2009, November 23). Retrieved December 09, 2017, from

https://genius.com/Chris-brown-crawl-lyrics

Chris Brown Little More (Royalty). (2015, December 18). Retrieved December 09, 2017,

from https://genius.com/Chris-brown-little-more-royalty-lyrics

Chris Brown (Ft. Benny Benassi) Beautiful People. (2011, March 11). Retrieved

December 09, 2017, from https://genius.com/Chris-brown-beautiful-people-lyrics

Who is Christopher Maurice Brown? Everything You Need to Know. (n.d.). Retrieved

December 09, 2017, from https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/christopher-

maurice-brown-1045.php

Chris Brown Biography. (n.d.). Retrieved December 09, 2017, from

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/chris-brown/biography

Chris Brown Pleads Guilty to Assault. (2009, June 23). Retrieved December 09, 2017,

fromhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2009/06/22/AR20090622004

52.html?wprss=rss_print%2Fstyle
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Rodriguez, J. (2009, July 20). Chris Brown Apologizes For Rihanna Assault In New Video.

Retrieved December 09, 2017, from http://www.mtv.com/news/1616575/chris-brown-

apologizes-for-rihanna-assault-in-new-video/