We’re all too familiar with the story of Rihanna and Chris Brown. She caught him in a lie, he beat that ass. They broke up, her career skyrocketed even more, his riddled with controversy and labels such as “woman beater” and “monster.”  It has been rumored for months that Rihanna and Chris Brown were back in contact but the proof is in the musical pudding. Brown took to his twitter to unveil not only his appearance on the fan favorite “Birthday Cake” from Rihanna’s latest album, Talk That Talk, but Brown also debuted the remix to his song “Turn Up The Music“, which features Rihanna as well.

Business wise, Chris Brown has nothing to lose. His brand is already damaged from the incident and this could only do him good. Rihanna on the other hand, is at the helm of a mini-empire involving not only music, but clothing and fragrances. Whether she’ll admit to it or not, her publicity team has done a brilliant job of spinning Rihanna’s side of the story not necessarily as a victim, but as a resilient, no shit taking survivor, who wore her heart on her sleeve and pretty much focused much of the Rated R album about this incident. In a way, these collaborations cheapen that image to some extent. Rihanna doesn’t stand to gain anything from this, so why do it? Rihanna’s brand of controversy has never been this daring, so why now?

In a perfect world, after Brown had apologized and the two went on their ways, this collaboration would be fine. However, there are two many social contexts, influences and ideals that are surround and permeating this situation for it to be that black and white. There’s too many forces at play for us to simply boil it down to “let’s make music” together.

Listen to the songs below

Birthday Cake – Remix – main

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Chris Brown teams up with frequent visual collaborator Colin Tilley for his latest single “Strip”. Brown fans may be familar with the track from his Boy in Detention mixtape, but its getting the single treatment for his upcoming album Fortune, which is the followup to 2011′s Fame.

Thoughts?

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Chris Brown performed on Dancing With The Stars last night, treating viewers to energic performances of his single “Yeah 3X” and a medley of his classic “Forever” and the new joint “Beautiful People”. Peep the performances below!

Gotta hand it to Mr. Brown. His personality leaves much to be desired but he’s a dynamic entertainer.

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Katy Perry tops the Billboard Hot 100 with her single “E.T” featuring Kanye West. “Teenage Dream” becomes the first album in more than six years to yield four No. 1 songs on the Billboard Hot 100. Michael Jackson holds the record for most #1′s from one album with 5 singles hitting the summit with 1987′s Bad. Teenage Dream is the ninth album to produce four No. 1s in the Hot 100′s 52-year history. It’s also the first by a solo female artist since Mariah Carey’s eponymous debut set in 1990-91. This also makes Kanye West’s 4th #1 hit. Congratulations Katy.

Chris Brown has much to celebrate despite the media ruckus he caused last week. F.A.M.E , his fourth album debuted at #1 this week with 270,000 sold according to Nielsen SoundScan. Far from the million Team Breezy was supposed to net him but quite a commendable feat considering the state of his career this past three years. Congratulation Chris!

Also on the Billboard 200, Jennifer Hudson debuts I Remember Me, her sophomore album which came in at No. 2 with 165,000, while last week’s No. 1, 21 by Adele, drops to No. 3 with 96,000. The Strokes’ “Angles” arrives at No. 4 (89,000) and Kirk Franklin’s “Hello Fear” round out the top 5 with 87,000.

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Check out the sexually-charged new music video that just premiered today from Keri Hilson for her single “One Night Stand” featuring Chris Brown. “One Night Stand” is the latest single from Keri’s hit album, No Boys Allowed. Brown is celebrating his own success this week as F.A.M.E is expected to debut at the #1 spot next week.

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UrbanBridgez.com got their hands on the official tracklisting for the regular and deluxe editions of Chris Brown‘s upcoming album F.A.M.E. Brown’s fourth studio album will feature collaborations with the likes of  Ludacris, Justin Bieber, The Game, Tyga, Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa, Timbaland & More!

Standard Edition
1. Deuces (Explicit Version) featuring Tyga & Kevin McCall
2. Up 2 You
3. No Bullshit (Explicit Version)
4. Look At Me Now (Explicit Version) featuring Lil Wayne & Busta Rhymes
5. She Ain’t You
6. Say It With Me
7. Yeah 3x (Explicit Version)
8. Next 2 You featuring Justin Bieber
9. All Back
10. Wet The Bed featuring Ludacris
11. Oh My Love
12. Should’ve Kissed You
13. Beautiful People featuring Benny Benassi

Deluxe Edition
1. Deuces (Explicit Version) featuring Tyga & Kevin McCall
2. Up 2 You
3. No Bullshit (Explicit Version)
4. Look At Me Now (Explicit Version) featuring Lil Wayne & Busta Rhymes
5. She Ain’t You
6. Say It With Me
7. Yeah 3x (Explicit Version)
8. Next 2 You featuring Justin Bieber
9. All Back
10. Wet The Bed featuring Ludacris
11. Oh My Love
12. Should’ve Kissed You
13. Beautiful People featuring Benny Benassi
14. Bomb feat. Wiz Khalifa
15. Love Them Girls featuring Game
16. Paper, Scissors, Rock featuring Big Sean & Timbaland
17. Beg For It

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Chris Brown was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live this week. An SNL virgin, Brown performed his latest single “Yeah 3x” with energetic choreography and followed up with the R&B jam “No B.S”, where he delivered vocally. Check out the performances below

Jive & Brown are really doing all they can to bring Chris back to the mainstream in a manner he hasn’t seen since before the incident. It’s now 2 years later. The struggle Brown will have now is greater than an apology because we all know he’s sorry and I think the majority of us believe it is sincere. It’s just an issue of perception. How many of us have gotten past the act, but haven’t reconciled our “mental act of forgiveness” with our perception of Chris Brown?

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