

Why does he think it matters?īecause he's negotiating a plea deal, according to TMZ, and has been charged with two felonies for allegedly beating his girlfriend Rihanna. The couple had last been seen at a glitzy pre-Grammy bash Saturday night in the same neighborhood - and were photographed smiling, with Rihanna's arms around Brown.As Chris Brown negotiates a plea deal, the R&B singer is making it known Rihanna struck him first that infamous night in Los Angeles. "The woman suffered visible injuries and identified Brown as her attacker." "After stopping his car, Brown and the woman got out and the argument escalated," a police statement said. Police said the assault took place in LA's Hancock Park neighborhood at around 12:30 a.m. Thank you for your concern and support."Ī spokeswoman for Brown's label declined comment, and calls to his attorney, Mark Geragos, weren't immediately returned. While Brown appeared unscathed, Rihanna suffered visible bruises on her face after the fight, E! News reported.ĭespite some reports that she was taken to a hospital, her publicist, Amanda Silverman, said the singer "is well. Neither Rihanna, who was nominated in three categories, nor Brown, who was nominated twice, walked the red carpet. Grammy officials made no mention of Brown's performance, but he didn't appear as scheduled. Soul legend Al Green performed with pop star Justin Timberlake in Rihanna's place.

"We're sorry she is unable to join us," the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences said in a statement. Rihanna was supposed to perform her hit single "Disturbia" last night, but canceled shortly before the show. He's being investigated for alleged domestic violence and felony battery, and more charges could be filed later, the LAPD said. After leaving Def Jam in 2014 for a spot with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, she took greater creative control for 2016’s ANTI, her most diverse album yet.Police didn't identify the victim - and would neither confirm nor deny it was the pop star.īrown surrendered after being charged with making criminal threats, and was released later on $50,000 bail. The tracks were inescapable-“Umbrella”, “Don’t Stop the Music”, “Rude Boy”, “Work”-but also had genuine personality, not to mention a carnal sense of expressiveness that set her apart: Rihanna’s changes didn’t seem like the product of high-concept self-reinvention so much as gut feeling. By 2007’s Good Girl Gone Bad, she’d expanded the sunny Caribbean pop of her early work for sleek hybrids of hip-hop, R&B, club music and rock. Her 2005 debut, Music of the Sun, went Gold when she was just 17. She was making things up as she went along, but when she went, she went full-steam ahead.īorn in Barbados in 1988, she left high school to pursue music. Describing the chameleonic nature of her clothing line, Fenty-the first female-created brand for LVMH, not to mention its first luxury label run by a black woman-Rihanna said the line didn’t have any fixed look, in part because her own was always changing. Though her biggest tracks have tended toward some variety of dance pop (mixed with reggae, EDM, dancehall, R&B and so on), a closer listen reveals an artist willing to try just about anything-and the uncanny grace to sound good doing it. Fast-forward to the present day and there remains something effortless about Rihanna, a sense of confidence that transcends any one narrative or style. Most of all, she had ideas and seemed comfortable expressing them. She took a leading role in group activities. A report card for Robyn Rihanna Fenty, first issued by a school back in Barbados’ Saint Michael parish and later reprinted in a giant coffee-table book called RIHANNA, stated, in part, that the young Fenty was positive, sure of herself.
