Chris Brown has apologized to Robert Glasper for lashing out after losing the Grammy for Best R&B Album, acknowledging that his anger was misplaced.
On Monday afternoon (February 6), Chris Brown shared an Instagram DM, which he sent to Glasper, apologizing for a since-deleted tweet calling into question the Recording Academy’s decision to award the top R&B prize to Glasper’s Black Radio III at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards.
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“Congratulations my brother..,” Brown wrote. “I would like to apologize if you took offense to my reaction at the Grammys.. you were not the intended target and I know I came off really rude and mean. After doing my research I actually think your amazing…
“THE ORGANIZATION ISNT DOING US OUR DUE DILIGENCE. YOU AND I SHOULD never be in the Same categor [sic]…, two totally different vibes and genres,” Breezy continued. “So from one black man to another.. CONGRATULATIONS.. HOPE YOU ARE ABLE TO FEED YOUR FAMILY FOR LIFE. God bless my G.”
To Chris Brown’s point, the first year in which he was eligible for Grammy consideration, his eponymous debut album was submitted for Best Contemporary R&B Album, a category first presented to Ashanti in 2003 for her self-titled debut.
According to the description offered by the Recording Academy in 2009 ahead of the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards, the category was open to projects “containing at least 51% playing time of newly recorded contemporary R&B vocal tracks” from “artists whose music includes the more contemporary elements of R&B and may incorporate production elements found in rap music.”
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During a major restructuring in 2012, the Best Contemporary R&B Album award was discontinued, with albums that would have qualified for nomination being shifted back into the Best R&B Album competition.
For the the second time in his career, Chris Brown earned a nod in the Best R&B Album category for his 10th studio album Breezy. In addition to Robert Glasper, the project was up against 2022 releases by Lucky Daye, Mary J. Blige and PJ Morton.
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Minutes after the category was awarded during the Grammys Premiere Show, ahead of the televised broadcast on Sunday evening (February 5), Brown took to his IG stories with a question that made it clear he was upset about the loss.
“Who the fuck is Robert Glasper?” he asked in a since-deleted post. The post originally appeared minutes after the untelevised category was awarded.
The subsequent posts included insinuations that maybe he needed to bulk up his musical skills, and a fan-made video listing all of the album’s sales and chart stats as evidence of its success.
“I Gotta get my skills up.. ima start playing the harmonica,” Chris Brown followed-up.
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The 2023 Best R&B Album award marks Robert Glasper’s fifth Grammy since picking up the same prize for the first iteration of the Black Radio series in 2013, the year after Breezy’s only Grammy win, for the album F.A.M.E.
Two years later, he picked up Best Traditional R&B Performance for his single “”Jesus Children of America” featuring Lalah Hathaway & Malcolm-Jamal Warner. He was also the winner for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media for his contributions to the soundtrack for the Miles Davis biopic Miles Ahead in 2017; and the Best R&B Song category in 2021 for his single “Better Than I Imagined.”
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While it did not garner a win for Chris Brown on his third R&B Album nomination at the Grammys, Breezy did help him nab the Best R&B/Soul Male artist at the 2022 Soul Train Awards.
He also picked up a controversial win at the 2022 American Music Awards during which Kelly Rowland had to chastise the attendees at who heckled Brown after he won the award for Favorite Male R&B Artist.
