Chris Brown, who says he couldn’t focus on music while he was in prison, recently spoke with Billboard about what his days were like while he was incarcerated.
“A guard wakes you up; you eat,” Brown says in his cover story for the magazine. “You stay in your cell most of the time, basically 24 hours a day. Maybe on Mondays you go to the roof inside of a cage and have a phone call. It’s isolation. You have time to focus on what matters, on what to do and what not to do.”
Brown, who says he prefers to be a “free spirit” when making music, says he thought about why he was incarcerated.
“[I had to feel] like this happened for a reason,” he says. “There was a purpose. Maybe I was out of control too much. Or I needed something to humble me to the point where I get it. At that point, I didn’t look at it as trying to get out of the situation but learn from it.”
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He also learned more about himself in and after prison, he says.
“My maturity level has risen as far as my realizing what’s important,” he says. “Realizing that I’m human like everyone else. At the end of the day, it’s just a humbling experience. You’re more appreciative of everything else that’s on the outside. A burger tastes 1,000 times better when you’re out [Laughs]. I’m just more appreciative of the things I’m blessed with and the things I do: music, being able to take care of my family, being able to see my friends and family. And do what I love and still be able to do it in a timely fashion to where people don’t think, ‘Oh well, he fell off.’ Still being able to be consistent.”
Brown is prepping his upcoming album, X, due September 16.
Brown’s Billboard cover is below.
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