Chris Brown has guested on a remix of Rihanna’s ‘Birthday Cake’, suggesting that the pair have decided to put the domestic violence issue aside. Brown was convicted in 2009 for assaulting Rihanna, his then girlfriend, and sentenced to five years’ probation and six months’ community service. It’s unsettling to see the entire issue put to one side, especially given the song’s lyrical tone – Brown’s opening verse opens with the gambit of ‘Girl I wanna fuck you right now / Been a long time I been missing your body’. You can listen to the track below.
There has been significant debate over the last few weeks about the music establishment’s re-acceptance of Brown and apparent snubbing of the domestic violence issue, focusing especially around his appearance at the Grammy Awards and his rather unpleasant outburst on Twitter afterward. The pair’s collaborating now would feel uncomfortable in any case, but doubly so given that it arrives so soon after Brown’s conduct has been under such widespread scrutiny, and has attracted such condemnation.
