Chris Brown is a celebrity who is wrapped in controversy, but he has somehow managed to keep his career afloat.
While many people thought the rapper’s career was over when he assaulted Rihanna, his fanbase proved to be willing to stand by his side after anything.
For more than a decade and a half, Chris Brown has been releasing albums and creating hit songs.
Not only has he kept his career afloat, but he has also expanded his career into art and acting.
What Is Chris Brown’s Net Worth?
Chris Brown has a net worth of $50 million, which he has mostly earned through his music.
Brown began with his self-named album in 2005 and has a new album on the way called Breezy, which will be accompanied by a short film by the same name.
Aside from being a singer, songwriter, and dancer, Brown is also a graffiti artist.
He has done murals for charities and restaurants, but they’ve also covered his Hollywood Hills home and his godson’s bedroom walls.
Although Brown was never able to find the same level of success in acting as he did in music, he did secure multiple supporting roles and even managed to get a lead role.
He’s also been on different television shows for well over a decade, spanning from The Suite Life of Zack & Cody all the way to Black-ish.
The rapper has even started his own recording label, which is called CBE.
The acronym has multiple meanings including Chris Brown Entertainment, Culture Beyond Your Evolution, or Culture Beyond Your Experience.
Although the recording label may not have been very profitable outside of selling Chris Brown’s own music, he has been able to make more money by owning multiple Burger King restaurants and becoming a major franchisee in California.
The multifaceted artist even tried his hand at fashion design by creating his own line with the help of the founders of Pink + Dolphin.
His clothing brand blew up on social media in 2019, gaining more than one million followers on Instagram alone.
While you’d assume that someone who works constantly would have a bit more money, he has lost substantial amounts of money due to legal troubles that the rapper has run into.
The most famous of his outbursts include the domestic assault case that Rihanna filed against him and won.
His Musical Career
Chris Brown named his first album after himself and sold two million copies in 2005.
Although the album was only recorded in eight weeks, Brown wrote and recorded more than 50 different songs.
His second album, Exclusive, went double platinum and had three platinum hits: With You, Kiss Kiss, and Wall to Wall.
Released in 2009, Graffiti did not sell nearly as well compared to his other albums, not selling even half as well.
Although Brown blamed stores for refusing to stock his albums, the poor sales were more likely due to him recently pleading guilty to assaulting Rihanna, who experienced serious facial injuries.
F.A.M.E. was certified gold within only three weeks of its release and the album topped leaderboards within seven days of its release.
It was released in 2011, which seems to have been enough time for people to feel comfortable listening to his music again.
Fortune did twice as well as F.A.M.E. did, earning him his second album to reach first place on the Billboard 200.
In 2014, X sold 145,000 copies and earned Brown the number one position for top hip-hop and R&B, according to Billboard.
Royalty sold 184,000 album equivalents and was named after Chris Brown’s newborn daughter.
The album took the number one spot on the hip-hop and R&B Billboard list, just like the album before.
In about three months, Heartbreak on a Full Moon sold one million copies in 2017 and went platinum on January 18th of 2018.
Indigo was released in 2019 and streamed on demand 97 million times, which is made even more impressive because it has 32 tracks.
Breezy was announced in July of 2020, along with a future short film of the same name that Brown’s directing.
Spending His Time As A Street Artist
Those who follow Chris Brown on social media know that he loves to show off his street art on social media.
He claims that his art is inspired by multiple different manga art styles, and he loves to experiment with plenty of vibrant colors.
Chris Brown did a mural with his organization Symphonic Love Foundation for the nonprofit Best Buddies Day.
Best Buddies works towards raising awareness for people who have developmental learning disabilities and helping them find employment opportunities.
Symphonic Love Foundation focuses on spreading love and art to anyone who wants it.
They have also partnered with Elton John AIDS Foundation, Toys for Tots, The Debbie Allen Dance Academy, and the Jenesse Center.
He painted a mural in a restaurant called House of Wings and took time to meet the children living in the area.
Brown teamed up with another local graffiti artist to create a colorful, whimsical mural that has plenty of blank space to allow the local children to add their own pieces to the community mural.
The mural that he did for House of Wings was much friendlier doodles than the ones that he had spray-painted around his house in Hollywood.
When Brown began painting the area near his Hollywood Hills home, the rest of the neighborhood was not pleased with his graffiti.
The neighbors claimed his art scared the local children.
Under city ordinances, Brown should not have painted the murals on the outside of his private home.
He was ordered to have them removed within 30 days, but the rapper’s attorney claimed that the city was trying to suspend the rapper’s First Amendment rights.
Chris Brown painted a mural in his godson’s room, King Cairo.
The boy’s father, Tyga, had Chris Brown appear on his reality show to paint the toddler’s bedroom.
Chris Brown On Television And In Film
Chris Brown’s first role was in a film called Stomp the Yard, where he played the supporting role of Duron Williams.
This 2007 film followed the story of a young man who leaves for college and joins a fraternity step dancing team after his brother is murdered.
In the same year, This Christmas was released and Brown had been upgraded from supporting role to leading role in the holiday movie.
The movie revolves around the Whitfield family’s Christmas experiences and Brown plays Michael ‘Baby’ Whitfield.
While neither of Brown’s 2007 releases had much critical success, This Christmas was appreciated more by fans.
Stomp the Yard was too nonsensical for audiences, although they loved watching Brown bust some moves.
Brown played the recurring character, Will Tutt, in the teen drama The O.C.
The rapper turned actor stars in the episodes The Dream Lover, The French Connection, and The My Two Dads.
A year later, the rapper guest-starred on an episode of Disney Channel’s The Suite Life of Zack & Cody.
In the episode, one of the characters books Chris Brown for another character’s early internet show.
In 2010, Brown starred in an action film alongside Matt Dillon, Paul Walker, Idris Elba, and Hayden Christensen.
Chris Brown and T.I. were also credited as executive producers for Taken.
Think Like a Man, starring Chris Brown, Kevin Hart, and Gabrielle Union was released in 2012.
The story follows a group of friends who find out that their partners have been playing tricks from Steve Harvey’s books on them, and they decide to turn the tables on them.
Brown was also in Battle of the Year and She Ball in more supporting roles.
While Battle of the Year follows Brown’s normal trend of appearing in only decent movies, audiences hated She Ball.
His Label Company
Chris Brown started his own record label in order to give musicians the support and mentorship that they needed to succeed, despite other labels not giving the artists he chose a chance.
The recording label was started under Interscope Records and had access to all the resources necessary to make other artists’ dreams come true.
Although after 2014, they quit accepting new recording artists and began to mainly focus on releasing Chris Brown’s music.
Some of the most popular under his label were Sevyn Streeter, Sabrina Antionette, and a rock band called U.G.L.Y.
Under his guidance, this rock band was able to release a few music videos online, and Sevyn’s music video raked in 1.7 million views.
While working with CBE, The Luvaboy TJ released his first single Amnesia with help from the seasoned rapper.
The Luvaboy TJ was also the first artist signed under CBE, other than Chris Brown himself.
During his time at CBE, the younger rapper was able to hone his skills, even if the pay wasn’t excellent.
The Luvaboy TJ was more concerned about sharing his gift with the world than turning a massive profit anyway.
Why He Chose To Be A Burger King Franchisee
While Chris Brown was in prison, he gained an appreciation for hamburgers.
This ended up being the rapper’s preferred meal and led him to want to become a franchisee of the popular fast food burger joints.
Being able to eat a hamburger as a free man was something that was extremely relieving to Brown after his incarceration, so he wanted to spread that feeling to more people.
In a 2015 interview, Brown had accidentally let the information slip that he owned 14 different Burger Kings around California.
Despite what it may seem like, not just anyone can own a Burger King.
First, you must have at least $1.5 million in your bank account and then you need an additional $500,000 in liquid assets.
Although Burger King’s food may be cheap, it costs anywhere from $1.2 million to $2.2 million to open a Burger King.
This means that the rapper spent anywhere from $16.8 million to $30.8 million just getting his fast-food restaurants open.
Every franchisee must complete 84 days of classroom and on-the-job training before they will be allowed to own a Burger King.
There is also a mandatory franchisee orientation that must be completed with 80 hours of additional learning.
Despite his love of burgers, Chris Brown doesn’t eat pork or beef, so it is rare that the rapper orders any burgers from his restaurants other than the Impossible Whopper.
Having the Burger Kings as a backup plan for when his music career dies out or he needs to take a break from the spotlight is a smart investment.
Chris Brown isn’t the first celebrity to be a fast-food franchisee.
Fellow rapper Kanye West once bought his fiancée 10 European Burger Kings as a pre-nuptial gift, and Shaq owns multiple Auntie Anne’s locations.
Black Pyramid By Chris Brown
Chris Brown launched his clothing line Black Pyramid in 2012, hoping to find another art form to master.
He once stated that he hopes that the clothing line is a representation of his growth as a person, but that growth didn’t seem to last long.
The pieces in his clothing lines are described as elevated athleticwear.
Brown chose to go for this look because he wanted something that could be comfortable, affordable, and confidence-inducing.
Most of the clothes in his line are baggier, allowing them to fit a variety of body types.
However, the clothing line quickly became a way for him to profit from his scandals.
In 2019, he sold shirts that were in reference to one of his sexual assault accusers from Paris.
On the shirts, he accused the woman of lying.
Before the rapper announced the sale of his new t-shirt design, he responded to the news of his arrest with the proclamation that he was going to sue the woman for defamation of character.
Despite the victim’s claim that nothing that happened between them was consensual, Brown insisted that she was lying.
Although Brown’s history has taken its toll on his clothing line’s success, it is still going strong and available for purchase.
His strong social media presence has made it easier for him to sell his different types of merchandise, such as Black Pyramid.
Rihanna’s Assault Case
In 2009, the general public’s perspective of Chris Brown completely changed after they had seen how Brown had left his then-girlfriend’s face.
Rihanna was at the rise of her popularity at the time, so to see Rihanna with a bruised mouth full of blood was incredibly shocking.
The argument started in the rapper’s car after Rihanna had confronted him about cheating on her with another woman from work.
Not only did Brown punch Rihanna in the face, but he also bit her on the ear and threatened to kill her as well.
Hours after the attack, Brown was arrested on the suspicion of making criminal threats.
Before this attack, Chris Brown had never been known for causing any kind of trouble.
The decisions he made heavily tainted his career and no one was willing to work with him.
Although his devoted fans have never stopped supporting him, he lost the support of fans and fellow celebrities in response to what he did to Rihanna.
How Bad Decisions Can Stunt Your Opportunities
Before the domestic assault cases against Chris Brown, the public was ready for him to be the next Michael Jackson.
However, there aren’t as many people who are willing to work with someone with a history of beating up their partner.
There is no denying the fact that Chris Brown is a talented and dedicated artist who will be spending his entire life breaking down and needing to rebuild his reputation.
When looking at the success he still managed to achieve, the question of how much more success he could have had if he had chosen to handle the argument between his ex-girlfriend like a civilized adult pops into your mind.
His fans know what kind of trouble he likes to cause, but they love his music and art so much that they’re always willing to give the rapper another chance.
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