Don’t blame Rihanna for the Drake-Chris Brown debacle

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Brown wonders why people will not “let him live” a full three years after his attack on Rihanna, yet like clockwork, every few months he is back in the news showing little remorse for his actions and signs that he has not grown at all from the court-ordered therapy.

Whether he’s ripping his shirt off and roaming the streets of New York like the Hulk because he’s upset over some morning show questions, or brawling in a nightclub, he doesn’t appear to have moved on. His development has been stunted, in part because he has so many “yes men” surrounding him.

Drake has not been involved anything quite as ugly as all this in the past, but I’d argue it isn’t exactly a surprise. His lyrics and melodies may read sensitive by comparison to his contemporaries, but Drake can hang with the top-notch misogynists any day. He actually does, being so close to rap superstar Lil Wayne. There is an undercurrent of machismo and disrespect for women that buoys his seemingly clean-cut image.

But this is the same man who sang a hook about wanting to engage in intercourse with every girl in the world on stage at the BET Awards while a parade of underage girls performed behind him, and popularized the phrase “you wasn’t with me shootin’ in the gym,” a shot at basketball superstar Kobe Bryant’s estranged wife that asserts she doesn’t deserve any restitution in their divorce. Drake exhibits the same insecurities of his peers, he has just done better to hide them.

And all that came to a head when his and Brown’s paths crossed. We’ll wait for the details before we know who is responsible for this particular fight, but more at fault than anything is Drake and Brown’s refusal to grow the hell up.

Follow Mychal Denzel Smith on Twitter at @mychalsmith