Chris Brown Admits He Was an 'A**hole': I Thought 'So What, F**k It, I Got Money'

By
Notion Magazine

Chris Brown is once again reflecting on his troubled past.

Posing for the cover of Notion magazine, the 26-year-old singer gets candid about the "mistakes" he's made.

"People make mistakes -- I've made mistakes -- I've judged people who made mistakes, and they judge me back," Brown says. "The best part about it is me having to learn ... I thank God he had something bigger for me to do."

"The mindset I was in when I was younger, it was full of arrogance, like, 'Yeah, I'm an a**hole like, so what, f**k it, I got money,' and you know, at the end of the day everybody knows right from wrong," he continues.

WATCH: Rihanna Reflects on Chris Brown Relationship -- I Thought I Could Change Him

In the accompanying photoshoot, Brown shows off his shirtless physique, which is curiously covered with white powder.

Notion Magazine

These days, he's now a proud father to his adorable 1-year-old daughter, Royalty.

"I love being a father, you know, and at the same time, there were certain wrongs and certain rights that I did do," Brown acknowledges. "I might've hurt some people along the way."

Despite the admission, Brown laments what he sees as unfair press.

"People talk about me being in gangs and affiliated, but they don't talk about the nice things I do like bring 5,000 sneakers to Crenshaw High School, South Central, or Campanella Park, or different neighborhoods that are in the inner cities," he points out. "Nobody cares about it unless it's glorified in the rap music. You don't have to like me. And what I do is for my art. I'm only going to be passionate for what I want to do."

Now, Brown sees himself as an "underdog."

"Right now I just want to inspire the world, because, with everything I went through, I kept my head up," he explains. "And even for the people that turn their back against you as the outcast or the underdog ... I love that. Because it just makes me better when I earn my music, and I earn awards, and I earn my dancing, and I earn being able to direct on my own videos. I feel like, that's the only thing that man hasn't given me and that's the only thing that they can’t take away."

The "With You" singer's seventh studio album, Royalty, comes out on Dec. 18.

"You can't be stagnant and you cannot continue to do the same things and expect a different outcome. So for me, it’s a reflections album," Brown says about his new music. "In this album, people can honestly understand who I'm trying to be, as a man, not who I am. Life is knowledge, trying to define the higher or the next level of consciousness."


Notion
magazine's Issue 71 is out today.

Notion Magazine

WATCH: Scott Disick Is In a New Music Video With Chris Brown and ... It's Really Bad

ET caught up with Brown last September, when he candidly talked about moving forward after facing his own demons.

"You have to forgive yourself," he said. "You can't beat yourself up over the years, because it'll just eat at you and you'll be stuck in the past. And for me, I just learned to be a more humble individual and more of a conscious person."

Watch below: