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Don't call it a comeback. Bobby Brown's been here for years. But is the "King of Stage" really ready to reclaim his realm? While his wife struggles with drug addiction and he tries to work his issues out onstage, one painful question remains: can Bobby and Whitney face the music-together?
Yeah, it's me-the crazy one."//Bobby Brown, a half grin on his sweat-beaded face, addresses a vacant outdoor arena on this scorching Southern California afternoon. His band thumps, his dancers bounce, and Brown stands alone before the microphone stand, peeling off his Kareem Abdul-Jabbar throwback, exposing the muscular chest of a pop star and the pot belly of a 37-year-old father of four. It's July 15, 2006, and way up in the hills of L.A.'s Griffith Park, inside the Greek Theatre, Bobby Brown-the man who once reigned as the King of Stage, an epic, flawed Dionysian hero, has come back to the only home he truly knows.
Later tonight he'll be headlining a KHHT (Los Angeles) Hot92 Jamz-sponsored '90s-revival concert featuring three groups that have sold over 6 million records between them: En Vogue, SWV, and New Edition spin-off Bell Biv DeVoe. But even though he's the main attraction tonight, Brown carries himself like a man who, twenty years after he left New Edition, senses his last chance may be at hand. His band stomps through "Two Can Play That Game" (Bobby, MCA, 1992), re-creating superproducer Teddy Riley's trademark new jack swing sound: staccato drum hits and synth chops under glossy minor-key harmonies. Four curvaceous dancers follow the lead of a wiry choreographer named Life, who's known Brown since their street-dancing days in New York.
To read more of the article click the link provided and to read the entire interview you have to pick up the Oct. issue of Vibe..
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Thanks Leece
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