Marcus Owen/startraksphoto.comChris Brown wants even more F.A.M.E. and Fortune in the future.
"I think, hopefully, in 10 years, I'll be bigger than I've ever been—hopefully," the 23-year-old R&B star told MTV News last week, perhaps dropping in that second hopefully for humble pie's sake.
Brown burst onto the scene when he was 16 with the hit single "Run It" and hasn't been out of the public eye since, though his last four years have been devoted to damage control as much as to music.
"I've accomplished so much of my goals, just from being from Virginia, being able to take my mom, my parents and certain people out of poverty that I grew up with, that's one of my main goals that I focused on," he told MTV. "Now it's about shaping my life...being able to write for great artists—J.Lo, you know—collaborating, working on her album, and doing stuff that I never thought was possible."
While certain headlines seem to carry the day, Brown has remained active with various charities, dabbled in painting and has been producing and writing for other artists when not recording his own music.
"Everything that I do creatively, whether it be skating or anything that I try to put my hands on to, hopefully selling it and making people see the light at the end of the tunnel" will help him be sustainable in the long run, he said.
As for the part of his legacy that he's trying to downplay, Brown is due in court tomorrow for a probation-violation hearing related to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office's allegations that he may not have sufficiently completed the community labor he was required to do as part of his felony sentence for assaulting girlfriend Rihanna in 2009.