CHICAGO — A Chicago-based pop group has scored a hit with a song about Chris Brown but not everyone is a fan of the anthem, with a chorus that says the singer, who is accused of assault, “should get his (bleep) kicked.”
A band member for the Jump Smokers, who performs under the name C.W. Griz, said that he wrote and recorded “My Flow So Tight (Anti-Breezy),” in response to “politically correct” comments about Brown’s alleged beating of his girlfriend, pop star Rihanna, in February.”I was so sick of celebrities saying we wish them both the best,” Griz said. “Once I saw those pictures, it was over. I was like, ‘are you kidding me?’… Chris Brown did this and he needs to pay the price.”
Brown pleaded not guilty April 6 to felony assault and criminal threat charges.Two weeks ago, a disc jockey for WBBM-FM heard the song in a club and played it on his show. It quickly went viral.
As of Friday, the song had been played more than 175,000 times on MySpace, was listed as the 71st most-popular pop song on iTunes and debuted this week at No. 94 on the Pop 100 Billboard Charts, according to Billboard.biz news editor Chris M. Walsh.The band originally planned to donate some of the proceeds of iTunes sales to three women’s organizations but at least one group, the YWCA of Evanston/Northshore, objected.
“I think it’s important that we as a society do not tolerate domestic violence or intimate partner abuse, and for young men to speak out about it is very important,” said Executive Director Karen Singer.
“However, I do not condone the lyrics of the song or support the lyrics because they seem to be calling for violence against abusers.”
The Women’s Treatment Center, a Chicago non-profit that offers drug abuse treatment for women and their children, declined to comment but their name had also been removed Friday from the list of beneficiaries on the band’s Web site.
The third organization, Peterbourgh/Northumberland Victim Services & Support Link in Ontario, which provides support and safety planning for victims of violent crimes, didn’t know it had been listed there but Executive Director Madge Ferguson said, “we actually had contacted them to say that the song was amazing.”
The song talks about Brown’s “career suicide,” but it’s certainly jump-started the Jump Smokers’ future.
The band, according to Griz, is now in talks with several record labels.
- Lauren R. Harrison