hey thanks for having this dialogue, although i gotta say i cringed when i heard that rhyme with "pap smear."

for folks talking about why folks stay in abusive relationships ... this is the one area where you can actually help folks who are struggling with their situation: be supportive and non judgmental.

Why do people say in abusive relationships? Hope that it will get better, and they'd said they'd stay together "for better or worse." Belief that "this is just how relationships are" because they grew up in a similar situation. Fear of retribution (90% of survivors report continued abuse after leaving, describing it most often as either "moderate" or "severe"). Fear of being alone. If HIV+, fear of finding another partner that will love them despite their diagnosis. Fear of ridicule -- often their friends will have told them they were with a bad partner, and between the isolation that frequently happens in abuse, this will convince the survivor that their former friends won't support them. Also, many folks who've been abused have been convinced through manipulation over a period of time that physical violence and other kinds of punishment are "their fault."

Also I'd like to mention briefly but importantly that abuse happens in same-gender couples as often as hetero couples, so please think of all survivors of domestic violence.

I stuck a link on to what friends and family can do for folks dealing with DV.

http://www.ndvh.org/get-educated/how-can-i-help-a-friend-or-family-member-who-is-being-abused/

this song was sooooo needed. reminded me a lot of his 90's song "All that I've Got is You."

i think it was in the best interest of a site like this to not speak on, or cover, the incident. this site is about quality music news, not gossip.

Is it really about time? Because I could've sworn I wrote this (http://www.soulbounce.com/soul/2009/02/beyond_chris_brown_and_rihanna.php) last month. You were nowhere to be found that day.

Stoney, I salute your passion regarding this very serious matter. There needs to be more brothers like you. However, there are several reasons this issue wasn't a top priority for SB, not the least of which that the two artists in question don't fit our demo. That's why it was important for us to address the matter in a larger context as it relates to ALL WOMEN, not just the Pop star whose entire life has been an open book for the past several weeks.

Another reason we haven't touched on it as aggressively as other sites is because we have YET to find a single popular Black entertainment site that has been able to hold a discourse on it without it devolving into the kind of ignorance, insensitivity, disillusionment and pathos that is often at the expense of the woman/victim. We try our best to keep the discourse as adult and intelligent as possible, and this matter was so explosive that it brought out the most vile, immature, negroidian instincts in everyone that visited every webiste and had something to say. It is not done here.

So no, as much passion as we feel about this topic (and trust, we've had MANY discussions off-site), we will not reduce the parties involved to Internet keywords that will attract every radical whose only investment is the fact that these two are Pop stars. I get where you're coming from, but not everyone is as well-meaning as you.

It's about time SB...................As I said before real men dont hit, slap, punch or kick their women. The fact that she went back only makes her come across as weak and pathetic. Unlike some women who due to financial reason CANT leave thats not the situation with Rihanna. I actually have lost respect for both of them, especially after reading the horrific details of what actually happened, dude seems like at that time he could have actually killed her, I wonder if SB would still feel as if "it seemed most prudent to let the legal system do its job and stay out of barely grown folks' business". Rihanna will have to learn the hardway, if she thinks talking to his pastor and mommy is gonna take the rage and violence out of him then she is just plain crazy, she told the police this was not the first time he had gotten physical with her. God help her.

Okay I only have one question - WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO GLENN LEWIS??? I loved me some him!!!!

Anyway, Im a big fan of Ghostface and this song is beautiful. Your commentary is right on the money. - I'll also be checking for the guy Novel.
LOL@ "hip hop's teddy bear" - so true!!

You guys did good by not giving it too much coverage. I think it takes a lot of guts for a blog to give the whole thing only moderate coverage. Some folks at certain sites were just looking to use the situation to increase their Alexa rankings and web hits. A lot of sites were pretending they had so-called exclusives, when all they were doing was reporting what everyone else was reporting, so more respect and props to soulbounce.

okay, i'll speak on it.

i'd like to first say that i'm glad that that moronic provocation argument has been officially dispelled--not that it was ever justified. i was very troubled by the new details that have emerged (from the police report), and it goes to show that this was not an isolated incident. you don't just suddenly snap and beat the hell out of the girl you've been with for over a year. other things were obviously going on. it scares me to think how further this situation would have escalated, had it not involved two superstars.

what concerns me more is the fact that these two are unofficially together again. no one on earth can make me understand that. i wonder how that is going to color this case. i can't fathom how a person who is a victim in a domestic assault doesn't get instant clarity . . . you don't need to be with dude, point blank. there's really nothing tying Rihanna to this dude . . . they're not married . . . no kids . . . she's a bigger star than he is, etc. she's been with him for a little over a year--okay, that ain't shit. is the connection really that strong here? i'm on the outside looking in, so i can't say for sure what the science is on that.

i was never a fan of Chris Brown or Rihanna, so i feel that my view on this whole thing is unbiased. i hope that Rihanna gets both her mind right and some real distance away from this relationship. staying with someone who has physically and emotionally abused you is "NOT IT." most of us have seen how these situations turn out. we have examples in our own lives to draw from, as well as in the media. i also hope that Chris Brown gets the help he needs. with God (and the judicial system), maybe that will happen. he's gotta truly know inside that what he did was wrong, and the he needs desperately to change. we haven't really seen real remorse from this dude yet. anyway, i'm hoping for the best possible outcomes from all of this for both of them.