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Creativity Quote by Chris Brown

"I'm not gonna say that I hate it, because I really respect Usher and I was influenced by him. But so many people compare me to him, and I don't think it'll ever stop. I just want to be my own artist"

About this Quote

Chris Brown’s careful double-negative is doing PR triage in real time. “I’m not gonna say that I hate it” doesn’t just soften the edge; it signals he knows how petty he could sound if he took a swing at Usher, a veteran with both credibility and institutional goodwill. So he pre-pays respect: “I really respect Usher… I was influenced by him.” That’s deference as armor, a way to complain without seeming ungrateful.

The real friction lives in the next turn: “But so many people compare me to him.” Comparisons are framed as something done to him, not by him, shifting blame onto the audience and the industry machine that loves tidy lineages. Pop and R&B are obsessed with inheritance: the “next” someone, the successor, the replacement. It’s flattering until it becomes a ceiling. Brown is naming the psychological tax of being filed under an existing brand name, especially when your artistry is still under negotiation.

“I don’t think it’ll ever stop” is resignation disguised as realism, an admission that public narratives harden faster than musicians evolve. Then comes the thesis: “I just want to be my own artist.” It’s not a lofty manifesto; it’s a defensive demand for authorship. Beneath it is anxiety about originality in a genre where style is often read as duplication, and where image can eclipse craft. The quote reads like an artist trying to reclaim the steering wheel from the comparison economy that built him.

Quote Details

TopicMusic
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CiteCite this Quote

Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Brown, Chris. (n.d.). I'm not gonna say that I hate it, because I really respect Usher and I was influenced by him. But so many people compare me to him, and I don't think it'll ever stop. I just want to be my own artist. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/im-not-gonna-say-that-i-hate-it-because-i-really-16805/

Chicago Style
Brown, Chris. "I'm not gonna say that I hate it, because I really respect Usher and I was influenced by him. But so many people compare me to him, and I don't think it'll ever stop. I just want to be my own artist." FixQuotes. Accessed February 3, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/im-not-gonna-say-that-i-hate-it-because-i-really-16805/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I'm not gonna say that I hate it, because I really respect Usher and I was influenced by him. But so many people compare me to him, and I don't think it'll ever stop. I just want to be my own artist." FixQuotes, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/im-not-gonna-say-that-i-hate-it-because-i-really-16805/. Accessed 3 Feb. 2026.

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About the Author

Chris Brown

Chris Brown (born May 5, 1989) is a Musician from USA.

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