1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:21,479 Speaker 1: Disgraceland as a production of Double Elvis. The stories about 2 00:00:21,560 --> 00:00:26,000 Speaker 1: Bobby Brown are insane. He was arrested in the middle 3 00:00:26,040 --> 00:00:29,479 Speaker 1: of a live performance for violating a Leude Act law. 4 00:00:30,320 --> 00:00:33,080 Speaker 1: His bad boy influence may have been the reason Mike 5 00:00:33,159 --> 00:00:37,440 Speaker 1: Tyson dramatically lost his heavyweight title. He lived in a 6 00:00:37,479 --> 00:00:40,360 Speaker 1: haunted house in which he claims he had a sexual 7 00:00:40,479 --> 00:00:44,360 Speaker 1: encounter with a ghost. He was shot in the knee, 8 00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:48,000 Speaker 1: watched his best friend get stabbed to death, and discovered 9 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:51,720 Speaker 1: a secret of his mother's by mistakenly using cocaine as 10 00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:56,160 Speaker 1: an ingredient while making chicken. He thrust and gyrated his 11 00:00:56,200 --> 00:00:57,960 Speaker 1: way to the top of the charts in the late 12 00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:02,320 Speaker 1: eighties and early nineties, married to fellow pop star Whitney Houston, 13 00:01:02,840 --> 00:01:07,200 Speaker 1: and made great music. Unlike that loop I played for 14 00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:10,199 Speaker 1: you at the top of the show. That wasn't great music. 15 00:01:10,959 --> 00:01:14,600 Speaker 1: That was a preset loop from my melotron called Wristwatch 16 00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:20,039 Speaker 1: Overcoat MK. Two. I played you that loop because I 17 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:24,200 Speaker 1: can't afford the rights Together Forever by Rick Astley. And 18 00:01:24,319 --> 00:01:27,120 Speaker 1: why would I play you that specific slice of Rick 19 00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:31,880 Speaker 1: Rolls Slight Return Cheese? Could I afford it? Because that 20 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:36,039 Speaker 1: was the number one song in America on June twentieth, 21 00:01:36,200 --> 00:01:39,920 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty eight, and that was the day that Bobby 22 00:01:39,959 --> 00:01:43,759 Speaker 1: Brown released his second solo album, Don't Be Cool, an 23 00:01:43,800 --> 00:01:46,319 Speaker 1: album that became the biggest in the world at the time, 24 00:01:46,840 --> 00:01:51,880 Speaker 1: A true sensation that changed music and Bobby Brown's life forever. 25 00:01:52,920 --> 00:01:58,840 Speaker 1: On this episode lude Axe Horny, Ghosts, Cocaine, Chicken, Heavyweight, 26 00:01:58,960 --> 00:02:05,040 Speaker 1: Chimpsitney Houston and Bobby Brown. I'm Jake Brennan and this 27 00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:31,400 Speaker 1: is Disgraceland. When Bobby Brown was a kid, his father, 28 00:02:31,639 --> 00:02:35,080 Speaker 1: a construction worker, would tell Bobby and his siblings, a 29 00:02:35,160 --> 00:02:37,880 Speaker 1: working man is everything. When you got work to do, 30 00:02:38,080 --> 00:02:43,760 Speaker 1: you work hard, do your job and go home. Years later, 31 00:02:44,040 --> 00:02:47,040 Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty nine, hard work paid for a twenty 32 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:51,120 Speaker 1: year old Bobby Brown's new home, a fourteen thousand square 33 00:02:51,160 --> 00:02:54,959 Speaker 1: foot Tudor mansion in Atlanta. Some said it was the 34 00:02:55,040 --> 00:02:57,640 Speaker 1: largest house in America when it was built, nearly two 35 00:02:57,639 --> 00:03:02,519 Speaker 1: decades prior, a house once owned by Mike Thievis aka 36 00:03:02,600 --> 00:03:06,760 Speaker 1: the Scarface of Porn. And just like Bobby Brown, Mike 37 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:09,680 Speaker 1: Thavis was at the time he resided in this opulent 38 00:03:09,760 --> 00:03:14,440 Speaker 1: mansion at the top of his game. Dirty magazines, Dirty bookstores, 39 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:18,679 Speaker 1: dirty movie theaters. Mike Thievis owned them all, not least 40 00:03:18,680 --> 00:03:21,560 Speaker 1: of which where was bread and butter? The peep shows, 41 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:25,359 Speaker 1: those cramp dirty little private rooms where a quarter brought 42 00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:28,799 Speaker 1: you a few more seconds of flesh on celluloid purre, depravity, 43 00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:32,200 Speaker 1: flickering on a tiny screen as your eyeballs bulged from 44 00:03:32,240 --> 00:03:35,000 Speaker 1: your sockets, just like your pants are bulging right now. 45 00:03:35,120 --> 00:03:38,400 Speaker 1: You prefer the little freak. But that's another story. The 46 00:03:38,440 --> 00:03:41,520 Speaker 1: story I'm trying to tell is that all that smut, 47 00:03:41,640 --> 00:03:47,080 Speaker 1: it made the Scarface of porn here, Mike Thievis, filthy, filthy, rich, 48 00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:51,200 Speaker 1: hundreds of millions of dollars and counting. It was just 49 00:03:51,240 --> 00:03:54,360 Speaker 1: like Bobby Brown's father said, you work hard and do 50 00:03:54,440 --> 00:03:58,440 Speaker 1: your job. Mike Thavis had work to do, hard work, 51 00:03:58,560 --> 00:04:02,040 Speaker 1: necessary work, inviting his former business partner, a man who 52 00:04:02,120 --> 00:04:05,200 Speaker 1: is now his rival, to his office where for the 53 00:04:05,200 --> 00:04:08,960 Speaker 1: crimes of stealing his peep show technology. Mike Thievis put 54 00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:13,000 Speaker 1: three bullets in a man's chests and then a fourth 55 00:04:13,520 --> 00:04:18,240 Speaker 1: in his head. And now the Scarface of Porn was 56 00:04:18,279 --> 00:04:23,760 Speaker 1: doing life in prison. But back at his former residence, 57 00:04:24,080 --> 00:04:27,200 Speaker 1: new homeowner Bobby Brown was making sure the party kept going. 58 00:04:27,839 --> 00:04:30,520 Speaker 1: Bobby wasn't making his millions from porn, though the number 59 00:04:30,520 --> 00:04:33,000 Speaker 1: of naked strippers making themselves comfortable in the place was 60 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:36,880 Speaker 1: enough to convince you otherwise. Many in America saw Bobby 61 00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:40,560 Speaker 1: Brown as bordering on pornographic himself, like those squares in 62 00:04:40,600 --> 00:04:43,960 Speaker 1: Georgia who busted him for violating some Lundak law when 63 00:04:43,960 --> 00:04:47,840 Speaker 1: all he was trying to do was dance. Bobby's trademark 64 00:04:47,920 --> 00:04:50,360 Speaker 1: pelvic Thrust put him in handcuffs right in the middle 65 00:04:50,400 --> 00:04:54,800 Speaker 1: of his own show. But unlike Mike Thievis, Bobby paid 66 00:04:54,800 --> 00:04:57,279 Speaker 1: the six hundred and fifty two dollars bail and was 67 00:04:57,360 --> 00:05:01,080 Speaker 1: back on stage after the world's longest intern doing the 68 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:04,919 Speaker 1: same thing Elvis was doing three decades prior. But this 69 00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:09,200 Speaker 1: wasn't nineteen fifty nine. This was nineteen eighty nine, The 70 00:05:09,360 --> 00:05:13,040 Speaker 1: year of Bobby Brown. The year of his tight New 71 00:05:13,120 --> 00:05:17,560 Speaker 1: Jack Fade aka the gumby, his baggy pants, his shirts 72 00:05:17,560 --> 00:05:20,080 Speaker 1: that flowed like blouses and which would soon be tossed 73 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:22,680 Speaker 1: to the wayside to make way for Bobby's cut chest 74 00:05:22,760 --> 00:05:27,200 Speaker 1: and alves. The year of Don't Be Cruel, Bobby's sophomore 75 00:05:27,240 --> 00:05:30,440 Speaker 1: soul about a record that brought pod culture to the 76 00:05:30,480 --> 00:05:33,960 Speaker 1: mainstream and hip hop's Hard Knocked Sensibilities to R and 77 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:37,840 Speaker 1: B music, the top selling album of the year, over 78 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:43,520 Speaker 1: five million copies, released just before Bobby Brown's twentieth birthday, 79 00:05:43,520 --> 00:05:47,040 Speaker 1: making him the second teenager in history behind Stevie Wonder, 80 00:05:47,279 --> 00:05:51,560 Speaker 1: to top the Billboard chart. Bobby Brown was a true sensation, 81 00:05:52,360 --> 00:05:56,200 Speaker 1: as was his Atlanta match. Portraits of Bobby made out 82 00:05:56,240 --> 00:05:59,599 Speaker 1: of stained glass in the windows, a two story fish 83 00:05:59,640 --> 00:06:03,719 Speaker 1: tank nestled beneath the golden staircase, gold double doors that 84 00:06:03,839 --> 00:06:07,080 Speaker 1: led into the bedroom. The place was always packed the 85 00:06:07,120 --> 00:06:12,320 Speaker 1: hottest women, most loyal entourage, friends, family, and lots and 86 00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:18,359 Speaker 1: lots of ghosts. These ghosts walked the hallways, they floated 87 00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:22,320 Speaker 1: out of the walls, spirits from Mike Theavis's porn Empire, 88 00:06:23,080 --> 00:06:27,360 Speaker 1: the Peep Show, hard Bodies, magazine, centerfolds, maybe even scorned 89 00:06:27,400 --> 00:06:29,880 Speaker 1: ex business partners back from the dead and looking to 90 00:06:29,880 --> 00:06:35,000 Speaker 1: get revenge on Old's scarface. The place was definitely haunted. 91 00:06:35,880 --> 00:06:39,440 Speaker 1: Nearly everyone who visited the mansion said so, but only 92 00:06:39,480 --> 00:06:41,719 Speaker 1: Bobby Brown saw the ghosts that came out of the 93 00:06:41,720 --> 00:06:46,200 Speaker 1: mirror in his ceiling. Lying there in bed naked, looking 94 00:06:46,279 --> 00:06:48,960 Speaker 1: up at that handsome devil in the reflection above, when 95 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:54,719 Speaker 1: suddenly she appeared hovering in the air, long hair flowing, 96 00:06:55,200 --> 00:06:59,800 Speaker 1: her eyes locked on his transparent a vision and then 97 00:06:59,839 --> 00:07:03,320 Speaker 1: more more than a vision, a feeling, as she descended 98 00:07:03,400 --> 00:07:08,320 Speaker 1: right on top of him, hard, willing, able, feeling himself 99 00:07:08,360 --> 00:07:11,680 Speaker 1: not so much passed through her as enter her, and 100 00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:17,440 Speaker 1: the ghosts now grinding him, riding him. And then hold up. 101 00:07:17,560 --> 00:07:19,400 Speaker 1: I know what you're thinking. This is the craziest fucking 102 00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:21,120 Speaker 1: thing that I've heard in my life. And you're probably right, 103 00:07:21,120 --> 00:07:25,360 Speaker 1: But Bobby Brown swears that this actually happened, that he 104 00:07:25,520 --> 00:07:28,800 Speaker 1: fucked a ghost people. Okay, he delivers this story as 105 00:07:28,880 --> 00:07:31,880 Speaker 1: one hundred percent fact in his memoir. And here's the thing. 106 00:07:32,200 --> 00:07:34,720 Speaker 1: Bobby Brown was a horny motherfucker back in the day, 107 00:07:34,760 --> 00:07:36,640 Speaker 1: so it's not surprising that he tried to get with 108 00:07:36,720 --> 00:07:40,280 Speaker 1: a ghost or vice versa. Bobby Brown got his fuck 109 00:07:40,320 --> 00:07:43,960 Speaker 1: on people in a major way Starlit singers, dancers, groupies, 110 00:07:44,040 --> 00:07:48,040 Speaker 1: Janet Jackson and Madonna, allegedly as early as fourteen years old, 111 00:07:48,080 --> 00:07:49,760 Speaker 1: when he hooked up with an in me at a 112 00:07:49,840 --> 00:07:53,240 Speaker 1: woman's prison. And we'll get to that. Back to the 113 00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:58,040 Speaker 1: Don't Be Cruel era touring behind don't be cool in Japan, 114 00:07:58,560 --> 00:08:02,880 Speaker 1: Bobby's hotel suite was full of women, nearly two dozen 115 00:08:02,920 --> 00:08:05,760 Speaker 1: by his count, all of them desiring the very thing 116 00:08:05,880 --> 00:08:08,360 Speaker 1: many women desired when they watched Bobby hump the floor 117 00:08:08,400 --> 00:08:11,280 Speaker 1: on stage. They were getting what they wanted, not just 118 00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:13,520 Speaker 1: for the star of the show, but with the heavyweight 119 00:08:13,640 --> 00:08:16,760 Speaker 1: champion of the world as well, Bobby Brown's good friend 120 00:08:17,040 --> 00:08:21,040 Speaker 1: Mike Tyson, two giants of pop culture at the time, 121 00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:24,200 Speaker 1: so untouchable it seemed that the rules no longer applied 122 00:08:24,200 --> 00:08:26,400 Speaker 1: to them, and they were rolling so much money that 123 00:08:26,400 --> 00:08:27,840 Speaker 1: you could let a pile of it on fire and 124 00:08:27,880 --> 00:08:31,480 Speaker 1: tomorrow more would just magically appear in its place. There's 125 00:08:31,520 --> 00:08:34,640 Speaker 1: Bobby and his bence. Drove it to the airport, parked it, 126 00:08:34,920 --> 00:08:37,079 Speaker 1: left it, never went back for it. Fuck it, but 127 00:08:37,200 --> 00:08:40,959 Speaker 1: buy a new one. Didn't matter. Bobby Brown, like Mike Tyson, 128 00:08:41,280 --> 00:08:44,400 Speaker 1: like Mike Thiavis, had money to burn. He had a 129 00:08:44,440 --> 00:08:48,280 Speaker 1: burning libido to match. Now getting his rocks off with 130 00:08:48,360 --> 00:08:51,760 Speaker 1: a suite full of Japanese women, the undisputed champ, riding 131 00:08:51,800 --> 00:08:55,960 Speaker 1: shotgun wingman style. That is, the party didn't stop, just 132 00:08:56,000 --> 00:09:03,400 Speaker 1: like it didn't stop if Bobby's Atlanta match, but Mike 133 00:09:03,440 --> 00:09:05,959 Speaker 1: Tyson had work to do. He had a title to 134 00:09:06,040 --> 00:09:09,520 Speaker 1: defend just hours away. Now he had a fight against 135 00:09:09,520 --> 00:09:15,559 Speaker 1: the latest challenger, Buster Douglas. Tyson had the WBC Championship belt, 136 00:09:15,800 --> 00:09:20,079 Speaker 1: the WBA and the IBF, and Buster Douglas just had 137 00:09:20,080 --> 00:09:23,400 Speaker 1: a goofy name, and the odds were overwhelmingly in Mike 138 00:09:23,440 --> 00:09:27,280 Speaker 1: Tyson's favor to win, just as they always were still 139 00:09:27,760 --> 00:09:30,959 Speaker 1: right now. The night before the fight, it was something 140 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:34,440 Speaker 1: like two o'clock, three o'clock in the morning. Mike Bobby 141 00:09:34,559 --> 00:09:36,960 Speaker 1: was saying, Man, you gotta quit. You gotta go to 142 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:40,880 Speaker 1: bed and rest up for tomorrow. Quit now. Let Bobby 143 00:09:40,880 --> 00:09:44,280 Speaker 1: Brown have all the fun. Mike Tyson wasn't quitting shit. 144 00:09:44,840 --> 00:09:47,240 Speaker 1: He could beat Buster Douglas with a raging hangover and 145 00:09:47,280 --> 00:09:51,800 Speaker 1: a sword dick, or so he thought. Mike Tyson thought wrong. 146 00:09:52,480 --> 00:09:55,720 Speaker 1: Next day, Iron Mike went down to the tenth round 147 00:09:55,720 --> 00:09:59,000 Speaker 1: when Buster Douglas delivered a whopping uppercut followed by four 148 00:09:59,120 --> 00:10:02,640 Speaker 1: hard punches to the head. Mike Tyson was knocked down 149 00:10:02,679 --> 00:10:04,720 Speaker 1: and knocked out for the first time in his career. 150 00:10:05,200 --> 00:10:07,880 Speaker 1: Because he stayed up too late the night before, partying 151 00:10:07,920 --> 00:10:11,400 Speaker 1: with Bobby Brown, the biggest pop star in the world 152 00:10:11,800 --> 00:10:16,000 Speaker 1: and also one of the world's baddest of bad influences. 153 00:10:16,280 --> 00:10:19,960 Speaker 1: A true bad boy. This is what they called him, 154 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:46,920 Speaker 1: and this is what they've been calling him his entire life. 155 00:10:47,760 --> 00:10:52,360 Speaker 1: Nineteen eighty three, Boston, Massachusetts, Bobby Brown felt that familiar 156 00:10:52,400 --> 00:10:55,040 Speaker 1: sensation bubble up from his loins as he looked around 157 00:10:55,080 --> 00:10:58,280 Speaker 1: the room. He was surrounded by women, all of them 158 00:10:58,320 --> 00:11:01,520 Speaker 1: bad girls, and I'm talking really bad you know, the 159 00:11:01,600 --> 00:11:04,240 Speaker 1: kind of the ones you shouldn't be hanging around with, 160 00:11:04,360 --> 00:11:07,960 Speaker 1: but you can't help it. And the attraction was magnetic, 161 00:11:08,320 --> 00:11:12,480 Speaker 1: it was primal. But here attraction between Bobby Brown and 162 00:11:12,520 --> 00:11:17,200 Speaker 1: most of these women was also illegal because Bobby was 163 00:11:17,240 --> 00:11:20,520 Speaker 1: just a teenager and these women were, in many cases 164 00:11:21,040 --> 00:11:26,079 Speaker 1: much older. Besides Carl desires were forbidden precisely because of 165 00:11:26,360 --> 00:11:31,120 Speaker 1: where they were at the moment. Prison Boston PD didn't 166 00:11:31,200 --> 00:11:33,720 Speaker 1: dare stick young Bobby in lock up with adult men. 167 00:11:34,280 --> 00:11:38,040 Speaker 1: Those hard timers would eat this kid alive. Instead, they 168 00:11:38,080 --> 00:11:40,200 Speaker 1: put him in with the women where he could sit 169 00:11:40,360 --> 00:11:43,040 Speaker 1: and think about what he had done driving a moped 170 00:11:43,120 --> 00:11:45,920 Speaker 1: without a license, a present he bought himself when he 171 00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:47,560 Speaker 1: and the other guys in his R and B group 172 00:11:47,679 --> 00:11:51,200 Speaker 1: new addition, scored their first hit with Candy Girl and 173 00:11:51,280 --> 00:11:54,760 Speaker 1: each got five hundred dollars in return. But right now 174 00:11:55,120 --> 00:11:58,680 Speaker 1: he wasn't thinking about the moped or the arrest. Teenage 175 00:11:58,720 --> 00:12:01,440 Speaker 1: Bobby Brown was just like Bobby Brown at any age. 176 00:12:01,600 --> 00:12:03,960 Speaker 1: He did what he wanted, what he wanted, and everyone 177 00:12:03,960 --> 00:12:06,480 Speaker 1: else could just fuck her at the hell off. That 178 00:12:06,760 --> 00:12:10,240 Speaker 1: was his well, you know, right now he was thinking 179 00:12:10,240 --> 00:12:12,720 Speaker 1: about the women here in the joint, one in particular, 180 00:12:12,760 --> 00:12:14,959 Speaker 1: a friend of his sisters who was staring down from 181 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:18,240 Speaker 1: across the room. She was close to twenty. At least 182 00:12:18,640 --> 00:12:21,240 Speaker 1: she knew what he was thinking about. She could read 183 00:12:21,280 --> 00:12:23,679 Speaker 1: his mind. She led him by the hand off to 184 00:12:23,760 --> 00:12:26,240 Speaker 1: some dark corner where Bobby Brown had one of his 185 00:12:26,320 --> 00:12:30,920 Speaker 1: earliest sexual experiences, again in prison, with an older woman. 186 00:12:32,360 --> 00:12:35,959 Speaker 1: In a way, Bobby was following his old man's advice working, 187 00:12:36,480 --> 00:12:38,760 Speaker 1: because sometimes the work you had to do was making 188 00:12:38,800 --> 00:12:41,840 Speaker 1: the best out of a bad situation. Sometimes it met 189 00:12:41,880 --> 00:12:44,600 Speaker 1: working a room, and sometimes it meant work in the crowd, 190 00:12:45,480 --> 00:12:50,760 Speaker 1: work built core memories had done so for years, eleven 191 00:12:50,840 --> 00:12:54,080 Speaker 1: years earlier, in fact, watching James Brown on stage at 192 00:12:54,080 --> 00:12:56,920 Speaker 1: the Sugar Shack over on Boyleston, right off the common 193 00:12:57,080 --> 00:13:00,359 Speaker 1: some twenty minutes from the Orchard Park projects in nearby Rocksbury, 194 00:13:00,400 --> 00:13:04,040 Speaker 1: where Bobby called home. Some people are baptized in the church, 195 00:13:04,559 --> 00:13:08,040 Speaker 1: some are washed in the blood. Bobby Brown was baptized 196 00:13:08,080 --> 00:13:11,200 Speaker 1: on a stage at just three years old, next to 197 00:13:11,240 --> 00:13:14,480 Speaker 1: Sole Brother Number one, a man for whom work was 198 00:13:14,559 --> 00:13:19,439 Speaker 1: practically his middle may. For years after, Bobby Brown continued 199 00:13:19,480 --> 00:13:21,680 Speaker 1: to be motivated by the work that James Brown in 200 00:13:21,679 --> 00:13:24,520 Speaker 1: The Relation put into his show, a show on which 201 00:13:24,559 --> 00:13:27,920 Speaker 1: he invited kids like Bobby on stage to dance. Young 202 00:13:27,960 --> 00:13:31,560 Speaker 1: Bobby Brown was now dancing on street corners for pocket change, 203 00:13:31,720 --> 00:13:34,040 Speaker 1: and before he hit puberty, he was hitting the weekend 204 00:13:34,080 --> 00:13:36,719 Speaker 1: talent shows at the local clubs. He rolled up the 205 00:13:36,760 --> 00:13:39,480 Speaker 1: block parties and challenged anyone with two working legs to 206 00:13:39,520 --> 00:13:42,480 Speaker 1: a dance battle. He had confidence on one shoulder and 207 00:13:42,520 --> 00:13:45,839 Speaker 1: a chip on the other, absolutely determined to prove anyone 208 00:13:45,960 --> 00:13:49,200 Speaker 1: wrong who said he didn't have it, but he did 209 00:13:49,240 --> 00:13:52,040 Speaker 1: have it, just like his father had pride every time 210 00:13:52,080 --> 00:13:54,480 Speaker 1: he gazed up at the Prudential building and marveled at 211 00:13:54,480 --> 00:13:57,800 Speaker 1: his work, or how his mother had that hustle selling 212 00:13:57,840 --> 00:13:59,959 Speaker 1: dinner plates on the side to folks in the neighbor 213 00:14:00,360 --> 00:14:03,200 Speaker 1: in order to make against me. But how many people 214 00:14:03,200 --> 00:14:05,920 Speaker 1: could you sell plates to plates? Weren't throwing to feed 215 00:14:05,960 --> 00:14:09,200 Speaker 1: six kids on the regular, so Bobby Brown's mother upped 216 00:14:09,280 --> 00:14:13,880 Speaker 1: her hustle game. Ten year old Bobby assumed that the 217 00:14:13,920 --> 00:14:17,120 Speaker 1: new metal door installed that their Orchard Park Project's apartment 218 00:14:17,240 --> 00:14:20,360 Speaker 1: was to keep the Jehovah's witnesses out, And he further 219 00:14:20,440 --> 00:14:22,800 Speaker 1: assumed that the flower his mom kept in the kitchen 220 00:14:22,960 --> 00:14:27,040 Speaker 1: was actually flower. And it was getting late. His father 221 00:14:27,160 --> 00:14:29,640 Speaker 1: was still at work and his mother was out with friends. 222 00:14:30,520 --> 00:14:33,960 Speaker 1: Bobby was starving. He decided to make some fried chicken. 223 00:14:34,520 --> 00:14:37,080 Speaker 1: He covered the chicken in the flower and then dropped 224 00:14:37,160 --> 00:14:40,040 Speaker 1: pieces into a hot pan coated an oil, And when 225 00:14:40,080 --> 00:14:44,360 Speaker 1: he finished cooking, he ate first one bite and then another. 226 00:14:45,240 --> 00:14:48,960 Speaker 1: Soon a strange feeling came over him his heart. He 227 00:14:49,040 --> 00:14:51,520 Speaker 1: get a beat a little faster. He took another bite, 228 00:14:51,600 --> 00:14:55,240 Speaker 1: and the strangeness intensified, and his mind was moving fast, 229 00:14:55,280 --> 00:14:59,040 Speaker 1: turning over on itself. And then his mother walked through 230 00:14:59,040 --> 00:15:03,280 Speaker 1: the door and screamed. Bobby hadn't bread at the chicken 231 00:15:03,320 --> 00:15:08,480 Speaker 1: with flour. He breaded it with his mother's cocaine. This 232 00:15:08,920 --> 00:15:11,320 Speaker 1: was how Bobby Brown learned that his mother was dealing 233 00:15:11,400 --> 00:15:14,920 Speaker 1: drugs in Roxbury by cooking chicken as a little kid 234 00:15:14,960 --> 00:15:20,200 Speaker 1: and unintentionally using the drug as an ingredient. The hustle, 235 00:15:20,360 --> 00:15:24,360 Speaker 1: the pride, the work. It wasn't without its dangers, just 236 00:15:24,440 --> 00:15:27,440 Speaker 1: like growing up black and Boston wasn't without its dangers. 237 00:15:28,240 --> 00:15:31,320 Speaker 1: Boston Pete came around to the Brown's apartment looking for 238 00:15:31,360 --> 00:15:34,640 Speaker 1: a couple of usual suspects, the kind that Bobby now 239 00:15:34,720 --> 00:15:38,600 Speaker 1: understood associated with his mom. Bobby's mom didn't want the 240 00:15:38,680 --> 00:15:42,360 Speaker 1: kids to hear anything, so she took the conversation outside. 241 00:15:42,640 --> 00:15:46,000 Speaker 1: Bobby watched from the apartment window as his mom dramatically 242 00:15:46,080 --> 00:15:49,320 Speaker 1: argued with the cops, and then watched in horror as 243 00:15:49,400 --> 00:15:51,920 Speaker 1: one of the cops lifted his billy club and hit 244 00:15:51,960 --> 00:15:55,400 Speaker 1: his mom right in the face for what for knowing 245 00:15:55,400 --> 00:15:59,400 Speaker 1: some other dudes she wasn't holding she was clean, at 246 00:15:59,480 --> 00:16:02,840 Speaker 1: least in this moment. The police would beat on anyone 247 00:16:02,880 --> 00:16:06,800 Speaker 1: in Roxbury. Even the mother of six was fucked up, 248 00:16:07,240 --> 00:16:10,560 Speaker 1: as was Bobby's mom right now, her eyes swelling up 249 00:16:10,640 --> 00:16:12,720 Speaker 1: as the cobs cuffed her and shoved her into the 250 00:16:12,760 --> 00:16:17,440 Speaker 1: back of their cruiser. The danger, the violence, It crept closer. 251 00:16:17,920 --> 00:16:19,800 Speaker 1: There was the night Bobby was out with his best 252 00:16:19,840 --> 00:16:24,400 Speaker 1: friend Jimmy, not in Roxbury, but in nearby Dorchester board 253 00:16:24,760 --> 00:16:27,720 Speaker 1: looking for something to do. They spotted a couple of 254 00:16:27,720 --> 00:16:31,200 Speaker 1: bikes leaned up against a building, no chains, no locks. 255 00:16:31,640 --> 00:16:33,600 Speaker 1: Bobby grabbed one and Jimmy grabbed the other, and they 256 00:16:33,680 --> 00:16:36,560 Speaker 1: rode them back to Roxbury, basking in the thrill of it, 257 00:16:36,960 --> 00:16:40,720 Speaker 1: the thrill of their criminal prowess, until that criminal prowess 258 00:16:40,800 --> 00:16:43,160 Speaker 1: was challenged by a group of other kids looking to 259 00:16:43,160 --> 00:16:45,640 Speaker 1: steal the two bikes that Bobby and Jimmy had just stolen. 260 00:16:46,520 --> 00:16:49,200 Speaker 1: Bobby figured that he and Jimmy could take them, after all, 261 00:16:49,400 --> 00:16:53,320 Speaker 1: they were scrappy tough. These other kids, though, were vicious, 262 00:16:53,800 --> 00:16:57,040 Speaker 1: coming in hot with big swings, hard knuckle punches that 263 00:16:57,200 --> 00:17:02,760 Speaker 1: hurt like hell, and then then pulled the knife. Fuck this. 264 00:17:03,320 --> 00:17:05,960 Speaker 1: They could have the bikes, but it wasn't about the 265 00:17:05,960 --> 00:17:09,880 Speaker 1: bikes anymore. These other kids wanted blood, and they got 266 00:17:09,880 --> 00:17:12,840 Speaker 1: it too. When the one wheelding the knife sliced Jimmy's 267 00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:15,920 Speaker 1: arm open, Bobby tried to intervene, but the next thust 268 00:17:15,920 --> 00:17:18,000 Speaker 1: of the knife came too quick. The tip of the 269 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:21,440 Speaker 1: blade plunged straight into Jimmy's chest, directly into his heart. 270 00:17:22,400 --> 00:17:26,479 Speaker 1: Jimmy collapsed, the other kids bolted, Bobby was left watching 271 00:17:26,480 --> 00:17:28,439 Speaker 1: the life drain out of his best friend's eyes and 272 00:17:28,520 --> 00:17:32,919 Speaker 1: not being able to do anything about it. Losing his 273 00:17:32,960 --> 00:17:35,400 Speaker 1: best friend at such a young age had a profound 274 00:17:35,400 --> 00:17:38,840 Speaker 1: effect on Bobby. It motivated him to get out of Roxbury, 275 00:17:39,320 --> 00:17:44,320 Speaker 1: out of Boston. But that meant more work. That meant 276 00:17:44,359 --> 00:17:47,040 Speaker 1: traveling to New York City each weekend, with New Addition, 277 00:17:47,600 --> 00:17:51,680 Speaker 1: playing shows from midnight to four am every Friday, Saturday 278 00:17:51,720 --> 00:17:54,840 Speaker 1: and Sunday, and then scrambling back to Boston on an 279 00:17:54,880 --> 00:17:57,840 Speaker 1: overnight bus to make it to school first thing Monday morning. 280 00:17:58,680 --> 00:18:02,359 Speaker 1: And that hard work meant more hits. Cool it now, 281 00:18:02,680 --> 00:18:06,800 Speaker 1: mister telephone man, great songs and those hits, and that 282 00:18:06,880 --> 00:18:11,480 Speaker 1: attention meant growing up fast, faster that most of the 283 00:18:11,520 --> 00:18:14,800 Speaker 1: guys in New Edition were ready for. Bobby Brown was 284 00:18:14,840 --> 00:18:18,439 Speaker 1: the odd man out, increasingly motivated by what he wanted, 285 00:18:18,720 --> 00:18:22,640 Speaker 1: which was the spotlight a solo career, an opportunity where 286 00:18:22,680 --> 00:18:26,080 Speaker 1: he was only answering for himself, where he didn't have 287 00:18:26,160 --> 00:18:30,680 Speaker 1: bandmates concerned about his increasingly hyper sexual dance moves on stage, 288 00:18:31,359 --> 00:18:33,440 Speaker 1: where he didn't have to get reamed out for showing 289 00:18:33,520 --> 00:18:38,639 Speaker 1: up later, missing engagements entirely. No one was going to 290 00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:40,879 Speaker 1: tell Bobby how to do his work. He was going 291 00:18:40,920 --> 00:18:43,280 Speaker 1: to do it his way, show up when he wanted, 292 00:18:43,640 --> 00:18:47,160 Speaker 1: dance the way he wanted to dance, dance with whomever 293 00:18:47,200 --> 00:18:50,440 Speaker 1: he wanted to dance with. Even girls who had other 294 00:18:50,480 --> 00:18:53,840 Speaker 1: guys on the side, those on again off again romeos, 295 00:18:54,240 --> 00:18:57,359 Speaker 1: they didn't scare Bobby Brown. He was Bobby Brown, for 296 00:18:57,440 --> 00:19:00,399 Speaker 1: Christ's sakes, from Orchard Park. He had its. He was 297 00:19:00,440 --> 00:19:04,480 Speaker 1: three years old. It was all his. So he wasn't 298 00:19:04,480 --> 00:19:06,119 Speaker 1: going to listen to this chick he was dancing with 299 00:19:06,240 --> 00:19:07,840 Speaker 1: right now at a block party, the one who was 300 00:19:07,880 --> 00:19:10,680 Speaker 1: a little bit older than him. She wasn't prison dangerous 301 00:19:10,760 --> 00:19:13,199 Speaker 1: like his sister's friend back in lock up. She was 302 00:19:13,240 --> 00:19:16,719 Speaker 1: still dangerous all the scene, and she kept telling Bobby 303 00:19:16,760 --> 00:19:18,800 Speaker 1: that this guy she was kind of sort of seeing 304 00:19:18,920 --> 00:19:21,760 Speaker 1: was on his way over and that Bobby should probably split. 305 00:19:22,400 --> 00:19:25,560 Speaker 1: But Bobby wasn't going anywhere. He kept dancing, and he 306 00:19:25,600 --> 00:19:29,040 Speaker 1: paid the other dude no mind. That is until the 307 00:19:29,080 --> 00:19:32,600 Speaker 1: other dude showed up, or rather his gun showed up first. 308 00:19:33,359 --> 00:19:36,479 Speaker 1: As the first shots rang out, people scattered in every direction. 309 00:19:37,359 --> 00:19:41,119 Speaker 1: Bobby saw him now the tough guy sometimes boyfriend heading 310 00:19:41,160 --> 00:19:44,639 Speaker 1: straight forward, led by the muzzle of his gun. Bobby 311 00:19:44,720 --> 00:19:47,639 Speaker 1: hit the ground running and her boyfriend kept firing, and 312 00:19:47,680 --> 00:19:50,600 Speaker 1: Bobby's heart pounded in his throat. He gasped for air 313 00:19:50,640 --> 00:19:53,639 Speaker 1: as he raced down a Rocksbury sidewalk, every muscle on 314 00:19:53,680 --> 00:19:57,640 Speaker 1: his legs burning, and then there was another burning sensation. 315 00:19:58,280 --> 00:20:00,879 Speaker 1: He stopped running when he realized he was and he 316 00:20:00,960 --> 00:20:04,440 Speaker 1: looked down and his legs were shaking. His sweatpants were 317 00:20:04,440 --> 00:20:07,119 Speaker 1: covered in blood. Then there was a hole in his knee. 318 00:20:07,640 --> 00:20:10,359 Speaker 1: The bullet had gone in one side and exited cleaning 319 00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:14,080 Speaker 1: out the other. He limped to a nearby hospital. Doctor 320 00:20:14,119 --> 00:20:16,520 Speaker 1: sewed him up and sent him on his way. He 321 00:20:16,560 --> 00:20:18,919 Speaker 1: didn't even tell his mother or his father, and they 322 00:20:18,960 --> 00:20:22,480 Speaker 1: had their own shit to worry about. Bobby Brown. He 323 00:20:22,560 --> 00:20:30,919 Speaker 1: had worked to do. We'll be right back after this. 324 00:20:31,119 --> 00:20:39,800 Speaker 1: We're we're we're getting shot, getting arrested, getting kicked out 325 00:20:39,840 --> 00:20:43,840 Speaker 1: of a new addition, sleeping with any woman anywhere, including 326 00:20:43,880 --> 00:20:45,879 Speaker 1: the one he knocked up and who had since given 327 00:20:45,920 --> 00:20:49,639 Speaker 1: birth to his first child. All these things contributed to 328 00:20:49,680 --> 00:20:53,440 Speaker 1: Bobby Brown's larger than life image, an image that defined 329 00:20:53,480 --> 00:20:56,040 Speaker 1: who he was to the public as his solo career 330 00:20:56,119 --> 00:20:58,880 Speaker 1: was just getting off the ground. He was a bad 331 00:20:58,960 --> 00:21:02,560 Speaker 1: boy with a badass sophomore record, Don't Be Cruel, and 332 00:21:02,640 --> 00:21:06,160 Speaker 1: that record was powered by the huge hit My Prerogative, 333 00:21:06,760 --> 00:21:09,880 Speaker 1: a song that flipped the giant middle finger at everyone, 334 00:21:09,920 --> 00:21:12,480 Speaker 1: from his boys in New addition to the naysayers who 335 00:21:12,560 --> 00:21:15,600 Speaker 1: doubted he'd ever amount to anything, not to mention, a 336 00:21:15,640 --> 00:21:18,879 Speaker 1: song that taught me, in an entire generation of kids, 337 00:21:19,119 --> 00:21:22,720 Speaker 1: what the word prerogative meant. Bobby knew that not only 338 00:21:22,800 --> 00:21:24,639 Speaker 1: was it his prerogative to do whatever the hell he 339 00:21:24,720 --> 00:21:27,200 Speaker 1: wanted to do, but that the public and the people 340 00:21:27,200 --> 00:21:30,000 Speaker 1: who tried to define you as this or that, they 341 00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:32,840 Speaker 1: didn't know what the fuck they were talking about. It 342 00:21:32,920 --> 00:21:35,399 Speaker 1: was impossible for anyone but Bobby Brown to know the 343 00:21:35,440 --> 00:21:39,639 Speaker 1: real Bobby Brown, at least in Bobby's mind. It was 344 00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:43,720 Speaker 1: like that with Whitney too, Whitney Houston living in that 345 00:21:43,920 --> 00:21:47,760 Speaker 1: rarefied air just like Bobby. In the year nineteen eighty nine, 346 00:21:48,440 --> 00:21:51,360 Speaker 1: both nominees at the Soul Train Awards, where the two 347 00:21:51,400 --> 00:21:54,880 Speaker 1: met for the first time. Mega Watt's Superstar is standing 348 00:21:54,920 --> 00:21:58,000 Speaker 1: side by side Bobby in his white silk suit and 349 00:21:58,040 --> 00:22:01,480 Speaker 1: Whitney in his sparkling beaded dress. Although she had a 350 00:22:01,560 --> 00:22:03,800 Speaker 1: run of seven number one singles leading out to this 351 00:22:04,119 --> 00:22:08,119 Speaker 1: right now in nineteen eighty nine, Bobby Brown was it 352 00:22:08,880 --> 00:22:12,240 Speaker 1: arguably the more dominant cultural and musical force at the moment, 353 00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:14,760 Speaker 1: a moment in which Whitney Houston was on the receiving 354 00:22:14,840 --> 00:22:17,880 Speaker 1: end of backlash from the black community for skewing too pop. 355 00:22:19,160 --> 00:22:22,680 Speaker 1: All that said, Whitney had her own publicly defined image, 356 00:22:22,960 --> 00:22:28,119 Speaker 1: just like Bobby did. Unlike Bobby, that image was not dangerous. 357 00:22:28,520 --> 00:22:32,920 Speaker 1: Whitney was America's sweetheart. She was apple pie, and Bobby 358 00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:36,800 Speaker 1: knew better that beneath that polish facade, in that perfect voice, 359 00:22:37,080 --> 00:22:40,639 Speaker 1: Whitney Houston was as bad as he was. If he 360 00:22:40,680 --> 00:22:43,240 Speaker 1: didn't know just how bad when they began dating, he 361 00:22:43,359 --> 00:22:46,360 Speaker 1: quickly found out. On their wedding day, Bobby went looking 362 00:22:46,359 --> 00:22:49,080 Speaker 1: for his bride to be hours before the ceremony. His 363 00:22:49,200 --> 00:22:51,800 Speaker 1: nerves were ramping up along with his sex drive. He 364 00:22:51,920 --> 00:22:54,960 Speaker 1: wanted one last quickie before they were pronounced man and wife, 365 00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:57,359 Speaker 1: and he found her behind a closed door, storting a 366 00:22:57,440 --> 00:23:03,600 Speaker 1: huge line of cocaine. This story about Whitney Houston, America's Sweetheart, 367 00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:07,159 Speaker 1: lasting rails before her wedding day. Like the story of 368 00:23:07,200 --> 00:23:11,560 Speaker 1: the Horny Ghost, comes from Bobby's own memoir, which to 369 00:23:11,880 --> 00:23:14,080 Speaker 1: some is going to run counter to the narrative that 370 00:23:14,119 --> 00:23:16,880 Speaker 1: Bobby Brown, the so called bad boy in this relationship, 371 00:23:17,040 --> 00:23:19,480 Speaker 1: was the bad influence on Whitney Houston, not the other 372 00:23:19,480 --> 00:23:22,840 Speaker 1: way around as Bobby tells it. It's been well established 373 00:23:22,840 --> 00:23:25,840 Speaker 1: that over the years, Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston descended 374 00:23:25,880 --> 00:23:28,480 Speaker 1: it into an unhealthy life of hard drug use together, 375 00:23:28,840 --> 00:23:31,000 Speaker 1: even in front of their own daughter. And for more 376 00:23:31,040 --> 00:23:33,160 Speaker 1: on that, you can check out the episode we did 377 00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:36,959 Speaker 1: hear in Disgracing on Whitney Houston. That said, there are 378 00:23:37,080 --> 00:23:41,040 Speaker 1: plenty of other incidents that weren't speculation, incidents that were 379 00:23:41,040 --> 00:23:44,280 Speaker 1: caught on tape and now exist online for all to see, 380 00:23:44,720 --> 00:23:48,080 Speaker 1: incidents that paint a very particular kind of picture of 381 00:23:48,119 --> 00:23:54,600 Speaker 1: who Bobby Brown was at this very moment. Nineteen ninety four, 382 00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:58,600 Speaker 1: Bobby Brown's twenty fifth birthday party, two years after Bobby 383 00:23:58,640 --> 00:24:01,560 Speaker 1: and Whitney tied the knot, one year after their daughter, 384 00:24:01,640 --> 00:24:04,720 Speaker 1: Bobby Christina, was born. As soon as they step out 385 00:24:04,720 --> 00:24:08,480 Speaker 1: of the limo, the cameras are flashing, paparazzi calling out 386 00:24:08,480 --> 00:24:10,600 Speaker 1: Bobby and Whitney's names to try and get the best 387 00:24:10,640 --> 00:24:14,760 Speaker 1: shot inside the party. The music's loud, the drinks are stiff. 388 00:24:15,040 --> 00:24:17,959 Speaker 1: The reporters from MTV and other news outlets are pressing 389 00:24:17,960 --> 00:24:21,280 Speaker 1: the flesh, all jockeying to interview what is now the 390 00:24:21,320 --> 00:24:24,200 Speaker 1: most famous married couple in the world, the Bad Boy 391 00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:27,240 Speaker 1: and the Good Girl. One reporter in particular puts a 392 00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:29,520 Speaker 1: microphone in front of the couple. He says that he 393 00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:32,280 Speaker 1: heard Bobby's mother was recently offered her own talk show. 394 00:24:32,880 --> 00:24:36,200 Speaker 1: She's a riot, the reporter says. Bobby furrows his bra 395 00:24:36,840 --> 00:24:39,320 Speaker 1: Hold up, you want to call my mom a riot? 396 00:24:40,160 --> 00:24:42,919 Speaker 1: Bobby forms his right hand like a gun, raising it 397 00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:45,560 Speaker 1: to the reporter's head and pretending to shoot, and the 398 00:24:45,600 --> 00:24:49,359 Speaker 1: reporter quickly clarifies she's a riot, as in, she's funny. 399 00:24:49,440 --> 00:24:52,640 Speaker 1: You know, she's a trip. Oh, she's a trip. Bobby says, 400 00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:55,440 Speaker 1: as if that clarifies it for him, as if that 401 00:24:55,520 --> 00:24:59,560 Speaker 1: makes it better, But it doesn't. Bobby is clearly offended. 402 00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:02,280 Speaker 1: This guy doesn't know his mom, doesn't know the first 403 00:25:02,280 --> 00:25:05,000 Speaker 1: thing about her, and here he is with the fucking 404 00:25:05,119 --> 00:25:07,359 Speaker 1: balls to stand in front of Bobby while the camera 405 00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:10,639 Speaker 1: rolls and say that missus Brown is a trip in 406 00:25:10,680 --> 00:25:14,640 Speaker 1: Bobby's mind, it's such condescending bullshit. Hey, let's the guy 407 00:25:14,680 --> 00:25:17,840 Speaker 1: know my mom is real, Bobby says, and she's coming 408 00:25:17,880 --> 00:25:20,399 Speaker 1: from the heart, and if you can't respect that, you 409 00:25:20,440 --> 00:25:24,200 Speaker 1: shouldn't even be here. As Bobby goes off on the journalist, 410 00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:28,240 Speaker 1: Whitney just smiles at the camera, looking equal parts embarrassed 411 00:25:28,240 --> 00:25:31,240 Speaker 1: and wanting to get on with answering her questions, because yes, 412 00:25:31,320 --> 00:25:34,240 Speaker 1: this is Bobby's birthday party. But the reporter wants to 413 00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:36,600 Speaker 1: talk with Whitney right now, and Bobby's not having it. 414 00:25:37,119 --> 00:25:39,560 Speaker 1: He doesn't break the tension, he doesn't say he's just 415 00:25:39,640 --> 00:25:44,439 Speaker 1: kidding around. Instead, he walks away, pissed, presumably though to 416 00:25:44,480 --> 00:25:48,080 Speaker 1: cool off, only to return moments later interrupt his wife, 417 00:25:48,240 --> 00:25:50,439 Speaker 1: put his face right in the camera with a dead series, 418 00:25:50,480 --> 00:25:53,080 Speaker 1: get the fuck out of here, look, shove the cameraman 419 00:25:53,200 --> 00:25:57,840 Speaker 1: and announce the interview is over. That outside sense of 420 00:25:57,920 --> 00:26:01,840 Speaker 1: ego and danger, it's all there in Bobby Brown's body language, 421 00:26:02,160 --> 00:26:03,960 Speaker 1: things that he had possessed since he was a little 422 00:26:04,040 --> 00:26:07,679 Speaker 1: kid dancing on Roxbury Street corners. Bobby had the fame, 423 00:26:07,960 --> 00:26:10,639 Speaker 1: the money, and now add to that the most celebrated 424 00:26:10,640 --> 00:26:12,560 Speaker 1: singer and one of the most beautiful women in the 425 00:26:12,600 --> 00:26:15,800 Speaker 1: galaxy on his arm. Bobby Brown didn't want the world 426 00:26:15,880 --> 00:26:18,080 Speaker 1: to see him as bad. He wanted to be seen 427 00:26:18,119 --> 00:26:21,679 Speaker 1: as powerful. But when he returned from his honeymoon, a 428 00:26:21,680 --> 00:26:25,840 Speaker 1: fresh scar visible on Whitney's face made people talk, and 429 00:26:25,920 --> 00:26:28,639 Speaker 1: back in Boston, he was caught in the crossfire again, 430 00:26:29,200 --> 00:26:32,399 Speaker 1: literally dodging bullets while witnessing yet another friend suffer a 431 00:26:32,440 --> 00:26:38,919 Speaker 1: fatal wound. On tour with the Reunited New Edition, a 432 00:26:38,960 --> 00:26:41,280 Speaker 1: tour in which each member rode on his own bus 433 00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:44,880 Speaker 1: busses loaded with guns and dope, Bobby was so high 434 00:26:44,960 --> 00:26:47,240 Speaker 1: that he thought his own wife was trying to kill him. 435 00:26:47,760 --> 00:26:50,440 Speaker 1: He couldn't point to a specific reason why. The thought 436 00:26:50,560 --> 00:26:53,720 Speaker 1: just entered his head and it wouldn't leave. He made 437 00:26:53,720 --> 00:26:56,600 Speaker 1: the bus driver pull over. He ran cocaine in one 438 00:26:56,640 --> 00:26:59,240 Speaker 1: pocket and a handgun in the other, hopping a fence 439 00:26:59,240 --> 00:27:01,280 Speaker 1: and tearing ass or a huge field somewhere in the 440 00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:04,880 Speaker 1: middle of America, running fast and the wind blowing through 441 00:27:04,920 --> 00:27:08,320 Speaker 1: his years, his wife Whitney yelling from somewhere behind him, 442 00:27:08,520 --> 00:27:11,320 Speaker 1: and the rest of his New Edition boys yelling. Bobby 443 00:27:11,320 --> 00:27:14,000 Speaker 1: coming up on a house now an oasis, smack dab 444 00:27:14,040 --> 00:27:16,639 Speaker 1: in the middle of this field. He made it up 445 00:27:16,640 --> 00:27:19,000 Speaker 1: the stairs, the front stairs in that house, where a 446 00:27:19,040 --> 00:27:21,439 Speaker 1: man now opened the front door and stepped onto the porch, 447 00:27:21,720 --> 00:27:26,000 Speaker 1: giant shotgun in his very capable hands. Get your ass 448 00:27:26,480 --> 00:27:29,880 Speaker 1: off my property, or I'll blow your fucking head off. 449 00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:34,439 Speaker 1: The shock of that moment, the aftermath of it, it 450 00:27:34,480 --> 00:27:37,960 Speaker 1: didn't set Bobby straight. Neither did the stroke he suffered 451 00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:42,200 Speaker 1: soon after from freebasing so much cocaine. It wasn't until 452 00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:44,880 Speaker 1: he was sent to jail again in the year two thousand, 453 00:27:45,359 --> 00:27:48,760 Speaker 1: this time in Florida, this time for violating conditions of 454 00:27:48,760 --> 00:27:52,080 Speaker 1: paroles stemming from a previous dui that he was forced 455 00:27:52,080 --> 00:27:55,680 Speaker 1: to clean up. Bobby thought the whole thing was just bullshit, 456 00:27:55,880 --> 00:27:58,879 Speaker 1: the parole violation. The only reason he was being treated 457 00:27:58,880 --> 00:28:01,359 Speaker 1: like this was because of who he was, us, Bobby Brown, 458 00:28:01,720 --> 00:28:05,240 Speaker 1: the bad boy. But the judge's gavel came down and 459 00:28:05,280 --> 00:28:07,439 Speaker 1: the cop stuffed Bobby and a cruiser to whisk him 460 00:28:07,440 --> 00:28:09,440 Speaker 1: away for two and a half months in the clink. 461 00:28:10,320 --> 00:28:13,359 Speaker 1: Sitting there in the back seat, he slowly slid his 462 00:28:13,400 --> 00:28:16,240 Speaker 1: handcuffed hands down around his ass and under his legs 463 00:28:16,240 --> 00:28:19,879 Speaker 1: and feet and the cops up front were clueless. He 464 00:28:19,960 --> 00:28:22,280 Speaker 1: brought his cuffed hands to the zipper of his pants. 465 00:28:22,680 --> 00:28:27,960 Speaker 1: He quietly undid his fly, and then Bobby Brown pissed 466 00:28:28,240 --> 00:28:31,760 Speaker 1: all over the inside of the squad car. If a 467 00:28:31,800 --> 00:28:35,200 Speaker 1: bad boy is what they wanted, a bad boy was 468 00:28:35,240 --> 00:28:58,840 Speaker 1: what they were gonna get. December two thousand and three, 469 00:28:59,320 --> 00:29:02,560 Speaker 1: Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston were at home. Bobby was 470 00:29:02,600 --> 00:29:06,280 Speaker 1: sober California sober, that is, which means he was drunk, 471 00:29:06,760 --> 00:29:09,520 Speaker 1: as was his wife. And they weren't alone. There was 472 00:29:09,560 --> 00:29:14,200 Speaker 1: another man, Whitney Stealer. Things had been undeniably dark inside 473 00:29:14,240 --> 00:29:17,040 Speaker 1: the Brown Houston household as well as out of it, 474 00:29:17,280 --> 00:29:20,200 Speaker 1: like inside that limousine where Bobby and Whitney once smoke 475 00:29:20,280 --> 00:29:23,600 Speaker 1: crack with their five year old daughter, Bobby Christina, sitting 476 00:29:23,720 --> 00:29:27,000 Speaker 1: right next to them. But things were different now, or 477 00:29:27,040 --> 00:29:30,440 Speaker 1: at least Bobby wanted them to be different. Mostly, he 478 00:29:30,560 --> 00:29:33,200 Speaker 1: just wanted this other guy out of his house. He 479 00:29:33,240 --> 00:29:36,160 Speaker 1: didn't know why Whitney was bringing him around. She needed 480 00:29:36,240 --> 00:29:38,920 Speaker 1: him for dope, sure, but why were they hanging around 481 00:29:38,960 --> 00:29:42,280 Speaker 1: with this dude. Bobby was not his friend, and Whitney 482 00:29:42,320 --> 00:29:45,120 Speaker 1: was not this guy's woman. She was Bobby Brown's girl, 483 00:29:45,360 --> 00:29:49,120 Speaker 1: the number two to his number one. So Bobby grabbed 484 00:29:49,120 --> 00:29:51,080 Speaker 1: the guy by his shirt and tossed him around, all 485 00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:53,720 Speaker 1: rag Doll style, The fuck you doing here? The fuck 486 00:29:53,720 --> 00:29:58,080 Speaker 1: you doing with my family? Bobby felt his rage bubble up, 487 00:29:58,520 --> 00:30:00,480 Speaker 1: and then he felt his wife's hands on his back, 488 00:30:00,560 --> 00:30:03,440 Speaker 1: pulling him away before he did need real damage, But 489 00:30:03,560 --> 00:30:07,040 Speaker 1: Bobby was out of control at this point. Shift faced angry, 490 00:30:07,480 --> 00:30:11,000 Speaker 1: he spun around, raised his hand and slapped Whitney Houston 491 00:30:11,040 --> 00:30:14,520 Speaker 1: in the face. It wasn't long until Whitney filed for 492 00:30:14,640 --> 00:30:18,680 Speaker 1: legal separation and then for divorce. That was her prerogative. 493 00:30:19,280 --> 00:30:21,360 Speaker 1: Bobby left with the one way ticket to somewhere else, 494 00:30:21,400 --> 00:30:24,760 Speaker 1: sent a little money in his pocket, no car, no house, 495 00:30:25,040 --> 00:30:27,760 Speaker 1: no jewelry, leaving it all behind like he left that 496 00:30:27,800 --> 00:30:31,360 Speaker 1: white Mercedes Benz at the airport behind all those years ago. 497 00:30:31,800 --> 00:30:34,680 Speaker 1: Such was the mindset of the all powerful and the untouchable. 498 00:30:35,080 --> 00:30:37,520 Speaker 1: There would be other cars, and there will be other houses, 499 00:30:37,880 --> 00:30:39,920 Speaker 1: and there was always more work to do and more 500 00:30:39,960 --> 00:30:45,360 Speaker 1: money to be made. But you can't replace everything, like 501 00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:49,800 Speaker 1: his Grammy Award, his People's Choice Award, his American Music Awards, 502 00:30:50,400 --> 00:30:53,760 Speaker 1: all of them. According to Bobby Brown, either thrown out 503 00:30:53,880 --> 00:30:56,360 Speaker 1: or sold by Whitney's family in the bitter wake of 504 00:30:56,360 --> 00:31:00,280 Speaker 1: their split. The receipts, as it were, the tangible things 505 00:31:00,320 --> 00:31:02,560 Speaker 1: that proved he was the most popular entertainer in the 506 00:31:02,560 --> 00:31:06,880 Speaker 1: world at one time, were now lost to time, and 507 00:31:07,040 --> 00:31:11,080 Speaker 1: in time, Whitney would tell her side of the story. 508 00:31:11,840 --> 00:31:15,720 Speaker 1: Two thousand and nine, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Whitney Houston 509 00:31:15,920 --> 00:31:19,920 Speaker 1: preparing to stage a triumphant comeback, America's sweetheart and the 510 00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:24,959 Speaker 1: queen of daytime TV. Speaking candidly in a hotly anticipated conversation, 511 00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:30,080 Speaker 1: huge ratings, bigger revelations, Whitney laid it all out that 512 00:31:30,160 --> 00:31:33,880 Speaker 1: Bobby Brown was jealous of her success, that something happens 513 00:31:33,880 --> 00:31:36,360 Speaker 1: to a man, a particular type of man, when a 514 00:31:36,360 --> 00:31:40,200 Speaker 1: woman has that much control, that much fame, fame on 515 00:31:40,240 --> 00:31:43,800 Speaker 1: the grandest scale, stoked by the enormous success of the 516 00:31:43,840 --> 00:31:47,920 Speaker 1: soundtrack to The Bodyguard, her soundtrack the best selling soundtrack 517 00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:50,240 Speaker 1: of all time by the way, released the year that 518 00:31:50,280 --> 00:31:53,800 Speaker 1: they were married and three years after Bobby Brown's Don't 519 00:31:53,840 --> 00:31:57,840 Speaker 1: Be Cruel was on top, but The Bodyguard outsold Don't 520 00:31:57,880 --> 00:32:02,800 Speaker 1: Be Cruel in Spain's teen times platinum, more than double 521 00:32:02,840 --> 00:32:05,800 Speaker 1: the numbers that Bobby Brown put up. People would always 522 00:32:05,800 --> 00:32:09,480 Speaker 1: love that record, Whitney's record, that is, people wouldn't always 523 00:32:09,520 --> 00:32:16,160 Speaker 1: love Bobby Brown. A few years later, Whitney Houston was dead. 524 00:32:17,000 --> 00:32:21,000 Speaker 1: Bobby and Whitney's daughter Bobby Christina, She died three years 525 00:32:21,040 --> 00:32:25,000 Speaker 1: after that, and then one of Bobby's sons, Bobby Brown Junior, 526 00:32:25,120 --> 00:32:29,640 Speaker 1: died shortly after. Bobby was distraught. It was one thing 527 00:32:29,680 --> 00:32:32,880 Speaker 1: to lose a former's spouse, but to lose a child, 528 00:32:32,920 --> 00:32:37,120 Speaker 1: two children, only twenty two and twenty eight years old, respectively, 529 00:32:37,760 --> 00:32:42,560 Speaker 1: that was unthinkable. So Bobby kept busy. He wrote a memoir, 530 00:32:42,960 --> 00:32:46,280 Speaker 1: he produced a TV series about his life. He worked 531 00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:48,719 Speaker 1: hard to ensure that he had some hand in shaping 532 00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:52,680 Speaker 1: his legacy. That was his job now, because a working 533 00:32:52,720 --> 00:32:55,640 Speaker 1: man is everything, and no man wants to work so 534 00:32:55,760 --> 00:32:58,400 Speaker 1: hard only to find in the end that he is 535 00:32:58,440 --> 00:33:17,560 Speaker 1: a disgrace. I'm Jake Brennan and this is Disgraceland. Disgraceland 536 00:33:17,640 --> 00:33:20,320 Speaker 1: was created by Yours Truly. It is produced in partnership 537 00:33:20,360 --> 00:33:23,440 Speaker 1: with Double Elvis. Credits for this episode could be found 538 00:33:23,440 --> 00:33:28,240 Speaker 1: on the show notes page at disgracelandpod dot com. Subscribe, follow, like, rate, 539 00:33:28,240 --> 00:33:31,400 Speaker 1: and review the Disgraceland Podcast wherever you get your podcast, 540 00:33:31,440 --> 00:33:35,800 Speaker 1: because the Disgracelam podcast is now available everywhere. If you 541 00:33:35,920 --> 00:33:39,520 Speaker 1: love Disgraceland, tell someone, tell everyone, Shout us out on 542 00:33:39,560 --> 00:33:42,239 Speaker 1: social spread the word and follow us to find out 543 00:33:42,320 --> 00:33:44,760 Speaker 1: how you can cop some free merch for spreading that word. 544 00:33:44,920 --> 00:33:48,960 Speaker 1: Follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook at disgracelandpod, 545 00:33:49,200 --> 00:33:53,520 Speaker 1: and on YouTube at YouTube dot com, slash at Disgracelandpod, 546 00:33:54,120 --> 00:34:00,160 Speaker 1: rock a world, he m