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Chris Brown Didn't Want The 'Wealthy Or Rich' In 'Don't Think They Know' Video

'When I did the video I wanted to do kind of like the 'Boyz N the Hood' theme,' Brown tells MTV News.

Sure, Chris Brown could have delivered a fancy, flashy video for [article id="1709141"]"Don't Think They Know "[/article] -- after all, his latest single does feature a posthumous performance from beloved R&B singer Aaliyah. But Brown decided to go in a different direction.

"Well, with the concept of the video, I wanted to bring a different aspect of it, not make it so Hollywood or wealthy or rich," Breezy told MTV News on Saturday backstage at Power 106's annual Powerhouse concert in Los Angeles.

Brown's black-and-white video only has hints of red and blue, signifying the warring Bloods and Crips. At the beginning of the clip, the superstar singer is riding around with his friends looking for trouble, until he decides to get out the car and avoid it all. At the end, he sends a rest in peace message to his friend Michael "Lil Frogg" Reshard, an up-and-coming Compton rapper who was shot and killed earlier this year.

"When I did the video I wanted to do kind of like the 'Boyz N the Hood' theme," Brown said, referencing the 1991 cautionary film starring Cuba Gooding Jr. "Also bring an aspect of the side of the world that people never really talk about anymore. Gun violence or stuff that we deal with in our neighborhood or community that we could just stop."

Breezy, who is from Tappahannock, Virginia, but now lives in Los Angeles, shot the video on Cedar Block, an infamous South Los Angeles neighborhood known for gang violence, one that he says welcomed him with open arms. "It's just a learning lesson for me and a stepping stone as far as me becoming a great entertainer and trying to bring the world back together," he said.

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