Chris Brown talks losing virginity at 8, community service, and upcoming album

Chris Brown is getting ready to release his new album X, and has been making the promotional rounds, most recently sitting down for an interview with the theguardian.com. The singer covered familiar topics, such as the infamous Rihanna incident, his questionable tattoo, the paparazzi, and more. One strange new tidbit that he let go was the story of how he lost his virginity at an extremely young age.

Check out some excerpts from the interview below.

On losing his virginity at age 8:

It's different in the country. By that point, we were already kind of like hot to trot. You know what I'm saying? Like, girls, we weren't afraid to talk to them. I wasn't afraid. So, at eight, being able to do it, it kind of preps you for the long run, so you can be a beast at it. You can be the best at it.

On the Rihanna incident:

The Rihanna incident...was probably the biggest wake-up call for me. I had to stop acting like a little teenager, a crazy, wild young guy. You can talk with all my girls that I did mess with before, and it's never been a violent history.

I learned from it. I wouldn't say it happened for a reason, but it was something to trigger my mind to be more of a mature adult. To handle myself in situations, don't throw tantrums, don't be a baby about it."

On his tattoo that bears resemblance to the picture of Rihanna's bruised face:

I really don't care. A tattoo's a tattoo. It's my body, my skin...My favorite line is, 'Fuck you.' I like giving the world a big fuck you. Every tattoo I have is a big fuck you. So it's just, like, this is just me, and I'm the guy who's going to be just the same guy at all times...You think the tattoo is Rihanna's face, but it's not...I've just cleared this up. This is not Rihanna's face. I just got a tat. Like I say, a tat is on my body, so it's personal. I liked how it looked, so I thought I'd get it done. It's all good.

On his friends, and how they guard him from paparazzi:

Yeah. I got a couple of guard dogs...Not literally dogs I'm talking about. Just homies. They handle it. They were there when nobody else was there, when I was at my lowest. The people that really cared, that's who I hold dearest. And I root for the underdog, so I'm around the guys that… well, my friends aren't the guys that society would label perfect. People kind of, like, look nervous when I'm going to walk in with all my friends. And I'm not even a rapper. I'm a singer.

On his new album:

This album, creative-wise, is just musically sound, diverse, a lot of different genres attached themselves to the song, like, different fans. It doesn't have to be necessarily a song for one race, it's mostly for everybody. Just when you take those journeys through the X album, I mean, you start looking at certain songs, you'd be like, 'Oh, I get that, I can relate to this song' or, 'Oh, I like this song. This sounds good.' With this album I think it can just identify with any age group, with any race, with any culture.