T.I. Impressed by Chris Brown’s Acting

T.I. stars alongside seasoned actors including Matt Dillon, Idris Elba, and Zoë Saldana in next month’s action-packed thriller Takers, but it was acting newcomer Chris Brown who took him by surprise.

“Chris was cool, man. I think Chris gonna impress a lot of people,” Tip told Power 106’s Luscious Liz of his on-screen co-star. “He does a lot of high performance, action sequences. He shows his ability. I think people will actually be presently surprised with his performance.”

The superstars not only worked together on the big screen, but also collaborated on music before T.I. went to jail. “We did records together before I went in,” he revealed.

The King of the South would be open to future collaborations with the singer, who has been in the studio with Drake and Keyshia Cole lately. “I don’t see why not,” said Tip. “As long as the appropriate opportunity presents itself and the song [is right], I don’t see why not. I ain’t against that.”

Jimmy Kimmel Is Skeptical Of Chris Browns Tears

Lloyd Denies Telling Chris Brown To Cry During Michael Jackson Tribute

R&B singer Lloyd has addressed speculation and rumors that he told Chris Brown to intentionally cry during his Michael Jackson tribute BET Awards 10 performance last weekend.

Writing via his website, Lloyd shot down the gossip.

"I never told him to go on stage and cry. We spoke recently, and I told him as a friend that people hadn't really seen him be vulnerable about his situation last year. I thought he was holding back and needed to let that emotion out. [But] him crying at the BET Awards was real, I could feel it...I think he cried about a number of things. About the fact that he thought people would hate him forever because of one mistake. Feeling that love on stage was probably overwhelming. Plus [Jackson] being gone and him performing 'Man In The Mirror', that song is powerful, especially for his situation. It pushed him over the edge."

Websites earlier this week quoted Lloyd as suggesting Brown would do better if he cried during the set.

Speaking to US press, Southside star Lloyd said that before Chris' segment, Lloyd told the shamed R&B star: "man, you gotta get up there. You gotta cry, you gotta really show your heart to the world." Chris choked up when singing Man In The Mirror at Sunday's award show. After his performance, the star said: "I let you all down before. But I won't do it again. I promise you."

Brown's meltdown took place as "Man in the Mirror" began to play.

And while Todd Bridges showed up to give a shout-out to Gary Coleman ("I was even hearing [that phrase] in prison!") it was Brown who was tasked with the expected yet still-surprisingMichael Jackson tribute marking the first anniversary of the King of Pop's death. Brown even started out in silhouette, making us squint at first to see who was donning the trademark fedora. Brown did justice to Jackson's dance moves (as much as anyone could, that is) and his sweet timbre, but whether it was out of feeling for Jackson or introspection directed at his own past foibles, the tarnished 21-year-old choked up and never recovered when "Man in the Mirror" got going.

Writing via Twitter, artists like Fabolous said Brown gave a historic performance.

"Chris Brown jus single handledly bodied every MJ tribute to date. His dance swagger is almost exact to Michael's.. Almost..," he wrote late Sunday (June 27) night.

Check out Chris Brown's performance down below:

Styles P & Solange Knowles Rate Drake, "He's Definitely In The Category Of The Flashy Fly Guys" + Drake Reveals Studio Session with Chris Brown

Rapper Styles P and singer Solange Knowles recently rated Drake's music skills and originality.

Styles believes the Young Money rapper is in a lane by himself.

"I like him. I think he's a skillful MC. His wordplay is nice, melodies nice. He's definitely in the category of the flashy fly guys. I find him to be skillful and it sounds like he's listened to MCs before. I hear Kanye West and Lil Wayne most in his flow, but I think he probably listened to Em, Jay, all kind of sh*t. He sounds like somebody who did his homework. With singing and rapping, he's definitely in a lane by himself, you know?"

Solange considered the artist's ability to convey strong tones and emotion in his voice.

"I honestly believe that his tone is really incredible and pure. It's not about vocal ability for me. It's really about tone and emotion and I think he has one of those really pure tones. I haven't heard him sing live, but it would definitely be interesting to hear him with the contrast of what I hear on his records. As a singer I know that it's extremely hard to double vocals and whatever he's doing to double his vocals, I don't know what the hell he's doing, but they sound identical to each other. Which is really, really, hard to do. When some people double you hear different takes, with him it just sounds like... I don't know what he's doing. Or maybe he's just that good [laughs]."

Grammy-winning rapper T.I. recently said Drake was paving his own lane.

"I think Drake is one of the coolest of the new kids, man," Tip said in an interview when asked about working with Drizzy in the studio. "I think he has an outstanding ability to do him without doing anything, anything else is doing, you know? I think he sets himself apart and as long as he's able to do that, he'll have his own lane in this thing that we called hip-hop."

Drake's long-awaited Thank Me Later debut topped the sales charts last week.

Young Money rapper Drake's Thank Me Later finally debuted on the charts this week landing at No. 1. According to Nielsen SoundScan, the rapper's long-awaited debut moved 447,300 units after seven days in stores.

Check out T.I. speaking on Drake down below: