The-Dream: Chris Brown Collaboration Was Rihanna's Idea

The-Dream, Chris Brown and Rihanna together at an Entertainment Weekly party in 2008.

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The-Dream, the producer of Rihanna's controversial new remix featuring a guest spot by Chris Brown, says that the singer wanted to work with the man who was convicted for beating her in 2009. "It was Rih's idea," the producer told Billboard. "Not only do we work together, but [Rihanna] is a friend of mine. And it's like, 'You wanna do something? Then cool, let's do it.' I don't know how she got the logistics and how it happened. Maybe she'll talk about it one day.

"For me, it's just music – two talented people doing a record together, doing two records together, and that's what it was," said The-Dream. "It wasn't about an incident that happened. The true thing really is to forgive, and you want to believe in people."

The producer believes fans should support Rihanna's decision to work with her former abuser. "I think [the topic] that should be more on the tongues is – how do we proclaim to be a nation of forgiving, and we go by all of these rules and everything, but we can't actually do it? It actually makes you look weaker than your adversary – if you don't have the power to forgive, but you lie and say that you did. If [Rihanna] can forgive, that's where she is mentally. As a friend, it's like, 'Okay, cool. Let's roll.'"