Chris Brown album release moved up to December 8

By Sarah MacRory

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Chris Brown's third album "Graffiti" has been pushed up a week to December 8, his Jive Records label said.

No explanation was immediately available.

His former girlfriend, Rihanna, will beat him to the stores by two weeks with her new album, "Rated R." Both are hitting the publicity circuit, discussing the February altercation that left her with bloody bruises and him with a felony assault conviction.

Brown's single, "I Can Transform Ya," featuring Lil Wayne and producer Swizz Beatz, is currently at No. 16 in its fifth week on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop songs chart.

Brown, 20, begins a "Fan Appreciation" tour on November 14 in Houston. The 19-city trek wraps on December 13 in Philadelphia.

In a mid-October interview on New York's Hot 97 radio station, Brown asserted his record was "not a confessions album, but my life in a nutshell." "Graffiti" marks the follow-up to "Exclusive," which debuted at No. 4 on the U.S. pop album chart in November 2007.