I don't listen to Chris Brown. But I'm sure Mike was aware of James Brown's history, and he still associated with James, participated in a tribute to him and went to JB's funeral. David Ruffin beat Tammi Terrell too and Mike paid for his funeral. Mike also had Don King in the Liberian Girl video and Don had been in prison for killing someone. Mike was a fan of Sly & The Family Stone and Sly Stone was a pimp at one time and Sly often missed concerts from being too high and he beat women. Cynthia Lennon, John's 1st wife said John hit her a few times in the book she wrote.
The difference in modern acts like Chris Brown & R. Kelly and a lot of those older entertainers is that there was no constant entertainment news, 500 TV channels, internet, and social media putting out their business out there all the time. The general public back then didn't know or didn't care about celebrity private lives (like Rock Hudson being homosexual or what Bill Cosby has been accused of in recent years), many of them were no saints (like Frank Sinatra, Little Richard, The Eagles, Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry, etc). The old Hollywood entertainment industry had the mafia involved in it, so that should give you an idea what it's about. The things people did back then wasn't considered as big of a deal during that era, like parents whipping children or getting pops with a board by teachers at school. Schools generally can't do that today though.