"I 'm just like … 'wow!'" said a flummoxed looking Chris Brown as talkshow host Larry King asked him about the Rihanna "incident". His noncommittal response was perhaps not the teary confessional that was expected after the Grammy-night altercation which changed everything for the then crown prince of R&B.

Brown was the best of the bunch of the "new Ushers". Mixing unflinchingly futuristic sounds with fluid choreography and a bell-clear voice, there was something effortless about him. Little wonder he was the only male artist to go straight to the top of the Billboard charts with his first single and, in 2006, win five Kids' Choice awards, beating off the likes of Justin Timberlake.

Flash-forward three years, and he was pleading guilty to felony assault on ex-girlfriend Rihanna. But as Chris Brown prepares to release new album, Graffiti, is it possible that his charge of domestic abuse won't dent his record sales at all?

There's not been a case like it before. The rumblings of R Kelly 's liaisons with underage girls which have dogged him for the last decade have never really affected his status; indeed, just this year, he penned the title track of Whitney Houston's comeback album. And Ike Turner was far from at his peak when Tina finally decided enough was enough. Partly because there's been no precedent, Brown's team have blindly attempted to continue as before.

After the shots of Rihanna's disfigured face leaked online, pictures of Brown on a jetski looking less than contrite (and more like he was in a P Diddy video) were floated on the internet. A few months later, intimate snaps of the former couple were leaked, the timing of which suggested some sleazy attempt to discredit Rihanna's assault claims. And then came Brown's bizarrely dead-eyed Larry King appearance. And now here's the video for Brown's new single, I Can Transform Ya , featuring Brown dressed as a neon samurai, re-enacting various martial arts moves and throwing nunchucks around. The context of which seems tasteless, given some of the claims of physical violence levelled against Brown.

Meanwhile, there's been a distinct lack of outcry from the music industry. The likes of Mary J Blige, Usher and Kanye West seem more concerned with being politically correct than speaking out about against the attack, while TI, Ne-Yo and Bow Wow all issued statements saying what a nice guy Chris Brown is, with TI stating how he's "only human". But perhaps more worrying is the fact that his legion of teenage girl fans have forgiven his actions, posting comments like "I don't care what anyone says, I still love you Chris Brown" on fan forums.

A nostalgic Brown has been tweeting about his former paramour, but will this late show of guilt work come Graffiti's December's release date?