At age 13, Brown was discovered by Hitmission Records, a local production team that visited the gas station where his father worked, while searching for new talent. Around the same time, he performed with one of his production managers’ son, named TJ, for hip hop artist Puff Daddy, but the rapper refused to sign him to his record label Bad Boy Records. Hitmission’s Lamont Fleming provided voice coaching for Brown. The team helped to arrange a demo package, under the name of “C. Sizzle”, and approached contacts in New York. Tina Davis, senior A&R executive at Def Jam Recordings, heard the demo package that Brown’s local team had sent to Def Jam, and among the artists contained in the CD she was impressed by Brown with his track “Whose Girl Is That”. Davis later had Brown auditioning in her New York office, and she immediately took him to meet the former president of the Island Def Jam Music Group, Antonio “L.A.” Reid, who offered to sign him that day, but Brown refused his proposal because Reid wouldn’t talk to his mother.

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