Chris Brown tries to explain himself in a new song “How I Feel” that touches on some of the things that have, shall we say, marred his career. But the song ends on a positive note. He says he’s become a “better man.”

Brown, 22, has been the object of scorn ever since he brutally assaulted then-girlfriend Rihanna in 2009, on the eve of the Grammy Awards when they both were slated to perform. He later pleaded guilty aggravated assault.

He was placed on five years probation and ordered to perform community service that included picking up trash along the roadway. He’s been trying to live down the assault and get his career back on track. Most recently he an Rihanna, 24, have begun associating together again.

But he can’t seem to escape his anger issue. He blew up and walked off a television interview, throwing a chair through a window in the process. He also has engaged in nasty Twitter rants and blew up before the American Music Awards.

In “How I Feel,” Brown tries to explain himself, including how he grew up with a father who hit his mother.

All alone sleepin’ in my bedroom
As I wet the sheets momma gon’ be dead soon
Cuz a man beat her.

He makes reference to the Rihanna beatdown indirectly. He raps he suffered a “tragedy” that’s for ever made him wary of the media.

500 wrecks for an hour show,
but ain’t never gonna do a 60 minute interview
Cos all you want to do is twist my words up
And all I want to do is flip my birds up

But he adds: Three years a n—a just found a better me.

He released the song over Twitter. Whether it makes the cut for his new album Fortune, along with “Turn Up The Music” is unknown at the moment.

Check out the tune below: