Chris Brown may be one of the most successful R&B stars of the century, but not everyone believed in his star power at first. In a recent interview on the Drink Champs podcast, the 33-year-old star spoke about how Diddy turned him down from Bad Boy when he was much younger.

“The funniest part- a lot of people don’t really know this- but Diddy turned me down,” said Brown. N.O.R.E. was eager to talk about it, asking the Virginia native if he danced for Diddy, too. “If you danced, he definitely would’ve signed you,” joked N.O.R.E.

“It’s love now. That’s family, that’s my brother now,” explained Brown. “Im’a keep it 100. So I was like 12, at this time. This was before I linked to Def Jam. It was me and one of my production managers’ son named TJ; he’s my brother to this day. Me and him were like a group.”

“What was the name of y’all group?” asked N.O.R.E., to which Brown responded with “We didn’t have no name.”

“This is why he didn’t sign y’all,” said N.O.R.E. to everyone’s amusement.

Since the initial shutdown, Diddy and Brown have collaborated on songs like 2011’s “Yesterday”, and both were seen hanging out with Busta Rhymes and Bryson Tiller last year.

Check out the Drink Champs clip below and stay tuned for the full episode to drop tomorrow.

In related news, Brown spoke on the constant barrage of Michael Jackson comparisons that have been thrown his way, saying that MJ is “lightyears ahead.”