The Kiss Kiss singer admitted drinking the "hood cocktail", made of codeine-based cough syrup mixed with soda, during a 2014 interview, but insisted he quit it because it was making him act "crazy".

Codeine was found in his system when he was drug tested as part of his custody battle over his daughter Royalty in September (15), but Brown had a prescription, and a report published by TMZ.com on Tuesday (03Nov15) suggests he is addicted to the concoction and his friends are concerned for his health.

Brown was notified of the allegations in advance and he took to Twitter.com to warn fans a "bogus story" was about to be published, and he urged them to ignore the false claims.

He writes, "They called my publicist about some bulls**t a** story. It's just sad. Now I'm letting y'all know it's bulls**t!... I got a great album coming, having a great time being a father, and also staying out the way! Ima (sic) grown man and I live my life on my terms."

Brown previously described the effects the syrup drink had on his behaviour, and why he quit it during a talk with New York radio station Hot 97.

"I was off the syrup, the Xanax... that's the hood cocktail," he said. "I was falling asleep on video sets, I was cussing people out randomly. I was doing crazy stuff. I would wake up and be like, 'Aye, man, what time we shooting this video?' And they would be like, 'Dude, we shot it yesterday.' I'd be like, 'Damn!'

"(I realised), 'This ain't for me'. As time progressed I was like, let me chill out. I don't want to be a zombie when I meet people. Or say the wrong thing, or end up punching somebody or doing something crazy... because I was under the influence of some bull (sic)."