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  • # This is a man`s world

  • # This is a man`s world

  • # But it wouldn`t be nothing

  • # Nothing

  • # Nothing

  • # Nothing...

  • `You might say l`ve got a marker on my back l never knew was there.

  • `They fixed it where l couldn`t see it myself.`

  • # This is a man`s world...

  • `l was marked in many different ways, with names, for example,

  • `and each one has a different story behind it.`

  • # This is a man`s world...

  • `As a kid growing up in a whorehouse l was called Little Junior.

  • `As a teenager in prison, they called me Music Box.

  • `On the road in the `50s, l was Mr Dynamite,

  • `the hardest-working man in show business.`

  • James Brown had the first sense of street credibility,

  • because he took it to the streets, the ghettos and the black community first.

  • # Without a woman or a girl #

  • `ln the `60s, when l said, ``Die on your feet, don`t live on your knees,``

  • `l became Soul Brother Number One.`

  • He not only had the number one record,

  • he had changed the whole cultural paradigm of black America.

  • He wasn`t a hot artist, he was a way of life.

  • `Then they called me the Godfather Of Soul.`

  • He could be a tyrant, he could be generous.

  • He could be extremely patient and tolerant

  • and he could be demanding beyond reason.

  • `And they called me His Bad Self

  • `when the lRS and the police came down on me.`

  • # You make me feel so good l wanna scream

  • # People...

  • `ln the `80s and `90s l was known as the Minister Of The New Super-Heavy Funk

  • `to a new generation of hip-hoppers and rappers.`

  • ln the beginning was the heavens and the earth,

  • and there was James Brown, right there,

  • with a big ``E`` on his forehead for ``Entertainment``.

  • - # When l say - # Can l scream...scream?

  • - # Let me scream - # l heard, l heard a scream

  • # Let me scream

  • (Screams)

  • He deserved every title placed on him, from Soul Brother Number One

  • to the King Of Soul, the Minister Of Super-Heavy Heavy Funk,

  • and the Godfather Of Soul.

  • `l`ve been called many names in my time,

  • `but my legal name, the one l`m known by today, is James Brown.

  • `l first came to Augusta, Georgia back in 1 938.

  • `My Aunt Honey ran a gambling house here.

  • `Some people called that a crime. l called it survival.`

  • lt`s funny when you remember what it means, being almost 70 years old.

  • l remember when it was almost like new.

  • And you see those houses torn down now, it`s unbelievable.

  • This is really the beginning for me. This is where everything started.

  • On this side of the street, ladies and gentlemen,

  • it was white.

  • Everybody was white who lived here. And we was black, we lived over there.

  • We lived that close together in two different communities.

  • `l lived in Honey`s house, on Augusta`s south side.

  • `That`s when they called me Little Junior.

  • `We got our own gang started there, me and Mr Thomas Cook.`

  • What you say, my man?

  • He remembers it was my aunt that raised me.

  • Boy and Honey and all of them.

  • - ls Willie Mae doing OK? - Yeah, she`s OK.

  • (lnterviewer) What went on in that house? How did she make a living?

  • Right out, right there?

  • How`d she make a living?

  • Selling... She sold untaxed liquor, unstamped liquor.

  • And we called it a house of ill repute.

  • That`s what was happening there.

  • We used to go hustling the soldiers in 1 940, 1 941 , and go get `em a girl.

  • Cos we had to have money.

  • l danced where you see that sign. l danced for the soldiers.

  • l picked up, l don`t know, l guess about $6.

  • lt was $5 for rent, and l gave all the money to Miss Honey.

  • 1 8 people in the house. You couldn`t do nothing.

  • lt had an impact on him. Why wouldn`t it?

  • You have to sing and dance, thank God for your talent,

  • but you have to sing and dance for nickels and dimes to feed a family.

  • He`s been hungry, he`s been poor, he`s lived in the slums,

  • he`s lived in a place that wasn`t fixed up and wasn`t lit up.

  • We all have, l have too.

  • And he don`t want to go back.

  • `l was born in a one-room shack near Barnwell, South Carolina.

  • `The year was 1 933.

  • `l guess we lived about as poor as you could be.

  • `l remember my mother standing at the door of the cabin ready to leave.

  • ```You keep the child, Joe``, she said to my daddy.

  • `l didn`t see her again for 20 years.

  • `l was four years old.`

  • lt was my daddy`s business. Why they broke up, l don`t want to know.

  • When they broke up, l`m sorry l was the baggage they were worrying about.

  • God says, ``Vengeance is mine.`` l can`t punish my mother and my daddy.

  • `The best thing l remember is the 1 0-cent harmonica my father gave me.

  • `He did a lot of turpentine work.

  • `There were pine trees all around the cabin and he worked them.

  • `My daddy was gone a lot, travelling the turpentine camps.

  • `So l was left to myself.

  • `l played with sticks and with doodlebugs.

  • `Years later, l recorded a tune called ``Doodle Bug``.

  • # Doodle bug...

  • `Being alone in the woods like that, having nobody to talk to,

  • `gave me my own mind.

  • `No matter what came my way after that,

  • `prison, personal problems, government harassment,

  • `l could fall back on myself.`

  • l`ve been with him to the backwoods of South Carolina where he grew up.

  • He spent a lot of time alone.

  • His father left him alone, his mother had gone till he was in his 20s.

  • Somewhere in them woods, a spirit got in him of determination

  • that he either won`t let go or it won`t let him go,

  • but both of them haven`t let the world go for the last 4 7 years.

  • He decided, ``One day l`m gonna be some... l`m going to show everyone.

  • ``l`m going to show myself first.

  • ``l know what l can do, but l`ll show everyone l can do it.``

  • Yeah, l don`t want nobody to give me nothing.

  • l`ll go to work. Don`t give me nothing, you understand me?

  • But give me the chance to earn it. Don`t give me a handout, give me a way out.

  • # So alone, gee l hate to see you go

  • # You mean the world to me, you know You just said so...

  • `What helped me find a way out in those days was music.

  • `l`d met another kid called Leon Austin.

  • `He showed me how to play piano with both hands.`

  • He got interested in playing the piano

  • because the piano was just sitting there in the house

  • and we both really was learning.

  • You know, he...

  • l would play the boogie-woogie with just three keys, you know like...

  • ...like that.

  • He would always add something to it as he learned it.

  • We stayed there until we got the boogie-woogie down.

  • l wanted to perfect boogie-woogie.

  • lt was big at the time, but you`d better not be caught doing it in church.

  • `ln order to use their piano,

  • `l started cleaning out Trinity Baptist Church before services.

  • `There was gospel singing and hand-clapping,

  • `and the preacher would really get down.

  • `l`m sure a lot of my stage show came out of the church.`

  • l think James Brown was tremendously influenced by preachers.

  • When l hear a preacher looking for a note...

  • And when he finds that note,

  • then he would work on that one note for a long time.

  • And when he wanted to take it higher he`d say, ``Take it up a little higher.

  • ``A little higher,`` then ``Higher!``

  • And ``Higher!``

  • The next thing you know he goes ``Higher!`` and it becomes a scream.

  • Owww!

  • # Please, please, please, please, please, please...

  • (Continues singing)

  • When somebody screams ``Ow!`` it was pain, mental pain

  • and physical pain.

  • There ain`t but two pains, mental and physical.

  • You had to think about that one for a while. There`s not but two.

  • Tears of joy people cry because they`re happy, but it`s not pain.

  • They`re happy. Happy is happy and unhappy is unhappy.

  • There`s only two, physical and mental.

  • l think personally l`d rather have physical pain.

  • l can go to the doctor and take care of that, but that mental pain...

  • The Lord gotta take care of that. l can`t do it myself.

  • Mental pain comes from White Man having two water fountains.

  • At a petrol station or any major place we had to go to the bathroom,

  • they had ``Ladies``, which was white, and ``Men``, which was white.

  • That`s where that pain comes from.

  • ```Yes, sir``, ``No, sir`` is what my daddy would say in front of white people.

  • `But l didn`t accept the life he accepted.

  • `When they took him away to the navy during World War ll,

  • `l started to be a street kid, a little thug.

  • `l was listening to all the sounds around me,

  • `from street bands to Louis Jordan and Duke Ellington.

  • `But what l really wanted to do was box.

  • `My idol was Beau Jack, lightweight champion of the world,

  • `who, just like me, started making his living on Augusta`s Broad Street.

  • `Back then, l saw myself as a kind of Robin Hood.

  • `l started stealing from the cars of the rich to give to the poor

  • `because l`d been sent home from school for having insufficient clothes.`

  • That`s the school l went to, anyway. Silus X Floyd.

  • So l started stealing... to look good at school.

  • That`s that Robin Hood effect again, in reverse.

  • Cos biblically it don`t belong to you, you know you`re wrong,

  • but you`re dealing with Man, so...

  • l couldn`t have none.

  • So l stole from the rich to take care of the poor and me.

  • Cos l was poorer than they was.

  • `One day they caught me, and l got 8 to 1 6 years.

  • `lf you don`t allow a man an education, don`t put him in jail for being ignorant.

  • `That`s what they did to me when l was 1 6 years old.`

  • They put me in prison.

  • l had the hardship, the hard knocks and l just stayed right there with everything,

  • but music keep it alive.

  • `l hadn`t been there a couple of months before l started a gospel group.

  • `You feel that spirit when you sing.`

  • (Gospel singing)

  • `ln gospel music, you have to learn the different parts,

  • `and how to put them together.`

  • The only person they talked about in the whole camp was Music Box,

  • which was James Brown. He had something special.

  • l knew if he had the chance, he could really go, go, go.

  • And of course, he did.

  • # l-l-l feel, l feel that old feeling coming on

  • # l-l-l...

  • `l joined Bobby Byrd`s group after early parole.

  • `We did gigs all around the area.

  • `lt was 1 952 and l was 1 9 years old.

  • `And l started dating Bobby`s sister Sarah.`

  • He liked me.

  • l think l kind of liked him, probably.

  • l was young. l don`t know.

  • But anyway, yeah, we went out. We had a little thing going.

  • (Laughs)

  • Oh, my goodness. Anyway, James had a good voice for singing, he really did.

  • But there were others that did too, that could really sing.

  • James always wanted to be out.

  • He`d think no one else could sing as well as he could.

  • So when we went up against each other, you know, with lead parts,

  • he would always say after the programme was over,

  • ``Sarah, you tried to out-sing me.`` l said, ``No, you tried to out-sing me!``

  • ``No, we gotta agree now, you can`t be out-singing me.`` That`s how he was.

  • We had a thing where he would take a lead part and l would take a lead part,

  • and we`d be back and forth with the gospel thing.

  • lf l did something fantastic,

  • he`d try to do something more fantastic, and a lot of times he did.

  • His determination was to be someone.

  • He would have been at the top of the line no matter what he did,

  • whether it was baseball, football or whatever.

  • He had that determination that he would be the best.

  • Boxing, l could have been very good at it. l was real, real good. But...

  • ...it wasn`t where l wanted to go.

  • Baseball was my first choice. l was first on baseball.

  • But l heard the girls scream when l sang, and everything else was finished.

  • # Since you been gone

  • # l drink and gamble every night

  • # Oh...

  • Everything l`ve ever attended in public, l saw something l could use in my act.

  • The cape, that came from the wrestler Gorgeous George.

  • Many years ago. Wore curlers in his hair and wore a cape.

  • But l took it a little farther.

  • l had a towel, you know.

  • lt wasn`t show business, but more or less like you have in a spirit in a church.

  • James Brown said, ``l`m gonna express myself in a raw, untamed way,``

  • which most artists wouldn`t do before him.

  • People wanted to be accepted. James Brown wanted to be felt.

  • His scream, his moan, his groan,

  • all of that was, ``l wanna express myself even if you`re not comfortable with it.

  • ``l have to release this.``

  • And when he released it, he released a scream in all of us

  • that had so much scream built up in us, but never had the nerve to let it go.

  • # Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please

  • # Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please

  • # Please, please, please

  • # Darling, please

  • # Oh

  • # Please, please...

  • Until then, things like ``Please, Please, Please``, an incredibly emotional ballad,

  • had defined who he was.

  • This idea of soul music being stripped down of the sentimentality

  • and stripped down to the `50-ish flourishes and how horns were used,

  • it became much more elemental.

  • That`s when you like James Brown.

  • The way l put my chords, you hear it raw.

  • Them cats listening, ``You hear that?`` They can`t believe what they`re hearing.

  • They can`t believe it, cos l went by the ear.

  • Melody became a very small part of what it was about,

  • and that`s where you get this cliche, the Eddie Murphy routine of ``Ow!``

  • The definition of James Brown as a wailing character over these vamps

  • began during that era. lt really redefined what soul music was.

  • `l recorded that song in 1 956 and it was my first hit.

  • `Same year Elvis had his first hit with ``Hound Dog``.`

  • l had fun singing ``Please, Please, Please``.

  • l sung it seven years before l got a chance to record it.

  • Sid Nathan, my manager at the record company and owner,

  • he thought l said it too often. l said it 26 times before he got started.

  • He said, ``Nobody`s gonna buy a song like that, James!``

  • He didn`t like it. He said, ``Take a listen to this.

  • ``All you is saying is please, please, please. Where`s the rest of the stuff?``

  • He didn`t like it at all.

  • `But that was the song

  • `that really put us on the map.`

  • The first two or three thousand records

  • just had ``The Famous Flames``.

  • Then it became ``James Brown With The Famous Flames``.

  • Then it had ``James Brown And The Famous Flames``.

  • The problems started

  • when it became ``James Brown And His Famous Flames``.

  • That`s where the problems started, right there.

  • There was a lot of dissension in that situation.

  • At some point you realise certain people just have a gift.

  • And the gift isn`t just the music.

  • The gift is some kind of ambition connected with assertion,

  • and the fact that they just don`t take no for an answer.

  • You just got to know the pros and cons of where you`re going,

  • and don`t get mad, don`t get angry, get smart.

  • His background, experience, sawy and street smarts served him very well.

  • - # Try me - # Try me

  • # Try me

  • # And your love...

  • `We were doing one-nighters all over the South,

  • `and l was stage-testing my own material.

  • ```Try Me`` was another song they didn`t want me to record.

  • `So l paid for the demo myself,

  • `and it went straight to number one in the R&B charts.`

  • - # Hold me - # Hold me

  • # Oh, now, hold me

  • # l want you right there

  • # Right there

  • # By my side...

  • `But we were always struggling to compete with one man,

  • `our biggest local rival in Georgia.

  • `l wanted to run that Little Richard out of town.`

  • He always wanted to hit me in my mouth, to hit me on my nose.

  • He liked to box, but l was no prizefighter. l wasn`t Joe Louis.

  • We had a rivalry thing. We`d outdo each other.

  • l`d wear fancier clothes than him, l`d get shoes like my shoes here.

  • l started him dressing like this.

  • l`ve always dressed like this, fancy shoes, fancy suits, but he didn`t.

  • l was more flamboyant than he. But after it got so...

  • courageous and contagious, he had to do it to compete with me.

  • l`d jump off the amplifier and everyone would go, ``Oh, Richard!``

  • but l didn`t care, cos l had to get him.

  • `Until now, my audiences had been almost exclusively black,

  • `but now white kids were coming too.

  • `We had always, since the early days,

  • `refused to play segregated houses.`

  • When l first started with him,

  • we`d perform in the various cities

  • and he`d show me different men, the promoters, black promoters.

  • He said, ``Mr Bobbit, you see that man there, Mr John Doe?`` l said, ``Yes.``

  • ``That man wouldn`t play me.``

  • l said, ``Why not, with all your talent?`` He said, ``l was too black and too ugly.``

  • America was apartheid. ln certain areas of the country, it was like South Africa.

  • lt was apartheid, you couldn`t...

  • l remember when we`d be travelling, and James too, we couldn`t eat.

  • We could be hungry but we couldn`t go into no restaurant.

  • We had to ask if they would please sell us half a sandwich,

  • out of the kitchen door of the restaurant.

  • You couldn`t go to the bathroom, even if you were sick. You`d go behind a tree.

  • You couldn`t stay in a hotel, however tired you was. You slept in your car.

  • l`d get to auditoriums and l couldn`t use the dressing room.

  • l had to dress in my car.

  • l reserved the right to say, ``You`re all a bunch of...``

  • l won`t say that word, it`s overused, but, ``You`re all a bunch of them...``

  • and then go out on stage and, ``Ow! l feel good!``

  • l do feel good, they wanna see me.

  • # My face is wet

  • # So wet with tears

  • # You know l want you, l need you

  • # Down through the years...

  • `The audiences adored me, especially the girls.

  • `l`d married Velma Warren a few years back and had a family.

  • `But l saw less and less of them as the demands of the road increased.

  • `My fans and my band occupied my days and nights.

  • `l`d moved to New York now.

  • `l was even playing the Apollo Theatre in Harlem, alongside Jackie Wilson

  • `and doo-wop groups like The Drifters and The Dominoes.

  • `Sometimes l wondered if my mother knew of my success.

  • `And it was there at the Apollo, after a sell-out show,

  • `that a small woman came through the door.

  • `l hadn`t seen my mother for more than 20 years.`

  • James didn`t know that she was coming.

  • So all this way-back stuff came up again.

  • l know that`s what it was, because he hadn`t seen her,

  • and he had in his mind that she left him

  • and all the problems he went through when she left him.

  • l have nothing to say about my daddy or my mother but God bless you.

  • He was just bitter.

  • They didn`t get together till later on, when finally they started talking.

  • That night at the Apollo was a rough night with Susie. A rough night.

  • God said vengeance is his,

  • so l hope he won`t do the same thing to them that was done to us.

  • But just make sure they can`t inflict pain on other people.

  • lf you can`t trust your mother, who can you trust?

  • l think there was a certain element...

  • in James Brown that prevented him from ever completely trusting anyone.

  • No matter how much he cared for them,

  • no matter how much they did for him professionally,

  • there was still, in the back of his mind,

  • ``Are they gonna steal from me? Are they using me?

  • ``What`s the real motive? What`s the hidden agenda?``

  • Because that`s what he had to do to be successful,

  • and l suppose he transferred that to everybody else.

  • `l was learning to make success happen.

  • `My first live album gave people who had never seen my show

  • `a taste of my stage act.`

  • l don`t think any live album of black music quite had the impact of that one.

  • lt really defined him.

  • lt made people who had heard about him want to see him.

  • That`s the thing about James Brown, everybody who liked soul music

  • remembers seeing James Brown live. There was nothing like it.

  • - Are you ready for the Night Train? - Yeah!

  • - Are you ready for the Night Train? - Yeah!

  • # Night, night, night, night, night...

  • `lt doesn`t matter how you travel through life, it`s still the same hard road.

  • `lt doesn`t get easier as you get bigger. ln some ways, it gets harder.

  • `l`ve been a shoeshine boy and a jailbird with less than a 7th grade education.

  • `That`s what drove me back then as l travelled America.

  • `We were covering the whole country now.

  • `My shows got bigger, my records were selling nationwide,

  • `and l began getting national exposure on TV.`

  • # l feel good

  • # l knew that l would, now

  • # l feel good

  • # l knew that l would, now

  • # So good

  • # So good

  • # l got you

  • # When l hold you in my arms

  • # l know that l can do no wrong

  • # When l hold you in my arms

  • # My love can`t do me no harm

  • # l feel nice

  • # Like sugar and spice

  • # l feel nice

  • # Like sugar and spice

  • # So nice

  • # So nice

  • # l got you

  • # Yeah! #

  • lt`s a wonderful dichotomy, a guy who can scream and roll round on his knees

  • and also have a sense of who he was and what to do with his money.

  • lt was quite impressive, and important.

  • `l started promoting my own shows.

  • `You take a bigger risk, but if you`re smart you can make more money.

  • `l started my own music publishing company.

  • `l wanted to be the complete thing: businessman, entrepreneur and artist.`

  • We were constantly travelling

  • and working steady all the time.

  • During the time we were doing the theatre circuits,

  • we`d do maybe six to seven shows a day.

  • They don`t do that any more.

  • l also ended up becoming his hairdresser.

  • So l`d travel extensively with him, so l was very close to him.

  • Mr Brown thinks that your hair and your teeth are the most important things.

  • ``Miss High, if your hair ain`t right,

  • ``something wrong with you. Gotta keep your hair right! Understand?``

  • He`d look at me sometimes, ``Miss High, what did you do to your hair?``

  • He takes care of that hair. And that million-dollar smile.

  • l was crazy over him. l was, like, ``Oh, man, this is my mentor.``

  • My everything, you know.

  • We were excited, we were young, and it was like, James Brown!

  • He embodied what we all were trying to say.

  • He could walk on stage and there was something about his strut that said,

  • ``You gotta take me the way l am.``

  • Some people have to make great poetic speeches.

  • He just had to grab the mike, holler and turn round. We got the message.

  • # Come here, sister

  • # Papa`s in the swing

  • # He ain`t too hip

  • # About that new breed thing

  • # He ain`t no drag

  • # Papa`s got a brand-new bag...

  • `l was still called a soul singer,

  • `but musically l`d gone off in a different direction

  • `from, say, Otis Redding or Aretha Franklin.

  • `My strength was rhythm. l heard all the instruments like they were drums.

  • `l had found out how to make it happen. The title told it all.`

  • # Papa`s got a brand-new bag #

  • When we did ``Papa`s Bag``, we had that...we just laid it right there.

  • lt didn`t move, you know. Solid.

  • That`s one thing that makes the blues good, it`s solid.

  • So l was able to hold that down on one and three which nobody could play it.

  • Everybody else was laughing at us.

  • We just groove, people couldn`t even get the sticks up.

  • He began creating another way to make black popular music.

  • And the emphasis on rhythm, which had always been there,

  • but now, stripped away of the melodic flourishes, became a new thing,

  • and eventually evolved into funk.

  • So the whole direction of what we consider dance music,

  • in terms of how it`s arranged, how it`s recorded and how long a track was,

  • come out of these records in the mid-`60s.

  • lt`s the mother lode, ``Papa`s Bag``. lt was the one that changed everything.

  • `My music was keeping pace with the changes in society.

  • `We were demanding our rights now, civil rights and human rights.

  • `People warned me not to get involved.

  • `l said, ``With all that`s going on, l got to try.```

  • They whupped us all.

  • Even the whites.

  • They wouldn`t kill the blacks, they`d kill the whites for being a nigger lover.

  • So l got to be concerned.

  • And if l tell `em, l said, l try to get myself a lot of...

  • There`d be a lot of things.

  • l`d get a lot of press, a lot of coverage if l paint it white.

  • Uh-uh, l gotta paint it real.

  • `On June 6th, 1 966,

  • `James Meredith was ambushed on his March Against Fear.

  • `Someone shot him in the back.

  • `l flew to see him in Memphis.

  • `To me, black power meant pride and black people having a voice in politics.

  • `My music was becoming more openly political.`

  • # Now let me... Now let me tell you what you`re doing...

  • `lt began with the ``White`` and ``Coloured`` water fountains l`d seen,

  • `and then the prejudice l witnessed touring with The Famous Flames.

  • `l now wanted to have something to say about the country l lived in.`

  • At that time, black people especially

  • needed something.

  • Politics did nothing for them,

  • and he came along at the right time, with the right message.

  • He saw a need for these people, for all underdogs.

  • These songs had messages, and people listened.

  • # Tell me one more time, people, now

  • # What do you say?

  • # Without an education

  • # You might as well be dead

  • - # One more time - # What do you say?

  • # Without an education you might as well be dead...

  • He was always interested in education, because he was a dropout.

  • So his thing was to push education.

  • That song, ``Don`t Be A Drop Out``,

  • says without an education we might as well be dead.

  • He was fortunate, and blessed, and lucky enough

  • to make it without that, but everyone couldn`t be a James Brown.

  • l never had the chance to experience growing up as a kid.

  • l was 1 5 years old, l was taken by the authorities, police,

  • taken away from home. l was the popularest kid in school.

  • But l was a bad kid.

  • Don`t ever think you`re under nobody. Be proud and keep your head up high

  • and do what you got to do as a people.

  • `At that time of social disadvantage,

  • `we gave away scholarships to black colleges.

  • `Still do try and make a difference to the black community here in Augusta.`

  • l`m not doing that for the camera. l always do that.

  • l do it all the time. Yeah.

  • l`m not trying to pick up nothing, but it`s nice to see

  • so they can know what l`m saying to kids.

  • Anywhere you drive around these streets you see them run to the car

  • because he regularly comes here and makes sure the kids have money,

  • and take the money to their parents, and he gives them bicycles...

  • He doesn`t forget where he comes from.

  • - How you doing? What`s your name? - Ricky.

  • - Here you are. And...? - James.

  • Uh-oh! James, l expect l can spell that.

  • He`s got a good attitude. Oh, Lord.

  • He doesn`t know what it is.

  • lt`s fun to play with, l don`t know.

  • l gave it to his mother and she gave it to him.

  • # Georgia

  • # Oh, Georgia

  • # Well, well...

  • `Augusta`s been my home for many years now.

  • `lt`s where we often come together, the band and me.

  • `Our rehearsals are held behind closed doors. lt`s where my music evolves.`

  • One more time.

  • l said l`d put that question l`ve had all these years.

  • # Georgia

  • # Georgia

  • - # Georgia - # Georgia

  • # No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no peace l find

  • - # Well, well - # Georgia

  • # lt`s an old sweet song

  • # To keep Georgia right here

  • # On my mind...

  • When you get into a rehearsal with James Brown, the first thing is,

  • probably whatever you do won`t be right.

  • But you strive to do exactly like you`re told,

  • and you strive to remember every move.

  • The main thing is, nothing is written down,

  • so the only thing you have to rely on is your memory.

  • # Still

  • # ln my dreams l see

  • - # Oh - # The road

  • # The road, the road

  • # The road leading back to you, Mama

  • # Georgia

  • - # Ooh - # Georgia...

  • Most of the band members have been with him many years.

  • So...he basically sings the same songs all the time,

  • so they should know the songs.

  • They know they have to keep their eyes on him when he`s performing.

  • lf he turns and sees they`re looking at something else, they get fined.

  • He would fine someone, you know, like he`s singing...

  • ``Get on up... Get up, get on up``...

  • and he`ll look around and he`ll see... ``Get on up``...

  • along with the music, the beat and everything.

  • However many times, that could be a hundred, two hundred, three hundred.

  • lt could be five, ten, fifteen.

  • One night he gave me a fine of $75 for a wrinkle in the back of my dress.

  • Whenever you would see him doing this,

  • he`d go like that to a particular person,

  • that was $5... $5, $1 0, $1 5, $20 out of the pay cheque that week.

  • He loved being on stage, but it was all about business.

  • Timing your appearance, someone going into a change at the wrong time,

  • hitting a wrong note, he heard it all.

  • James Brown the showman was about business.

  • He enjoyed himself on that stage or he became angry on that stage.

  • There was an anger that was not understood.

  • And l don`t know what that anger was,

  • but one day l realised it didn`t make a difference.

  • What he did to one he`d do to the other,

  • regardless of what you accomplished.

  • l would hate to have to fight James Brown.

  • Cos you`d probably have to shoot him 20,000 times before he quit.

  • He will win, he would not lose an argument.

  • l think that`s why people don`t argue with him,

  • because they know there is no way to win.

  • He had to be in control. James Brown had to be in control.

  • - Did l call you? - No.

  • - Why didn`t l call you? - l don`t know.

  • # One...two...

  • # Three...four

  • # l don`t care, ha

  • # About your past

  • # l just want

  • # Our love to last...

  • ```Cold Sweat`` had fitted right into my 1 960s funk bag.

  • `Funk, like soul before it, came from the roots of black music.

  • `lt`s about being proud of yourself and your people.

  • # ln a cold sweat...

  • `Funk music and the civil rights movement went hand in hand.

  • `A lot of strange things were happening: killings, riots across America,

  • `burning black people`s businesses and homes.

  • `The whole country was burning up in the summer of `67.`

  • They hurt `em. What they did to `em. They beat `em up,

  • left their families homeless, dragged them out at night.

  • You don`t think you should say ``Ouch``? l can`t believe the system.

  • Treat people that bad and not expect `em to say it hurts?

  • The doctor has to tell `em, ``Does it hurt there?``

  • The system will never say, ``Does it hurt?`` So men react.

  • ``An eye for an eye``, we`re not saying that.

  • We`re saying, ``Give me a piece of the pie.``

  • Or throw it up in the air, let everybody catch a piece.

  • You just hand it to somebody else, never to me, and l`m standing looking.

  • `l didn`t think a year could get any stranger than 1 967,

  • `but there was a lot worse to come.`

  • (Gunshot)

  • (Chanting) We want King! We want King!

  • We want King!

  • `l knew the killing of Martin Luther King would bring violence and death.

  • `When he died, l wanted to keep people from rioting on the streets that night.

  • `l was booked to do a live show in Boston.

  • `At first, the mayor wanted me to cancel my show,

  • `but then we suggested televising it.

  • `That way, people could stay home and see it.`

  • We in Boston will honour Dr King in peace.

  • Thank you.

  • `There was no trouble in Boston that night.

  • `The police said it was so quiet on the streets it was eerie.

  • `Other cities weren`t so lucky.

  • `There were hundreds of fires and thousands of arrests.

  • `People were dying.

  • (Announcer) `The king of rhythm and blues, James Brown!`

  • `My fans were edgy. When they jumped on stage, that upset the police.

  • `They started to move in.

  • `l knew a televised incident would destroy everything l was doing.

  • `l told the police to back off.`

  • l`m all right.

  • You wanna dance? Dance.

  • People there still came cos James Brown was a hero.

  • Everybody came to see what Soul Brother Number One was saying.

  • l said, ``Wait a minute.

  • ``l`m here to stop this, get us back on the good foot and do what we got to do.

  • ``And the problem here is, you don`t respect me.

  • ``Wait a minute.``

  • We are black, don`t make us all look bad. Let me finish the show.

  • Get off the stage, step down there. Be a gentleman.

  • You`re not being fair to me or your race.

  • l asked the police to step back because l figure

  • l could get some respect from my own people.

  • Now, are we together?

  • (Audience ) Yeah!

  • # Ow! Can`t stand it

  • # Can`t... Ow!

  • # Can`t stand it, baby...

  • l remember a leading politician once told him,

  • ``You`re in trouble now, when you stopped the riots.``

  • He said, ``Why, l thought it was good.``

  • ``You don`t understand. Anyone who can stop a riot can start one.``

  • His influence frightened them,

  • because he was not ruling in terms of influence by their permission.

  • He was independent, he was a free agent,

  • and even though he was doing everything positive,

  • they don`t wanna see that kind of power in hands of people they don`t control.

  • `Once you become a public figure and are seen with politicians,

  • `it can get tricky.

  • `l wanted to entertain the troops in Vietnam. The authorities were reluctant.

  • `lt took a long time to persuade the government

  • `to let me, a black musician, go there.

  • `l admired the bravery of the soldiers,

  • `and l understood they wanted artists they could identify with.

  • `The army brass didn`t see things my way.`

  • He expressed his dissatisfaction with how he and his troupe had been treated

  • by the USO branch that had sponsored the trip.

  • The fact that his entourage had been severely limited,

  • that he couldn`t take his whole band,

  • so he couldn`t bring the soldiers his whole show.

  • He thought that was grossly unfair, and he decided that it was racial,

  • that the army brass didn`t know who he was

  • because they didn`t know or give a damn about contemporary music.

  • So he had a pretty bitter experience.

  • l didn`t go to Vietnam to fight.

  • l went to comfort the people. We might never see them again.

  • And if the music was loud enough, we had a ceasefire while l was on stage.

  • They didn`t use that time to blow up the place. They came for the music.

  • # This is a man`s world

  • (Cheering)

  • # Mmm

  • # But it wouldn`t be nothing

  • # Nothing

  • # Without a woman or a girl

  • # l`ll say it one more time...

  • `We did two, sometimes three shows a day.

  • `lt was harder than any tour l`d ever done.

  • `We travelled by helicopter, and came back to our Saigon hotel every night.

  • `ln those days, the singers who toured with me were also my girlfriends.

  • `That way l could keep them with me.

  • `ln Vietnam, Marva Whitney was the singer in my show.`

  • l was scared to death, and especially in planes when they...

  • Every now and then, we could kinda peep out the window,

  • and it`s something to look up, down, and all you see is fire.

  • And then they tell you you have to lay down in the belly of the plane.

  • So we lay down, we were very obedient because we didn`t want to get shot.

  • And l think he felt comfortable if he had at least a stick

  • to fight in case somebody came.

  • He said, ``l must have a stick to protect myself.``

  • l was very glad that he did.

  • When you belong to him and his entourage,

  • you`re in there, l believe...

  • ..you know, for the long haul.

  • lt doesn`t mean that you don`t love him, because l do love him

  • for what he has taught me.

  • Some people forgive, some people understand,

  • and some people keep on being who they are.

  • There`s a saying, ``Self-preservation is the first law of nature,``

  • and that he follows.

  • That he follows.

  • And it has paid off for him.

  • He personified the era.

  • l was a teenager during that time and l remember picking up ``Look`` magazine.

  • The cover story was,

  • ``James Brown. ls he the most important black man in America?``

  • ln many ways, he was.

  • James Brown`s records were more like movements unto themselves.

  • They had a tremendous impact on a whole generation of black Americans.

  • # Uh! You`re bad

  • # Say it loud

  • # Say it loud...

  • ``Say lt Loud - l`m Black And l`m Proud`` just drove me crazy

  • on the dance floor as a young kid.

  • To hear this record that came out so bold and strong,

  • that took us from being coloureds and negroes and other derogatory words,

  • it was a strong effect of hearing brother James Brown.

  • # Say it loud

  • # Some people say they got a lot of manners, some say it`s a lot of nerve

  • # l say we won`t quit moving till we get what we deserve...

  • lt was a song to uplift black people.

  • ``Say it loud, l`m black and l`m proud.``

  • There was a time when if you`d say black to a black man,

  • whatever his complexion, you`d have to fight.

  • So he made it popular.

  • Even to this day, when l`m in the middle of some huge fight over civil rights,

  • l always quote James Brown and that song,

  • ``Some of us rather die on our feet than live on our knees.``

  • There`s nothing l know of ever said that more expressed how some of us feel.

  • lt wasn`t just something nice and cute. lt spoke to our soul.

  • # Say it loud

  • # Say it loud...

  • `But the song scared white people.

  • `They thought it was militant and it cost me my crossover audience.`

  • lt was a shame, because it really never was a hate record.

  • lt got misunderstood, cos as the record got strong,

  • H Rapp Brown and the Panthers and others took it as their theme,

  • and it scared some white audiences and white programmers.

  • James suffered for standing up for what he thought was right.

  • l wasn`t mad with nobody or talking down the country,

  • l was talking about making it better.

  • That summer that record came out, it was such a...

  • No black artist had ever done anything quite like that.

  • Specially no one as popular as he was, no one with as much at risk as him.

  • Black identity was still up for grabs.

  • We take ``black`` for granted, ``black`` is almost ancient now,

  • but in `67, `68, `69, who we were, black pride, was a new concept.

  • ln Augusta, Georgia l used to shine shoes

  • on the steps of the radio station WRDW.

  • We started at 3 cents, then we went up to 5 and 6. Never did get to a dime.

  • Today, l own that radio station.

  • You know what that is?

  • That`s black power.

  • This is Tony Scott reporting from WRDW Augusta,

  • a James Brown station.

  • l always say if l got my own money l can buy what l want.

  • But if l got no money and you ain`t got the rights...

  • l don`t want rights with no money.

  • l`d rather have no rights and have money, go across the street and buy it.

  • `As well as buying radio stations,

  • `l started a chain of Gold Platter restaurants.

  • `They had black management and food geared to the ghetto.

  • `l financed my own line of food stamps too.`

  • l was buying opportunity that God granted us and we never got.

  • l was buying opportunity.

  • `l bought my second Learjet,

  • `and with my second wife Deirdre, moved back to my home town, Augusta,

  • `this time to Walton Way on the white side of town.

  • `That was all right with me. l wasn`t prejudiced.

  • `lt was a new decade now, the `70s, and my music was getting funkier.

  • `l`d rather play for my people at the Apollo than play the White House.`

  • # That`s where it`s at That`s where it`s at

  • # Hot pants

  • # Smokin`

  • # Hot pants

  • # Smokin`

  • # Take your fine self home...

  • What l used to do is come off stage,

  • write a song in between, while the show was going, while my band was playing.

  • l`d put my uniform on, do the show, get changed and go to the studio.

  • Wrote it during the show and recorded it after the show, same night.

  • A lot of times he`d put songs together right there in the studio.

  • lt was long and tiring at times,

  • but he would come out with a hit.

  • He has it in his mind already.

  • He can pluck these things out on the piano,

  • he can tell the guitar what he wants to play.

  • ``Play chang, chang, chang, chang, chang, chang, ching.``

  • And the bass player... This is how he makes the sound.

  • You should do: Da-da-da ba-ba bang!

  • Know what l mean?

  • You gotta go... in double time to raise it up.

  • lnstead of doing the regular.

  • Make it tricky. OK? Same thing!

  • He can hear things that we can`t hear.

  • Sometimes l was, like, ``Where did he come up with that?

  • ``How did he do that?``

  • l`m talking about the background, you know.

  • He would say, ``Miss High, l want you to sing...

  • ``l want you to sing... aaahhh``

  • ``Sing what?``

  • James Brown also had a lot of talented musicians and band directors

  • who could interpret what he would say to them.

  • Sometimes he`d play little things on the organ,

  • but most of the time it`d be like... do-do-do do-do-do-do do-do.

  • l`ve been told a thousand times that the music was wrong.

  • A thousand times.

  • Mr Brown violates musical rules in all areas.

  • l mean, it`s things as simple as one, two, three, four.

  • lf it doesn`t work with what he`s doing, he might go one, two, three and a half.

  • l said, ``Does it sound good?`` ``Yeah, it sounds good.``

  • l said, ``Are you arguing with God`s ears?``

  • God made your ears, you didn`t make `em.

  • lf it sounds good, that`s it.

  • lf you listen to a tune like ``l Got The Feeling``, somehow it works,

  • but there`s no count on ``l Got The Feeling... da-da-da-da ba-da-da.``

  • # l got the feeling now

  • # You don`t know

  • # What you do to me...

  • This part here... Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba!

  • # Baby, baby, baby...

  • You cannot count that, you cannot write that, it violates all musical terms.

  • There is no one, two, three, four, it is just like it is.

  • The main rule when you play with James Brown is watch him,

  • go with him, whatever he does.

  • # You don`t care about me now

  • # Ow! Baby

  • # All right

  • # Uh-huh! Ah!

  • # Baby

  • # l got it

  • # All right...

  • There`s no musical formula or theory for it,

  • it just is, and it works.

  • So l became a true proponent of the James Brown theory of music,

  • which is sort of non-theoretical, it`s whatever makes your body move.

  • # Get up offa that thing

  • # Dance till you feel better

  • # Get up offa that thing

  • # Dance, say it now

  • - # Get up offa that thing - # Say it

  • - # Dance till you feel better - # Uh-huh

  • # Get up offa that thing

  • # Dance till you feel better

  • # Get up offa that thing

  • # Dance till you feel better

  • # Get up offa that thing

  • # And twist, twist and shout

  • # Get up offa that thing And dance till you feel better

  • - # Uh-huh! Dance - # Get up offa that thing...

  • He deserved every title that was placed on him,

  • from Soul Brother Number One to the King Of Soul.

  • A lot of people don`t know the reason why he became the Godfather Of Soul.

  • When you`re king, you don`t need to be the godfather,

  • but that was when he did a movie ``Black Caesar``,

  • which dealt with the black mafia up in Harlem.

  • That`s when he took on the title of the Godfather Of Soul.

  • # Having fun

  • # Got money to burn...

  • Mr Brown was a very unconventional man,

  • famous for doing things no one else did,

  • and l told him what the movie was about.

  • He got the band, went in the studio, recorded three hours of music

  • and said, ``You got it.`` ``Got what?`` ``The master.``

  • l said, ``Mr Brown, that`s not the way it`s done.``

  • ``lt`s the way l do it.``

  • And he never saw the movie until it was screened in New York.

  • # Told you so...

  • lt was what Mr Brown wants. lt`s his show, his game, his world.

  • You`re just passing through. Play by the rules, you`re in.

  • Mr Brown has a terrific ego,

  • which is good. We all have egos, but he has a terrific ego.

  • ``l am who l am.

  • ``l`m the best.

  • ``l know it, first because l say it and secondly because l show it.``

  • He always had this saying, ``l`m not fattening frogs for snakes.``

  • ``l am not fattening frogs for snakes.``

  • And from a small town, it`s like, what does that mean?

  • And one day it hit me, l`m not going to go any further unless l participate more.

  • lf he cares about you, he`ll make sure he keeps in contact with you.

  • Sometimes l`d get kinda angry about that,

  • because l didn`t want him to know every place that l would go,

  • but that was just his way of caring.

  • lt was too much stress.

  • l had a hotline at my house.

  • l couldn`t go to the grocery store, or to a movie.

  • l had to answer that phone all the time. l had no peace.

  • l`m in Texas, they`re in Georgia.

  • That`s cute to a lot of people,

  • but sometimes it gets to be like a little prison,

  • and just too much was happening like that.

  • He could be a tyrant, he could be generous.

  • He could be extremely patient and tolerant.

  • And he could be demanding beyond reason.

  • The James Brown l worked for was remarkably sawy about the business.

  • There was no aspect of the music business he wasn`t keenly aware of

  • and vastly experienced in.

  • `From the start, l had built my business and spread my message through radio

  • `and my special relationship with DJs.

  • `But they were now accusing us of payola.`

  • What Brown did that l think nobody else probably did was,

  • at some point in the evening he would leave the dressing room,

  • or ask the guys to go and meet one of his road managers,

  • or his valet, or whoever was the designated guy that night.

  • That person would have little envelopes for every one of these DJs,

  • with money inside.

  • l gave disc jockeys money.

  • l paid disc jockeys for their labour, and l kept receipts.

  • They would then have you sign a receipt,

  • which stipulated that it was for MC Services.

  • l would like to know, would you tonight give James Brown,

  • with a standing ovation,

  • the respect he deserves and let me hear you say, ``Right on.``

  • The whole thing was above board.

  • As long as the guys took the stage,

  • that`s what they were getting paid for.

  • The government looked at it, we were doing nothing wrong.

  • lf we discovered a fella got a rent problem, he got kicked out of his house,

  • Mr Bobbit would tell me and we`d pay his rent or whatever.

  • He ain`t got a car, we`d get him one.

  • Somebody had to help me, so we helped somebody.

  • `No government investigation could stop me playing for my people.

  • `l took my music where it belonged, to the ghettos and prisons.`

  • No one had his confidence, his determination or his discipline,

  • and he was sure, l mean absolutely certain,

  • that he could change history.

  • `You can try to get inside and have some influence,

  • `or stay outside and be pure and powerless.

  • `Either way, you`ll get criticised if you`re black and supporting a president.`

  • He felt what Nixon was doing was in the interests of people.

  • He felt he could talk to Nixon.

  • Thank you. Thank you.

  • Does the president know what l`m doing in the ghetto? He has no idea.

  • The system has no idea of the ghetto, whether it`s black, Latino or whatever.

  • ln the ghetto they got a different language.

  • What was important to me was to tell the president straight, one on one.

  • Maybe it was his interpretation of the saying,

  • ``Keep your friends close and your enemies closer,``

  • or just a case of you throw your lot in with the winners.

  • l respected it if only for the guts it took to do it,

  • because surely he had to know the backlash he was going to get.

  • lt caused big problems for us, because a lot of the radio stations,

  • a lot of the disc jockeys he had given jobs to and helped,

  • they turned on us and several took his records off the air.

  • For a short while it was kind of bad.

  • # lf you have a change of heart

  • # Because we can`t, we can`t go on like this...

  • `As l always said, if people want to know who James Brown is,

  • `all they have to do is listen to my music.`

  • # And we have got to love our mother

  • # Because she said never to be apart

  • # And avoid hate and add love to our heart

  • # l never thought good people would ever, ever fail

  • # And let this wonderful world

  • # Be like a prison jail...

  • `Though l`d never stopped making TV and radio shows and records,

  • `l found l somehow couldn`t keep hold of the money.

  • `The tax people, the lRS, were closing in.

  • `They claimed l owed $2 million, then $4.5 million in back taxes. lt was crazy.

  • `l got the feeling people were watching me.

  • `The FBl had a programme to destroy black nationalists,

  • `and J Edgar Hoover told his agents to prevent the rise of a new black leader.`

  • We know now the government didn`t want the rise of a black messiah.

  • We know now that they surveilled and infiltrated black organisations.

  • None had the mass appeal or following of James Brown.

  • lt would be naive to think they went at local activists

  • and didn`t deal with a world icon.

  • l was still ignorant to what was going on.

  • l`m street-smart. l can make the money,

  • but the system takes it and doesn`t give it back.

  • `Following my worsening tax problems, they shut my radio stations.`

  • They closed my stations cos l didn`t run `em equal to the Highway Department.

  • l couldn`t run `em that way.

  • That same rap that we had, also our style of living went into that.

  • Don`t expect me to be a professor. l`m from a ghetto. l act like James Brown.

  • `They took away my jet planes.

  • `The lRS took away my cars and even got seizure papers on my house.`

  • l think his lRS problems were political,

  • motivated by those who didn`t want to see him go too far.

  • l think the fact he was so outspoken motivated some to misuse government

  • to try and, if not stop him, at least slow him down.

  • `lt wasn`t just politics but the music business too that slowed me down.`

  • `Disco had arrived.`

  • Disco did in not just James Brown

  • but just about every other live entertainer

  • worth their salt in the mid `70s,

  • because all of a sudden it wasn`t cool to go to concerts.

  • You took that money and you went to a club and you danced to records.

  • The last semblance of what Brown stood for career-wise was threatened.

  • ln fact, there was a lull there in the mid and late `70s

  • where his career was probably in the worst shape it`s been

  • save before his first record in the `50s.

  • There simply weren`t venues enough to keep him active,

  • and keep him supported. Given his lifestyle and his tax problems,

  • it was a recipe for financial disaster.

  • `Under the pressure of so many problems,

  • `my second wife Deirdre left me and took my two little daughters.

  • `l missed them.`

  • l had my butt kicked, l had my head thumped, taking my home,

  • running my wife away, running my kids away,

  • putting them all on drugs, it was the end of the world to me.

  • Right here, you know. What do l do?

  • Do l get angry, do l retaliate, do l say ``Ouch``?

  • Or just smile and say l like it? No, l didn`t do that.

  • `l was also haunted by memories of my first-born, Teddy,

  • `who had died a little while earlier.

  • `All of that seemed like the end of the world to me.`

  • Teddy was killed in a car accident. We were around the same age.

  • l became like his son and he became like a father to me.

  • He was the father that left, and l was the son he lost.

  • We became very close.

  • l think when he had the tragedy in his life,

  • l think he would really have fallen apart, because he loves very hard,

  • his family members, and his wife, he loved her very much.

  • lf he had not continued to perform, l think he would`ve fell apart, l really do.

  • l said when l woke up this morning,

  • l heard a disturbing sound.

  • (All) Yeah!

  • What l heard was the jingle-jangle of a thousand lost souls.

  • `Performing became my therapy.

  • `l`d always felt you shouldn`t bring your problems to the stage.

  • `My act originated in the church.

  • `People don`t go to church to find trouble but to lose it.`

  • l knew he had a background as a preacher

  • and also that he considers God very close to his drive and path in life.

  • He looks to God in the sore times and thanks him in the great times.

  • So l thought, with Landis, it`d be great to have him

  • show us where all blues began, in the church.

  • Well, well, well.

  • (Sings gospel song)

  • Despite the occasional movie role and hit song,

  • the `80s were bleak years for James Brown.

  • Fans and broadcasters like me wanted more high-energy, innovative music,

  • but the Godfather Of Soul seemed to have temporarily lost his way.

  • He married a third time,

  • but the tempestuous and very public marriage

  • found its way repeatedly onto the TV news.

  • (TV) `ln Aiken, South Carolina,

  • `James Brown is charged with trying to kill his wife

  • `by shooting up her car and attacking her with an iron pipe.`

  • `Singer James Brown spent last night in jail in Aiken, South Carolina.

  • `Brown went on trial accused of trying to run down two policemen

  • `after ignoring orders to stop his pick-up truck.`

  • Look at any human being and ask,

  • how many storms can you take before you break?

  • He has broken a couple of times,

  • and we saw the valves blow down there in the South a few years ago.

  • l used to be afraid to turn on the radio in the morning.

  • l was afraid that l`d hear this guy was in jail or arrested or whatever.

  • Because for a period, it was a real touch-and-go situation.

  • (TV) `When police caught up with him, they had to wrestle him to the ground.`

  • They`re running tests now on a little vial of greenish-reddish looking material

  • that we suspect is gonna be PCP.

  • ln September 1 988, Brown burst into an insurance seminar with a shotgun,

  • claiming the salesman had soiled his toilet,

  • and was chased across two states by a procession of police cars

  • who riddled his truck with 23 bullets and shot out his tyres.

  • Things built up, you know.

  • He was just going out for a drive,

  • and he was on a substance because he couldn`t take it any more -

  • Sensitivity, the artist, all of it.

  • lt`s lucky nothing worse happened, when you think how things had built up.

  • Brown refused to plead guilty to driving while on drugs or resisting arrest.

  • For his stubbornness,

  • he got six-year sentences from both Georgia and South Carolina.

  • l refused to say l was guilty of something l wasn`t guilty of.

  • lf you say no and disagree, you go to jail.

  • lf you`re black, and a big man like me, you go to jail to show the rest of `em.

  • So l went to jail, and l thank God for it, cos l rested.

  • l was tired, l needed a rest bad. So one thing helped me for another.

  • l remember l went to see him in jail in the late `80s.

  • l was protesting, l was angry. lt was an injustice.

  • He said to me, ``Reverend, don`t worry. When l get out, l`ll be bigger than ever.``

  • l thought he`d lost it.

  • ``What do you mean? You`re going to jail, you`re in your late 50s.``

  • He never doubted his place in history. Never, under any circumstances.

  • A model prisoner, Brown was released after serving two and a half years.

  • But the devil never strays far from James Brown`s door.

  • A few years later his turbulent marriage to Adrienne ended tragically

  • when she died while undergoing cosmetic surgery.

  • Brown was shattered.

  • He reacted as he had when his son Teddy died. He went back to work.

  • l`ve been with him in the lowest moments

  • and he`d look at me and tell me how it would all be all right.

  • The strange thing is, it ended up being all right.

  • # Peace, unity, love and having fun

  • # Ahh! Ahh!

  • # Baby, baby...

  • `During my time in prison, my music became popular

  • `with the next generation of ghetto kids, the hip-hoppers and rappers.

  • `They took my music and sampled it and made dance records.

  • `Their stuff is an extension of what l was doing,

  • `rapping over a funky beat about pride, anger and respect.`

  • A lot of the attitude of what we consider hip-hop,

  • the attitude, the command, the sense of ``vengeance is mine``

  • in some of those songs, comes out of James Brown records.

  • Every James Brown record ever made has probably been sampled by now.

  • There is no hip-hop without James Brown.

  • James Brown is the most sampled artist of all time.

  • James Brown is very essential to much of the elements of hip-hop,

  • graffiti, break dancing, MCing and DJing.

  • Hip-hop could not have existed without him

  • because the originators of hip-hop,

  • Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Flash, Aku Herc,

  • were all entrenched in James Brown.

  • James Brown was the ultimate hip-hop type of music.

  • Everything was there.

  • You had your breaks, your bass, you had your funky type of singing,

  • you had your funky style of word rapping,

  • like when he breaks down in ``Get On The Good Foot``,

  • keeping that break beat going back and forth, forth and back.

  • # l got the blues

  • # But l paid my dues

  • # l wanna do it

  • # Get, get, get, get, get, get get on the good foot

  • # Ow! Hey!

  • # Ow!

  • # Bum-bum-bum-bum-bum-bum Bum-bum-bum...

  • l don`t think one kid in the `hood

  • can`t tell you they haven`t been influenced by James Brown.

  • lf you`re a performer, James Brown is the ultimate performer,

  • the voice of James Brown is the ultimate voice.

  • He is not only an icon but an idol.

  • James Brown came from prison, he made something of himself.

  • l don`t know nobody who don`t respect him.

  • He was the architect, from gospel to soul, from soul to funk,

  • from funk to hip-hop.

  • There`s only one thread from the little church in Barnwell, South Carolina,

  • to the hip-hop concert in the Garden. That thread is James Brown.

  • `Where l grew up there was no way out, so you had to make a way.

  • `Mine was to create James Brown.

  • `People say l have a big ego.

  • `l had to have an ego to make anything of myself in the first place.

  • `l had to have an ego to stay out there and continue working no matter what.

  • `l have to have one now to say, ``Yes, l`m James Brown,

  • ```and it`s still happening for me.```

  • l wanna be free. l wanna be able to serve the Lord,

  • not work six days a week and on Sunday l gotta rest cos l`m so beat.

  • Yeah, l got ego. My ego is for being free.

  • # Ah!

  • # Ahh! Ooh!

  • # The way l like it

  • # That`s the way it is

  • # l got mine Don`t worry `bout his

  • # Can`t go back Let`s get down

  • # Can`t go back Let`s get

  • # Can`t go back Let`s get down

  • # Can`t go back Let`s get down

  • # Everybody over there, get those hands in the air

  • # Everybody over there, get those hands in the air

  • # Everybody over there, get those hands in the air

  • # Everybody over there, get those hands in the air

  • # Everybody out there, get those hands in the air

  • # Everybody out here, get those hands in the air

  • # Get `em up, get `em up, get `em up

  • # Get `em up, get `em up

  • - # Get `em up, get `em up - # Get `em up, get `em up

  • - # Get `em up, get `em up - # Get `em up, get `em up

  • - # Get `em up, get `em up - # Get `em up, get `em up

  • # Get `em up, get `em up

  • # Get on up, yo

  • # Get on up...

  • Let`s hear it for the Godfather Of Soul, Mr James Brown!

  • Mr James Brown!

  • The Godfather Of Soul, Mr James Brown!

# This is a man`s world

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