What The Godfather Meant

Tribute
What the Godfather of Soul Meant to Me
Aretha Franklin, Ice Cube, Reverend Run, and other peers and disciples remember James Brown
SOUL POWER Brown in 1964

All About
James Brown
By Leah Greenblatt

Say it loud! Following the Dec. 25 passing of James Brown, a.k.a. the Godfather of Soul, the Hardest Working Man In Show Business, Soul Brother Number One, among many other monikers — most of which he coined himself — EW’s music team gathered a rich and varied collection of never-before-published quotes from his admirers. Be they contemporaries, musical descendents, or merely bystanders, all were touched in some way by his supreme funkiness. Here we offer an extended recollection of the memories and moments that made the man The Man, from some of his biggest bold-faced fans.

Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul
”His performance, you just can’t get away from that. Whatever else you might think of, you cannot get away from that. He was one-of-a-kind, an original, [like] a Rembrandt or a Picasso. The first time I heard him, I was traveling with my father as a teenager, and [Brown] had just joined the Famous Flames, I believe. We were driving in Florida and I heard this record, ”It Was You,” on the radio, and I just loved it instantly.

”And then I must have been about 19 or 20 when I first met him in person. We never actually performed much together, though I remember a show [we did] here in Detroit around ‘86 or ‘87 [with] me and Wilson Pickett. Oh my Lord.

”He was a showman extraordinaire, a social activist, and he was certainly concerned with the human condition. When I first heard about [the passing of] Gerald Ford, I thought oh, wow, that’s very sad, but I also thought that James might be overshadowed by that, but I don’t think he was at all. I think that the media and the people at large absolutely gave him his respect.”

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Kelly Carter On White Rapper Show

Seeking the next Eminem
‘(White) Rapper Show’ debuts Monday on VH1

January 7, 2007

BY KELLEY L. CARTER

FREE PRESS MUSIC WRITER

Blame Vanilla Ice and thank Eminem.

The only thing the two rappers really have in common is that they’re, well, white guys.

Unlike Ice, the Detroit rapper didn’t need to fabricate a saucy past life — and wear blinding, shiny outfits — in order to win fans. And even though Eminem has sold millions of albums and is one of the best-selling artists of the past decade, it’s still hard out there for a white rapper.

That cultural divide is front and center of a new VH1 reality series, “The (White) Rapper Show.” The show, coproduced by Ego Trip, a team that produces multimedia projects, is on a mission to discover the next great white rapper — and dig a bit into America’s attitudes about race, cultural legitimacy and an art form that was created (and has been historically dominated) by African Americans.

The show’s concept: A group of aspiring rappers moves into a house in the Bronx and goes through a series of competitions — with one contestant eliminated each episode.

And the host? Hip-hop legend MC Serch (real name Michael Berrin), who in the late ’80s was part of 3rd Bass, a ( 2/3 white) rap group that earned much respect in hip-hop circles and is best-known for the hit “Pop Goes the Weasel,” which famously trashed Vanilla Ice.

Serch, who lives in Oakland County with his wife, Chantel, and their three children, until last spring hosted the morning show at WJLB-FM (97.9). Serch chatted recently about the new show, which premieres at 10:30 p.m. Monday.

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Alan Leeds On James Brown

James Brown, 1933-2006: A godson remembers the Godfather
We Called Him Mr. Brown

Image: Wireimage Kevin Mazur

January 3, 2007

by Alan Leeds as told to Steve Perry

James Brown was about a lot of things to a lot of different people. But to those of us who passed through his inner circle, he was about family. It wasn’t always a warm, fuzzy, or even functional family. But it was family. He was that crabby patriarch who’d seldom give you what you wanted but usually give you what you needed. He’d mock your performance and curse your efforts but if you ever needed to “come home,” the door was always open.

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Greg Tate On James Brown

Eulogy for Black Caesar
James Brown, 1933–2006
by Greg Tate
January 2nd, 2007

Eeeeeeyow. Gud gaad. Aintit fonkeenah? James Brown knew how to freak the tribal speak and the tribal feet alike—the tribal neckbone and irrepressible tribal hambone too. Being a poet, a boxer, and a onetime Pentecostal supplicant, the Godfather knew a thing or two about being hit with the spirit and hit with the quickness; he also knew how to hit back, how to respond in kind in a New York minute. Bold, Black, and Beautiful things just happened faster in the world according to Brown. Tempos, terpsichore, tantrums, tangents, even jail time. They didn’t call him Mr. Dynamite for nothing. Word is that when the Hardest Working Man in Showbiz did his three-year bid, he stayed industrious, organized a choir, ran the kitchen and laundry detail. Sit-down time for Black Caesar? Fuhgeddaboudit. And unlike so many of our fallen fighters whom dust and base cocaine dropped to the mat in the ’80s and ’90s, JB came back up as superbaaad as ever. Lest we forget, he transitioned to another world tour by straight stealing Jesus’ thunder on Xmas Day. He wasn’t ever a puny human to begin with anyway, so don’t act surprised.

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Davey D On James Brown

Hip Hop Loses It’s Godfather James Brown
by Davey D

For those who don’t know James Brown the hardest working man in show business aka The Godfather of Soul passed away in Atlanta from pneumonia. A lot of newscasts have been bombarded with Christmas Day fanfare so news of his death has been a bit downplayed… This story was written a couple of years ago when we celebrated James Brown’s Birthday which is May 3rd… Hopefully people get to reflect upon the true essence of who this man was and what he meant to Hip Hop…Hopefully as you read this you recall the recent story we ran about the plight of Hip Hop pioneers…As you read this article..peep the Live Performance he did at Live 8 at Edinburgh

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James Brown’s Last Performance

James Brown

This is James Brown’s performance at the UK Music Hall of Fame in November.

James Brown Popcorn

James Brown Popcorn

Before James Brown music focused on the 2nd and 4th beat. After James Brown the world rocked to the 1st and 3rd beat. From him we all know that everything is on the one. This Christmas was a Black (cultural) Christmas and here is a clip of him in his majesty. RIP Godfather.

Omar:Soul Singer

In the beginning of Omar’s professional recording career he was a hot new London underground soul singer with a song on his father’s Kongo label, “Mr.Postman/You And Me.” A decade plus and six albums to date Omar is still a hot new underground singer to most of the world. His rich layered soul is shared among his fans like a vintage for hipsters. “There’s Nothing Like This” was a hit in his homeland and established him as the Father of Nu British Soul. Breezy falsetto weaved into curtains of copacectic funk samples, carefree courtship, strings, organs and gentle romance give all of his songs the feeling of a spring day. Somewhere within the buffered masculinities of Luther, Ron Isley and Stevie a preference for writing songs softly approaching romance gives Omar’s music love optimism. His self-contained sound has attracted soul notables on both sides of the Atlantic. Common’s musically daring Electric Circus secured a guest appearance from the singer who also collaborated with eminent soulsters David Frank, Lamont Dozier and Leon Ware.

50 Cent And Motown

50 Cent is unveiling a new sound with the Motown archives. read more

LA Times Feature On Jimmy Iovine

The LA Times did a piece on music industry executive Jimmy Iovine. Mr. Iovine is a founder of Interscope Records home to some of everyone’s favorite gangsta rappers. Death Row’s initial power boost from Iovine has a trajectory traceable to the careers of Eminem, 50 Cent and The Game. He also produced John Lennon’s Mind Games album.

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