With any and everybody proclaiming themselves the leader of this, the best at that, chest-thumping and ball hugging, when you state that a man is the Godfather of Soul the weight of those words just don’t have the impact desired, sounds like just another tag line.

Father Time is also a factor; as an artist’s prime years pass, the spirit of their creations and performances lose impact to those who didn’t witness or experience the music on a first hand basis. Not a BET Award Show appearance, it’s those who were in the small packed clubs and theatres, sweaty house parties, picked up the needle on the scratched groove of a vinyl record, heard “Say it Loud/ I’m Black I’m Proud” in the revolutionary and pride pumping way that it was intended.

They hold the true definition.

James Brown was the Godfather of Soul because he kept it real and raw at all times. There was no gimp in his limp.

No disrespect to Motown, they have history making artists *insert Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, The Miracles, The Temptations, The Four Tops, The Supremes.. on and on* At the same time the label itself was considered the shiny suit operation of the era: carefully packaged and marketed to appeal to the widest possible audience.

There no records like James Brown’s “Blues and Pants” on Motown: too raw and definitely too gritty. James Brown refused to change his sound to cater to a crossover audience or to sell records. He lived to entertain, but always did what he felt was the right thing to do for himself, putting emotion and truth ahead of a potential chart position.

Ironically that truth to self is what made his music popular.

Back in the day, my Grandmother would walk around the house singing at the top of her lungs.. “Tryyyyy Meee…!!!!”

It helped that one hand held an icy, alcoholic beverage, but she was definitely dialed into the song in a way that spoke to her personally.

What annoyed me was Grandma seemed to only love the real bluesy stuff in James Brown catalog. Stuff from the 60’s. Mentioning first-hand experience, my JB connection came from sneaking in her record collection in search of breakbeats.. records to sample.. the stuff hip-hop is built on.

She had none of his mid 70’s albums.. my Pops had that…key word being had.

In the mid 80’s, early 90’s, James Brown was THE man to sample. His records were 40% groove, 40% funk, 20% un-unintelligible grunts and noises. It was as simple as pressing record on the keyboard or spinning back a record to make the backdrop to a rap complete.

The most prominent was “Funky Drummer”...

Most known to this era of hip-hop is Total’s “Can’t You See” which sampled “The Payback” and Biggie’s “Dreamin” which sampled “Blues and Pants.”

The mainstream always talks of his fun loving “I Feel Good” records and they are the songs he performed most often in his later years. If I had to pick one favorite James Brown record it would be.. “The Payback.”

Lines like..  “I don’t know karate.. but I know Ka-razy”

.. “I can do wheelin.. I can do dealin..  But I don’t do no damn squealin.”

Gangsta before it was spelled with an A.

It’s funny how 34-year-old rappers are ‘old’ in the eyes of teenagers; it’s not even considered a possibility someone could rap into their fourties, but if it’s the music a rapper grew up with, lived with, there is no age barrier. Here was James Brown, still performing the music he knew, had a New Years Eve show scheduled and he’s 73-years-old.

James Brown’s death would have been big news on any day of the week, but Christmas Day made it all the more, dare I say.. special.

A big day, for a big man, Godfather of Soul, Rest in Peace.