Niklas' blog

Neglecting the track by L.A. Style, The Godfather of Soul has died. Yes, James Brown died a few hours ago.

There will be few people more missed than him, considering what he’s done for black and popular culture. For all those of you who’ve still not heard him properly, start off by YouTube’ing his stuff, as a lot’s good despite the bad quality. True, he has been insane at times, but the man’s a legend for reasons. I remember being 12 years old, seeing him on TV getting asked something about race. He replied by saying he’s a taxpayer, not black, white or purple. As Ari Up would say, “that struck a hard-core feel”.

I will definitely miss him, despite my feeling his glory-years were during the 60’s and 70’s. By the way, that video in this post is from Paris 1971, where he played with Bootsy, Jabo, Cheese and other great players; check out the latter’s guitar-solo appx. 04:22 during “Ain’t It Funky Now”, one of the most sampled tracks in hip-hop history. Not to mention Bootsy’s bass, Jabo’s drums, JB’s organ-playing appx 08:22…aaah. The Funk. Rest in peace!

edit: Chromewaves have posted this, a little tribute to JB, proffering his “Santa Claus, Go Straight To The Ghetto” both in his own voice and a cover by Belle and Sebastian, from the same session I posted “Santa Claus” from, a few days ago.