WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.919 Welcome back to the Deep Dive, where we take 00:00:01.919 --> 00:00:03.960 the source material you've shared with us and 00:00:03.960 --> 00:00:06.860 go deep, way deep, to extract the core knowledge, 00:00:07.059 --> 00:00:10.439 the surprising facts, and the big picture. And 00:00:10.439 --> 00:00:13.179 today we are tackling a giant. A true giant. 00:00:13.359 --> 00:00:15.539 We're diving into the life and legacy of James 00:00:15.539 --> 00:00:18.339 Joseph Brown, a man whose presence in music was, 00:00:18.440 --> 00:00:21.379 I mean, it was less a genre and more like a seismic 00:00:21.379 --> 00:00:23.699 event. It's the ultimate deep dive into complexity, 00:00:23.980 --> 00:00:28.350 really. Born in 1933, died in 2006. And his career 00:00:28.350 --> 00:00:31.269 didn't just span decades. It fundamentally rewrote 00:00:31.269 --> 00:00:33.570 the rules of popular music. You don't get a list 00:00:33.570 --> 00:00:36.429 of nicknames like he had by just, you know, being 00:00:36.429 --> 00:00:39.789 good. Oh, not at all. Think about them. Mr. Dynamite, 00:00:39.829 --> 00:00:41.570 the hardest working man in show business. My 00:00:41.570 --> 00:00:43.850 favorite is Minister of New Super Heavy Funk. 00:00:44.149 --> 00:00:46.890 Right. And of course, godfather of soul, king 00:00:46.890 --> 00:00:49.750 of soul, soul brother number one. You get those 00:00:49.750 --> 00:00:52.509 by creating an entirely new architecture of sound. 00:00:52.689 --> 00:00:55.490 Exactly. And our mission today is to unpack that 00:00:55.490 --> 00:00:57.789 very complexity, tracing the line between the 00:00:57.789 --> 00:01:00.770 musical genius and the, well, the deeply troubled 00:01:00.770 --> 00:01:03.090 man behind it all. He is, without a doubt, the 00:01:03.090 --> 00:01:05.590 central progenitor of funk music. And through 00:01:05.590 --> 00:01:09.010 that, he laid the rhythmic foundation for basically 00:01:09.010 --> 00:01:13.590 everything that followed. R &B, soul, and, you 00:01:13.590 --> 00:01:16.109 know, most powerfully, hip -hop. I mean, think 00:01:16.109 --> 00:01:18.349 about this statistic for a second. Our sources 00:01:18.349 --> 00:01:21.209 say he is, to this day, the world's most sampled 00:01:21.209 --> 00:01:23.209 recording artist. That's not just influence. 00:01:23.269 --> 00:01:26.150 That is the very DNA woven into the fabric of 00:01:26.150 --> 00:01:29.269 modern music. And that influence was backed up 00:01:29.269 --> 00:01:32.170 by just a relentless, commercially successful 00:01:32.170 --> 00:01:37.780 output. idiosyncratic way. What do you mean by 00:01:37.780 --> 00:01:40.799 that? Well, the sources confirm he had 17 singles 00:01:40.799 --> 00:01:43.579 reach number one on the Billboard R &B charts. 00:01:43.980 --> 00:01:46.500 17, which is a phenomenal achievement. That puts 00:01:46.500 --> 00:01:48.379 him right at the very top of R &B history. It 00:01:48.379 --> 00:01:50.760 does. But here's the fascinating contradictory 00:01:50.760 --> 00:01:52.900 wrinkle in those stats, and I think it speaks 00:01:52.900 --> 00:01:55.540 volumes about his unique position. Okay. He also 00:01:55.540 --> 00:01:57.299 holds the record for the most singles on the 00:01:57.299 --> 00:01:59.920 Billboard Hot 100 that did not reach number one. 00:02:00.019 --> 00:02:03.299 Wow. That is the key insight, isn't it? It is. 00:02:03.379 --> 00:02:05.439 He was a phenomenon who was deeply successful, 00:02:05.719 --> 00:02:08.319 culturally dominant, without really needing the 00:02:08.319 --> 00:02:10.319 mainstream pop machine. He built his own lane. 00:02:10.539 --> 00:02:13.740 He engineered his own lane. Exactly. He cultivated 00:02:13.740 --> 00:02:16.240 his own audience, mostly through the R &B charts 00:02:16.240 --> 00:02:18.900 and that grueling touring circuit. It meant his 00:02:18.900 --> 00:02:22.879 revolutionary sound. That raw, percussive funk. 00:02:23.449 --> 00:02:25.409 It never had to be watered down for crossover 00:02:25.409 --> 00:02:28.669 appeal. So our goal for you, the listener, is 00:02:28.669 --> 00:02:32.229 to understand the full scope of this. This paradoxical 00:02:32.229 --> 00:02:35.009 genius. Right. How could one man maintain such 00:02:35.009 --> 00:02:37.030 an unmatched level of professional discipline 00:02:37.030 --> 00:02:39.669 and drive, creating a cultural movement? While 00:02:39.669 --> 00:02:41.849 at the same time battling poverty, law enforcement, 00:02:42.090 --> 00:02:45.169 his own personal demons, and ultimately a 15 00:02:45.169 --> 00:02:47.870 -year legal war over his own legacy after he 00:02:47.870 --> 00:02:49.689 was gone. It's an incredible story. We're going 00:02:49.689 --> 00:02:52.050 to trace that line from his earliest, harshest 00:02:52.050 --> 00:02:54.650 beginnings right up to the final ruling on his 00:02:54.650 --> 00:02:56.900 estate. Okay, let's unpack this history. And 00:02:56.900 --> 00:02:59.120 we have to start at the roots of the man who 00:02:59.120 --> 00:03:01.400 branded himself the hardest working man in show 00:03:01.400 --> 00:03:05.580 business. And James Brown's origins were unbelievably 00:03:05.580 --> 00:03:08.659 harsh. He was born James Joseph Brown in Barnwell, 00:03:08.719 --> 00:03:11.919 South Carolina in 1933. Though, fun fact, his 00:03:11.919 --> 00:03:14.099 name was mistakenly reversed on the birth certificate. 00:03:14.419 --> 00:03:16.099 Yeah, it was supposed to be Joseph James Brown. 00:03:17.469 --> 00:03:19.729 And the family lived in just dire poverty in 00:03:19.729 --> 00:03:22.090 Elko before moving to Augusta, Georgia, when 00:03:22.090 --> 00:03:24.530 he was just four or five years old. And the adversity 00:03:24.530 --> 00:03:27.710 began immediately. Oh, yeah. It profoundly shaped 00:03:27.710 --> 00:03:31.189 his need for control and success later on. His 00:03:31.189 --> 00:03:33.710 mother left the family after a contentious, abusive 00:03:33.710 --> 00:03:36.689 marriage. She essentially abandoned him. So he 00:03:36.689 --> 00:03:39.050 was just bouncing between relatives. He was, 00:03:39.189 --> 00:03:41.909 including one aunt whose home, and this is a 00:03:41.909 --> 00:03:45.009 crucial detail, operated as a brothel. It's so 00:03:45.009 --> 00:03:46.650 important to pause on that. He's spending his 00:03:46.650 --> 00:03:49.689 foundational years in an environment where survival 00:03:49.689 --> 00:03:52.610 means observation, it means performance, and 00:03:52.610 --> 00:03:56.030 it means understanding these really transactional 00:03:56.030 --> 00:03:58.389 relationships. It's an intense pressure cooker 00:03:58.389 --> 00:04:01.270 for a child. Right. And where a lot of kids might 00:04:01.270 --> 00:04:04.370 just internalize that chaos, it seems like Brown 00:04:04.370 --> 00:04:07.710 internalized the need for absolute order and 00:04:07.710 --> 00:04:10.030 hustle. Precisely. You can see the genesis of 00:04:10.030 --> 00:04:12.659 that famous drive right there in Augusta. As 00:04:12.659 --> 00:04:15.360 a kid, he performed buck dances, which is a style 00:04:15.360 --> 00:04:17.360 of rhythmic percussive dance. He'd do it for 00:04:17.360 --> 00:04:20.800 change. For change. For troops from Camp Gordon 00:04:20.800 --> 00:04:23.819 during World War II convoys. He was a professional 00:04:23.819 --> 00:04:26.779 entertainer working for tips before he was even 00:04:26.779 --> 00:04:29.160 10 years old. He was also teaching himself music 00:04:29.160 --> 00:04:31.920 skills, right? Piano, guitar. Harmonica, yeah. 00:04:32.500 --> 00:04:34.600 He was inspired by titans like Louis Jordan. 00:04:34.759 --> 00:04:37.500 He even tried a brief boxing career in his teens, 00:04:37.560 --> 00:04:39.660 which shows you, like, aggressive, competitive 00:04:39.660 --> 00:04:42.120 nature right from the start. But that relentless 00:04:42.120 --> 00:04:45.139 struggle, it led to a crucial stumble. It did. 00:04:45.540 --> 00:04:48.500 At 16, he was convicted of robbery and sent to 00:04:48.500 --> 00:04:50.839 a juvenile detention center in Tocco, Georgia. 00:04:51.040 --> 00:04:53.879 And this really negative moment paradoxically 00:04:53.879 --> 00:04:56.360 sets the stage for his entire career. It does, 00:04:56.360 --> 00:04:58.259 because that's where he met the man who would 00:04:58.259 --> 00:05:01.149 become his lifelong musical foil. Bobby Byrd. 00:05:01.250 --> 00:05:03.810 Byrd was instrumental. Completely. He heard about 00:05:03.810 --> 00:05:06.110 Brown, who was known in prison as Music Box, 00:05:06.290 --> 00:05:08.930 and the two of them formed a gospel quartet with 00:05:08.930 --> 00:05:11.410 other inmates. And Byrd's family had connections. 00:05:11.829 --> 00:05:14.170 They did, and they helped secure Brown's parole 00:05:14.170 --> 00:05:18.310 in 1952 on work sponsorship. It was all contingent 00:05:18.310 --> 00:05:20.529 on Brown promising the court he would sing for 00:05:20.529 --> 00:05:24.449 the Lord. A promise that quickly evolved. Very 00:05:24.449 --> 00:05:27.149 quickly. It turned to secular music, but that 00:05:27.149 --> 00:05:29.550 discipline he learned in the religious setting... 00:05:29.800 --> 00:05:32.740 That never left him. So he gets out, he joins 00:05:32.740 --> 00:05:35.319 Bird's group. It keeps changing names, right? 00:05:35.480 --> 00:05:38.519 The Gospel Starlighters, then the Avons. And 00:05:38.519 --> 00:05:41.300 they finally settled on the Famous Flames. Their 00:05:41.300 --> 00:05:43.600 sound at first was really heavily influenced 00:05:43.600 --> 00:05:46.959 by those smooth, harmonizing R &B vocal groups 00:05:46.959 --> 00:05:49.839 of the era. The Orioles were a big touchstone. 00:05:50.060 --> 00:05:52.220 And then comes the breakthrough. Please, please, 00:05:52.319 --> 00:05:55.839 please, in 1956. It was born almost by accident. 00:05:56.329 --> 00:05:58.350 Little Richard apparently wrote the phrase on 00:05:58.350 --> 00:06:00.589 a napkin for him. And the song was just raw, 00:06:00.709 --> 00:06:03.790 pure emotion. An immediate sensation. It sold 00:06:03.790 --> 00:06:05.990 over a million copies and launched James Brown 00:06:05.990 --> 00:06:08.009 and the Famous Flames right onto the national 00:06:08.009 --> 00:06:10.110 R &B map. But it wasn't easy after that. They 00:06:10.110 --> 00:06:11.930 struggled to get a follow -up hit. They did, 00:06:12.089 --> 00:06:14.970 until 1958 when they released this sophisticated 00:06:14.970 --> 00:06:17.449 ballad called Try Me. And that proved they weren't 00:06:17.449 --> 00:06:19.829 one -hit wonders. Exactly. It shot to number 00:06:19.829 --> 00:06:22.990 one on the R &B chart in 1959. And that was a 00:06:22.990 --> 00:06:24.860 foundational moment. It was the first of his 00:06:24.860 --> 00:06:28.959 17 chart -topping R &B hits. And 1959 brings 00:06:28.959 --> 00:06:31.939 another career milestone, debuting at the Apollo 00:06:31.939 --> 00:06:35.120 Theater. The hallowed Apollo Theater, opening 00:06:35.120 --> 00:06:38.420 for his idol, the great little Willie John. Brown 00:06:38.420 --> 00:06:40.639 was already building a reputation. But he was 00:06:40.639 --> 00:06:43.379 still a rising star. The transition from rising 00:06:43.379 --> 00:06:47.079 star to genuine cultural icon, though, that required 00:06:47.079 --> 00:06:49.579 something revolutionary. And that happened in 00:06:49.579 --> 00:06:52.100 1963. And here's where it gets really interesting, 00:06:52.199 --> 00:06:55.199 because this shows the unique business acumen 00:06:55.199 --> 00:06:58.480 of James Brown. We're talking about the legendary 00:06:58.480 --> 00:07:01.740 Live at the Apollo album. So why was this such 00:07:01.740 --> 00:07:03.939 a game changer? It's more than just a great concert 00:07:03.939 --> 00:07:06.500 recording. Oh, it was a monumental act of rebellion 00:07:06.500 --> 00:07:09.160 and foresight. The president of King Records, 00:07:09.279 --> 00:07:12.259 Sid Nathan, he just scoffed at the idea. Record 00:07:12.259 --> 00:07:14.339 companies just didn't believe live albums sold. 00:07:14.540 --> 00:07:16.459 Not at all. They figured fans who like Brown 00:07:16.459 --> 00:07:18.600 already owned his singles, so why buy them again? 00:07:19.100 --> 00:07:21.459 Nathan refused to finance it. And Brown's response? 00:07:21.759 --> 00:07:23.579 He financed the whole thing himself. Used his 00:07:23.579 --> 00:07:26.360 own money, which was a massive financial risk 00:07:26.360 --> 00:07:27.980 at the time. Because he knew something the label 00:07:27.980 --> 00:07:31.339 didn't. He instinctively understood that the 00:07:31.339 --> 00:07:34.250 raw... unmatched energy of his live performance 00:07:34.250 --> 00:07:36.750 was something the studio could never capture 00:07:36.750 --> 00:07:39.189 and he knew the public would pay for it and boy 00:07:39.189 --> 00:07:42.509 was he right he was completely vindicated the 00:07:42.509 --> 00:07:45.329 album was an immediate smash reach number two 00:07:45.329 --> 00:07:48.529 on the top lps chart which was i mean virtually 00:07:48.529 --> 00:07:51.069 unheard of for an r &b record at that time and 00:07:51.069 --> 00:07:54.930 it stayed on the charts for what was it an incredible 00:07:54.930 --> 00:07:58.990 14 months Sold over a million copies. It proved 00:07:58.990 --> 00:08:01.329 Brown knew his audience and his product better 00:08:01.329 --> 00:08:03.550 than any executive. It gave him the leverage 00:08:03.550 --> 00:08:05.670 to control his own destiny. And that momentum 00:08:05.670 --> 00:08:08.589 just pushes him toward this clear genre shift. 00:08:08.930 --> 00:08:11.009 You see it right away. The hits that came right 00:08:11.009 --> 00:08:13.850 after Apollo Out of Sight in 64, Papa's Got a 00:08:13.850 --> 00:08:16.110 Brand New Bag in 65. Which was his first top 00:08:16.110 --> 00:08:18.370 10 pop hit, right? Got him his first Grammy. 00:08:18.509 --> 00:08:21.310 That's the one. And those songs showed a clear 00:08:21.310 --> 00:08:23.689 pivot away from the old R &B ballads and toward 00:08:23.689 --> 00:08:25.949 that rhythmic, aggressive sound we now call funk. 00:08:26.480 --> 00:08:28.860 And you could see it, too. Visually, this new 00:08:28.860 --> 00:08:31.100 energy was broadcast to the whole world during 00:08:31.100 --> 00:08:34.940 the 1964 TMI show Concert Film. Oh, that performance. 00:08:35.159 --> 00:08:37.740 The source material calls it an explosive show 00:08:37.740 --> 00:08:40.659 -stopping performance. And that's an understatement. 00:08:40.679 --> 00:08:43.440 The energy, the precise vocals, the choreography. 00:08:43.700 --> 00:08:47.080 It was so intense that it famously upstaged the 00:08:47.080 --> 00:08:49.820 film's closing act, The Rolling Stones. Mick 00:08:49.820 --> 00:08:52.159 Jagger himself said following them was the biggest 00:08:52.159 --> 00:08:54.860 mistake of his career. And that solidified the 00:08:54.860 --> 00:08:58.059 Mr. Dynamite persona on a national level. It 00:08:58.059 --> 00:09:00.620 put the world on notice that a new physical and 00:09:00.620 --> 00:09:03.159 musical force had arrived. That brings us to 00:09:03.159 --> 00:09:06.350 the true crucible of the funk revolution. The 00:09:06.350 --> 00:09:09.850 late 1960s. This is the period where James Brown 00:09:09.850 --> 00:09:12.629 fully earns that title, soul brother number one. 00:09:12.710 --> 00:09:15.049 Because he's systematically stripping music down 00:09:15.049 --> 00:09:17.710 to its most kinetic, its most rhythmic essence. 00:09:18.090 --> 00:09:19.789 And if we're going to dive deep into the technical 00:09:19.789 --> 00:09:22.350 nature of his genius, we have to start with a 00:09:22.350 --> 00:09:25.190 universally recognized moment of creation. The 00:09:25.190 --> 00:09:28.740 1967 song Cold Sweat. Music critics all point 00:09:28.740 --> 00:09:30.840 to this one. They call it the first true funk 00:09:30.840 --> 00:09:33.519 song. So let's unpack that. Why is it so revolutionary? 00:09:33.899 --> 00:09:36.100 Okay, so it completely redefined the fundamental 00:09:36.100 --> 00:09:38.179 role of every single musician on that stage. 00:09:38.299 --> 00:09:41.360 What way? Traditionally, R &B and soul, they 00:09:41.360 --> 00:09:45.000 emphasized melody, harmony, chord progressions. 00:09:45.120 --> 00:09:47.399 You know, the song goes somewhere. Brown just 00:09:47.399 --> 00:09:49.919 flipped the script. Cold Sweat reduced the harmony 00:09:49.919 --> 00:09:52.720 to a single chord. A single chord. It makes the 00:09:52.720 --> 00:09:55.220 entire song fundamentally static from a harmonic 00:09:55.220 --> 00:09:58.019 perspective. It doesn't move. So if the harmony 00:09:58.019 --> 00:10:00.360 isn't changing, what becomes the focal point 00:10:00.360 --> 00:10:03.320 for the listener? The rhythmic complexity. It 00:10:03.320 --> 00:10:05.940 shifts the entire emphasis to the pattern of 00:10:05.940 --> 00:10:09.080 attack points. The precise moment each instrument 00:10:09.080 --> 00:10:11.840 hits a note or a beat. And this style required 00:10:11.840 --> 00:10:15.059 all these interlocking syncopated parts. Right. 00:10:15.100 --> 00:10:17.179 The bass lines became strutting and aggressive. 00:10:17.480 --> 00:10:20.120 The drums focused on these complex syncopated 00:10:20.120 --> 00:10:23.259 patterns. And the guitar. often played by Jimmy 00:10:23.259 --> 00:10:26.159 Nolan, became purely percussive. It sounds more 00:10:26.159 --> 00:10:28.480 like a hi -hat than a lead instrument. Exactly. 00:10:28.679 --> 00:10:30.320 And this is where we get to the core concept 00:10:30.320 --> 00:10:32.860 of the one. This is something that's talked about 00:10:32.860 --> 00:10:35.860 a lot, but rarely explained clearly. So can you 00:10:35.860 --> 00:10:38.259 define what Brown actually meant by the one? 00:10:38.559 --> 00:10:41.480 Okay, so Brown's concept of the one is the gravitational 00:10:41.480 --> 00:10:44.679 center of the funk universe. In standard pop 00:10:44.679 --> 00:10:47.480 music, the main rhythmic focus is usually on 00:10:47.480 --> 00:10:50.350 the two. And the four, the backbeat. You clap 00:10:50.350 --> 00:10:52.629 on the two and four. Right, the snare drum hits. 00:10:52.970 --> 00:10:56.350 Exactly. Brown's instruction to his band was 00:10:56.350 --> 00:10:59.169 to make the first beat of the bar the one, the 00:10:59.169 --> 00:11:01.070 central point of attack for all the instruments. 00:11:01.330 --> 00:11:04.169 So every instrument is locking in precisely around 00:11:04.169 --> 00:11:06.549 that downbeat, but they're playing off it in 00:11:06.549 --> 00:11:09.070 a syncopated way, which creates this rhythmic 00:11:09.070 --> 00:11:11.629 tension. That's it perfectly. Imagine a chain 00:11:11.629 --> 00:11:13.830 -link fence where every single player is a separate 00:11:13.830 --> 00:11:16.210 link, and the only point where they all meet 00:11:16.210 --> 00:11:18.360 is on the one. So they're playing around it. 00:11:18.440 --> 00:11:20.200 They're intentionally playing around it, creating 00:11:20.200 --> 00:11:23.100 what feels like controlled chaos or the grease, 00:11:23.240 --> 00:11:25.419 as Brown sometimes called it. When that rhythm 00:11:25.419 --> 00:11:27.820 section starts or stubble field on drums, the 00:11:27.820 --> 00:11:31.179 bass, Nolan's guitar, when they lock in, it creates 00:11:31.179 --> 00:11:33.720 this relentless driving loop. And that loop is 00:11:33.720 --> 00:11:36.120 the song. The groove is everything. The groove 00:11:36.120 --> 00:11:38.519 is everything. And his vocals followed this rhythmic 00:11:38.519 --> 00:11:41.500 shift, too. His singing style changed dramatically 00:11:41.500 --> 00:11:44.019 during this period. Right. It became this rhythmic 00:11:44.019 --> 00:11:47.429 declamation. Yes. It wasn't quite singing a melodic 00:11:47.429 --> 00:11:50.370 line, and it wasn't quite spoken word. He was 00:11:50.370 --> 00:11:52.590 using his voice as another percussive instrument. 00:11:52.769 --> 00:11:54.909 The shouts, the grunts. The repeating phrases, 00:11:55.049 --> 00:11:57.950 all to build intensity and guide the band. That 00:11:57.950 --> 00:12:00.649 technique, that use of vocal rhythm and repetition 00:12:00.649 --> 00:12:04.549 to pump energy, that is a direct major influence 00:12:04.549 --> 00:12:07.220 on the development of rapping. He basically created 00:12:07.220 --> 00:12:09.799 the prototype for the MC. And the legacy is just, 00:12:09.860 --> 00:12:12.899 it's quantifiable. The sources confirm that tracks 00:12:12.899 --> 00:12:16.440 like Funky Drummer from 1969 with Clyde Stubblefield 00:12:16.440 --> 00:12:19.059 on the drums. Were just immortalized by the hip 00:12:19.059 --> 00:12:22.080 hop generation. That specific eight bar drum 00:12:22.080 --> 00:12:24.740 break was sampled so extensively that it earned 00:12:24.740 --> 00:12:27.820 the nickname. the national anthem of hip -hop. 00:12:27.960 --> 00:12:29.840 The fact that he's the world's most sampled recording 00:12:29.840 --> 00:12:32.840 artist is proof that he literally wrote the rhythmic 00:12:32.840 --> 00:12:35.120 dictionary for popular music moving forward. 00:12:35.240 --> 00:12:37.340 And this technical mastery was only possible 00:12:37.340 --> 00:12:40.120 because of the frankly terrifying discipline 00:12:40.120 --> 00:12:42.539 Brown enforced on his live ensemble. The James 00:12:42.539 --> 00:12:44.799 Brown review, it was, what, 40 to 50 people? 00:12:44.980 --> 00:12:47.559 40 to 50 people. And he demanded perfection. 00:12:48.840 --> 00:12:51.340 Precision, adherence to the uniform tuxedos, 00:12:51.360 --> 00:12:54.539 cummerbunds, shine patent leather shoes, and 00:12:54.539 --> 00:12:57.139 absolute instant adherence to his every command. 00:12:57.360 --> 00:13:00.379 Which brings us to the legendary Fiennes. His 00:13:00.379 --> 00:13:02.539 showmanship wasn't just for the crowd. It was 00:13:02.539 --> 00:13:06.179 management by intimidation. Absolutely. That 00:13:06.179 --> 00:13:08.360 famous moment where he would slide across the 00:13:08.360 --> 00:13:10.480 stage or spin around, you know, seemingly just 00:13:10.480 --> 00:13:13.059 dancing. That was often him communicating. He 00:13:13.059 --> 00:13:15.700 was flashing hand signals. Flashing hand signals 00:13:15.700 --> 00:13:17.879 or splayed fingers to alert musicians who missed 00:13:17.879 --> 00:13:20.620 a note or a rhythmic attack point that they owed 00:13:20.620 --> 00:13:23.580 him a fine. Miss a cue. That's 50 bucks out of 00:13:23.580 --> 00:13:26.379 your paycheck. Show up late. A hundred. It's 00:13:26.379 --> 00:13:28.559 an insane system that really reflects his origins. 00:13:28.779 --> 00:13:30.519 He was terrified of going back to that poverty 00:13:30.519 --> 00:13:32.860 he experienced in the brothel. So he enforced 00:13:32.860 --> 00:13:35.840 this. capitalist, highly disciplined structure 00:13:35.840 --> 00:13:39.080 on his artistry. The pursuit of rhythmic perfection 00:13:39.080 --> 00:13:42.159 was inseparable from the pursuit of professional 00:13:42.159 --> 00:13:44.399 perfection. It was a crucible, though. It forced 00:13:44.399 --> 00:13:46.960 incredible talent to rise. We have to recognize 00:13:46.960 --> 00:13:49.179 the key people who came through that system, 00:13:49.360 --> 00:13:53.000 many from a demanding jazz tradition. Bobby Bird, 00:13:53.159 --> 00:13:55.980 of course, trombonist Fred Wesley, saxophonists 00:13:55.980 --> 00:13:59.240 Maceo Parker and Alfred P .B. Ellis. And the 00:13:59.240 --> 00:14:02.019 powerhouse drummers John Jabo Starks and Clyde 00:14:02.019 --> 00:14:04.899 Stubblefield. Brown was a demanding, tyrannical 00:14:04.899 --> 00:14:07.440 band leader, but he blended the raw simplicity 00:14:07.440 --> 00:14:10.279 of R &B drive with the complex, precise demands 00:14:10.279 --> 00:14:12.960 of jazz syncopation. And as his musical popularity 00:14:12.960 --> 00:14:15.740 soared, he expanded his business empire. Right. 00:14:15.820 --> 00:14:18.399 In the late 1960s, Brown started buying several 00:14:18.399 --> 00:14:21.100 radio stations, securing media power to match 00:14:21.100 --> 00:14:24.559 his artistic power. He bought WRDW in his native 00:14:24.559 --> 00:14:26.799 Augusta, the same town where he used to shine 00:14:26.799 --> 00:14:29.279 shoes as a boy. An amazing full circle moment. 00:14:29.799 --> 00:14:33.039 And he bought WJBE in Knoxville, Tennessee, famously 00:14:33.039 --> 00:14:34.679 using his own initials for the call letters. 00:14:34.820 --> 00:14:38.940 And the slogan was WJBE 1430 Raw Soul. Which 00:14:38.940 --> 00:14:41.059 was a perfect brand statement. He wasn't just 00:14:41.059 --> 00:14:43.259 a performer anymore. He was a media mogul focused 00:14:43.259 --> 00:14:45.779 on black entrepreneurship. And he also showed 00:14:45.779 --> 00:14:48.279 this immediate desire to cross over, even at 00:14:48.279 --> 00:14:50.759 the height of his funk experimentation. Yes. 00:14:51.320 --> 00:14:54.360 He diversified his recordings. He released romantic 00:14:54.360 --> 00:14:57.059 ballads, even a couple of albums of jazz standards 00:14:57.059 --> 00:14:59.840 with the DeFelice Trio and the Louis Belson Orchestra. 00:15:00.159 --> 00:15:02.799 Things like Getting Down to It and Saul on Top. 00:15:03.039 --> 00:15:06.440 Exactly. It just illustrates his constant desire 00:15:06.440 --> 00:15:09.740 to expand his market reach beyond just the typical 00:15:09.740 --> 00:15:11.779 R &B audience. He was always thinking bigger. 00:15:12.159 --> 00:15:15.379 Okay, so moving into the 1970s, the financial 00:15:15.379 --> 00:15:17.679 disputes that were always kind of... Simmering 00:15:17.679 --> 00:15:19.559 under the surface of the James Brown review, 00:15:19.759 --> 00:15:22.519 they finally boiled over. Yeah, the decade starts 00:15:22.519 --> 00:15:25.169 with a massive disruption. The band walkout of 00:15:25.169 --> 00:15:28.149 1970. In March of that year, the majority of 00:15:28.149 --> 00:15:30.149 his road band, and we're talking key players 00:15:30.149 --> 00:15:32.990 like Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley, they just 00:15:32.990 --> 00:15:35.809 quit. All over financial disputes. It mirrored 00:15:35.809 --> 00:15:38.509 the earlier, though less severe, disbandment 00:15:38.509 --> 00:15:41.570 of the famous Flames back in 68. But Brown, ever 00:15:41.570 --> 00:15:43.490 the hardest working man, he didn't stop for a 00:15:43.490 --> 00:15:45.610 second. Not for a second. He and the remaining 00:15:45.610 --> 00:15:47.929 stalwart Bobby Bird, they immediately rebuilt. 00:15:48.169 --> 00:15:49.889 They recruited these young guys from Cincinnati. 00:15:50.429 --> 00:15:52.610 Bootsy Collins on bass and his brother Phelps 00:15:52.610 --> 00:15:55.389 Catfish Collins on guitar from the band The Pacemakers. 00:15:55.750 --> 00:15:59.789 And this new unit became... The JBs. And their 00:15:59.789 --> 00:16:01.990 very first record was just lightning in a bottle. 00:16:02.149 --> 00:16:04.710 Get up. I feel like being a sex machine. An instant 00:16:04.710 --> 00:16:07.470 classic. And that track absolutely refined the 00:16:07.470 --> 00:16:10.009 concept of the one. It cemented the funk sound 00:16:10.009 --> 00:16:12.330 with that heavy emphasis on the off -the -beat 00:16:12.330 --> 00:16:14.730 play, as Brown called it. And Gutzi Collins' 00:16:14.929 --> 00:16:18.169 bass line, in particular, was just liquid fire 00:16:18.169 --> 00:16:21.529 driving, syncopated, and so deeply percussive. 00:16:21.870 --> 00:16:24.690 Yet that brilliant first iteration of the JBs 00:16:24.690 --> 00:16:27.230 was incredibly short -lived. It dissolved after 00:16:27.230 --> 00:16:29.769 only about a year following a European tour in 00:16:29.769 --> 00:16:32.570 March 1971. Money disputes were always a factor, 00:16:32.669 --> 00:16:34.889 but there was more to it this time. Yeah, Bootsy 00:16:34.889 --> 00:16:37.970 Collins' now -infinite use of LSD played a major 00:16:37.970 --> 00:16:41.009 role in the breakup. Brown had this strict, absolute 00:16:41.009 --> 00:16:43.789 drug - and alcohol -free policy for his entire 00:16:43.789 --> 00:16:46.370 entourage. So when he suspected the Collins brothers 00:16:46.370 --> 00:16:48.549 and others were on drugs during a performance... 00:16:48.549 --> 00:16:50.860 He fired them. Immediately after the show, the 00:16:50.860 --> 00:16:53.419 chaos that fueled his best music also constantly 00:16:53.419 --> 00:16:56.700 burned out his most talented players. It's a 00:16:56.700 --> 00:16:59.200 recurring theme. Despite that internal drama, 00:16:59.480 --> 00:17:01.720 the 70s continued to bring him commercial success 00:17:01.720 --> 00:17:04.920 and cultural cachet. Oh, yeah. He provided the 00:17:04.920 --> 00:17:07.299 score for the blaxploitation film Black Caesar. 00:17:07.880 --> 00:17:10.480 And he returned to the number one R &B spot in 00:17:10.480 --> 00:17:14.099 1974 with that aggressive driving track, The 00:17:14.099 --> 00:17:16.819 Payback. And that same year. He hit number one 00:17:16.819 --> 00:17:20.400 R &B two more times with My Fang and Papa Don't 00:17:20.400 --> 00:17:23.539 Take No Mess. It thoroughly cemented his title 00:17:23.539 --> 00:17:27.140 as the godfather of soul right in the heart of 00:17:27.140 --> 00:17:29.640 the emerging disco era. Now, we have to transition 00:17:29.640 --> 00:17:32.380 to the most complex and, I mean, often contradictory. 00:17:32.940 --> 00:17:36.079 aspect of his public life his social commentary 00:17:36.079 --> 00:17:38.619 and his political engagement brown was not a 00:17:38.619 --> 00:17:40.460 predictable political figure he was an entrepreneur 00:17:40.460 --> 00:17:43.180 and a survivalist first and foremost on one hand 00:17:43.180 --> 00:17:45.819 you have his vocal advocacy for youth education 00:17:45.819 --> 00:17:48.779 which was directly motivated by his own impoverished 00:17:48.779 --> 00:17:50.740 past he dropped out in the seventh grade because 00:17:50.740 --> 00:17:53.099 he didn't have sufficient clothing so he channeled 00:17:53.099 --> 00:17:55.279 that focus into the pro -education song don't 00:17:55.279 --> 00:17:58.039 be a dropout and donated the royalties to charity 00:17:58.519 --> 00:18:01.039 And this advocacy earned him recognition from 00:18:01.039 --> 00:18:03.940 President Lyndon B. Johnson, who cited Brown 00:18:03.940 --> 00:18:06.819 as a positive role model, which was a monumental 00:18:06.819 --> 00:18:09.160 achievement for a black artist from the segregated 00:18:09.160 --> 00:18:11.920 South. But his politics were always contrarian, 00:18:11.980 --> 00:18:14.579 especially on racial and military matters. In 00:18:14.579 --> 00:18:17.779 1968, right at the height of the Vietnam War 00:18:17.779 --> 00:18:22.000 opposition, he records America is My Home. It's 00:18:22.000 --> 00:18:24.960 a staunchly patriotic song. And in it, he encourages 00:18:24.960 --> 00:18:27.660 listeners to stop pitying yourselves and get 00:18:27.660 --> 00:18:30.019 up and fight. He performed for troops in Vietnam, 00:18:30.339 --> 00:18:33.700 a move that alienated a lot of activists who 00:18:33.700 --> 00:18:35.640 felt he should take a stronger anti -war stance. 00:18:36.119 --> 00:18:38.599 He was accused of being too close to the establishment. 00:18:38.940 --> 00:18:41.359 This political high wire act really came to a 00:18:41.359 --> 00:18:43.779 head the day after the assassination of Martin 00:18:43.779 --> 00:18:47.099 Luther King Jr. in April 1968. Yes, the Boston 00:18:47.099 --> 00:18:49.869 Garden concert. This is a spectacular piece of 00:18:49.869 --> 00:18:52.009 political theory. To set the stage for us, the 00:18:52.009 --> 00:18:54.630 mayor, Kevin White, was facing an imminent riot 00:18:54.630 --> 00:18:57.430 in the city. White was desperate to prevent Boston 00:18:57.430 --> 00:18:59.329 from erupting like other American cities were. 00:18:59.529 --> 00:19:01.710 And against the very strong advice of his police 00:19:01.710 --> 00:19:05.410 chief, he orchestrated a plan. To broadcast Brown's 00:19:05.410 --> 00:19:08.430 performance citywide for free on public television. 00:19:08.670 --> 00:19:11.900 The logic was simple. keep potential rioters 00:19:11.900 --> 00:19:14.680 off the streets by having them stay home to watch 00:19:14.680 --> 00:19:17.059 the show. And it worked. It was an incredible 00:19:17.059 --> 00:19:20.720 de -escalation tactic. But James Brown, the hardest 00:19:20.720 --> 00:19:22.700 working man in show business, was never going 00:19:22.700 --> 00:19:25.480 to work for free. Never. After preventing a riot, 00:19:25.640 --> 00:19:28.920 he immediately played hardball. He demanded $60 00:19:28.920 --> 00:19:32.539 ,000 for the gate fees he felt he lost because 00:19:32.539 --> 00:19:35.339 the concert was televised for free. And he threatened 00:19:35.339 --> 00:19:38.720 to expose the secret politically sensitive arrangement 00:19:38.720 --> 00:19:41.460 if the city refused. Which would have been devastating 00:19:41.460 --> 00:19:44.279 for Mayor White and could have reignited the 00:19:44.279 --> 00:19:46.809 very tensions he'd just managed to cool. The 00:19:46.809 --> 00:19:49.190 sources reveal this desperate scramble that followed. 00:19:49.390 --> 00:19:52.130 Mayor White had to lobby an influential power 00:19:52.130 --> 00:19:54.670 brokering group known as the Vault to help raise 00:19:54.670 --> 00:19:58.470 the money. In the end, Brown got $15 ,000 from 00:19:58.470 --> 00:20:01.029 the city, and White convinced the garden management 00:20:01.029 --> 00:20:03.349 to forfeit their share of receipts to cover the 00:20:03.349 --> 00:20:06.349 rest. After that successful, though very controversial 00:20:06.349 --> 00:20:08.990 intervention, he was even called by President 00:20:08.990 --> 00:20:12.569 Johnson. To use his influence to urge other riot 00:20:12.569 --> 00:20:16.259 -ravaged cities to cool it. There's another way. 00:20:16.640 --> 00:20:19.059 He had become a genuine political broker. And 00:20:19.059 --> 00:20:22.960 yet, later that very same summer of 1968, he 00:20:22.960 --> 00:20:25.660 completely reverses direction. To satisfy the 00:20:25.660 --> 00:20:28.059 demands of black activists like H. Rep. Brown, 00:20:28.339 --> 00:20:31.440 he wrote the lyrics to Say It Loud, I'm Black 00:20:31.440 --> 00:20:34.160 and I'm Proud with his band leader Pee Wee Ellis 00:20:34.160 --> 00:20:36.539 composing the music. And it becomes an anthem, 00:20:36.680 --> 00:20:39.480 a defining cultural marker of the black power 00:20:39.480 --> 00:20:41.460 movement. And this is where the nuance of his 00:20:41.460 --> 00:20:44.200 political duality truly emerges, because he was 00:20:44.200 --> 00:20:46.829 later deeply ambivalent about that song's impact 00:20:46.829 --> 00:20:49.809 even while recognizing its power. He said it 00:20:49.809 --> 00:20:52.089 has done more for the black race than any other 00:20:52.089 --> 00:20:54.309 record. But he also said he regretted defining 00:20:54.309 --> 00:20:57.089 anyone by race noting that teaching race ultimately 00:20:57.089 --> 00:20:59.289 teaches separatism. He even admitted the song 00:20:59.289 --> 00:21:01.609 cost him a massive chunk of his crossover audience. 00:21:01.910 --> 00:21:03.869 His concert demographics became mostly black 00:21:03.869 --> 00:21:05.849 after that. But ever the pragmatist he stood 00:21:05.849 --> 00:21:08.309 by it. He said it was necessary at the time to 00:21:08.309 --> 00:21:10.190 teach pride to a generation that desperately 00:21:10.190 --> 00:21:12.589 needed it. His political support was just bafflingly 00:21:12.589 --> 00:21:15.390 fluid. Because it was based less on ideology 00:21:15.390 --> 00:21:19.210 and more on opportunity or this idea of self 00:21:19.210 --> 00:21:22.069 -reliance, he supported Democrats like Johnson, 00:21:22.309 --> 00:21:25.309 Humphrey, Kennedy and Carter. But he also openly 00:21:25.309 --> 00:21:27.690 supported Republicans Richard Nixon and Ronald 00:21:27.690 --> 00:21:30.670 Reagan. His endorsement of Nixon in 1972 was 00:21:30.670 --> 00:21:32.470 particularly damaging in the black community. 00:21:32.829 --> 00:21:35.869 It led to boycotts of his records, protests where 00:21:35.869 --> 00:21:39.539 he was labeled. James Brown, Nixon's clown. People 00:21:39.539 --> 00:21:42.220 just could not reconcile the voice of Say It 00:21:42.220 --> 00:21:44.819 Loud with a supporter of the Republican establishment. 00:21:45.140 --> 00:21:47.380 He just saw himself as an outsider, supporting 00:21:47.380 --> 00:21:50.079 whatever politician he felt promoted his vision 00:21:50.079 --> 00:21:52.460 of black entrepreneurship and self -reliance, 00:21:52.480 --> 00:21:54.740 which sometimes aligned with conservative fiscal 00:21:54.740 --> 00:21:57.119 policies. And he later reversed his support for 00:21:57.119 --> 00:21:59.859 Nixon with a classic funk track. You can have 00:21:59.859 --> 00:22:02.259 Watergate. Just give me some bucks and I'll be 00:22:02.259 --> 00:22:04.319 straight. He simply said he was neither Democrat 00:22:04.319 --> 00:22:07.400 nor Republican. He was for James Brown. And finally, 00:22:07.420 --> 00:22:09.099 we have to mention his unexpected relationship 00:22:09.099 --> 00:22:12.279 with the Reverend Al Sharpton. Right. Brown mentored 00:22:12.279 --> 00:22:14.660 the young activist in the 1970s, convincing him 00:22:14.660 --> 00:22:17.200 to drop Alfred and just go by Al Sharpton. And 00:22:17.200 --> 00:22:19.259 Sharpton actually served as Brown's tour manager 00:22:19.259 --> 00:22:22.619 from 1973 to 1980. That mentorship is a defining 00:22:22.619 --> 00:22:25.380 moment for Sharpton. He later reflected that 00:22:25.380 --> 00:22:27.380 he learned from Brown that you're going to have 00:22:27.380 --> 00:22:29.599 to be dramatic in order to get people to see 00:22:29.599 --> 00:22:31.759 things that they are not inclined to see. So 00:22:31.759 --> 00:22:34.180 Brown taught him to command attention, to use 00:22:34.180 --> 00:22:37.460 spectacle. The exact same lesson Brown used to 00:22:37.460 --> 00:22:39.880 prevent the Boston riots. As we move into the 00:22:39.880 --> 00:22:41.779 later part of his career, we see this divergence. 00:22:42.180 --> 00:22:44.640 His music sales are fluctuating, but he has this 00:22:44.640 --> 00:22:47.759 unexpected cultural resurgence. Thanks to Hollywood 00:22:47.759 --> 00:22:52.039 and hip hop. By 1977, Brown was no longer the 00:22:52.039 --> 00:22:55.339 dominant R &B force. The slick, synthesized, 00:22:55.339 --> 00:22:58.000 four -on -the -floor rhythm of disco had superseded 00:22:58.000 --> 00:23:00.319 his raw, one -chord funk. And a lot of his key 00:23:00.319 --> 00:23:02.420 bandmates, like Fred Wesley and Maceo Parker, 00:23:02.619 --> 00:23:04.799 they saw the writing on the wall. They pivoted. 00:23:04.799 --> 00:23:07.380 They moved on to join the Parliament Funkadelic 00:23:07.380 --> 00:23:09.880 Collective. So the 1980s required a strategic 00:23:09.880 --> 00:23:13.279 pivot for Brown. He turned to Hollywood to reignite 00:23:13.279 --> 00:23:15.359 his public profile. He appeared in the Blues 00:23:15.359 --> 00:23:17.799 Brothers in 1980 as Reverend Cleophas James. 00:23:18.250 --> 00:23:20.910 followed by roles in Dr. Detroit, and then, most 00:23:20.910 --> 00:23:23.430 significantly, the global blockbuster Rocky IV 00:23:23.430 --> 00:23:28.490 in 1985. And Rocky V provided the perfect stage 00:23:28.490 --> 00:23:31.130 for his last major pop hit. Living in America 00:23:31.130 --> 00:23:34.529 in 1986, it was his first top 40 entry since 00:23:34.529 --> 00:23:39.190 1974, and his final top 10 pop hit ever. It even 00:23:39.190 --> 00:23:41.650 won him a Grammy. So even as he was fighting 00:23:41.650 --> 00:23:43.589 for relevance in the studio, his presence in 00:23:43.589 --> 00:23:46.390 pop culture was still massive. And crucially, 00:23:46.529 --> 00:23:48.950 the new generation was ensuring his artistic 00:23:48.950 --> 00:23:51.910 survival. While his own record sales struggled, 00:23:52.150 --> 00:23:54.650 his foundational rhythms became central to the 00:23:54.650 --> 00:23:57.319 emerging hip -hop sound. MC Hammer, Big Daddy 00:23:57.319 --> 00:23:59.700 Kane, they brought Brown's energetic dance moves 00:23:59.700 --> 00:24:02.380 and, more importantly, sampled his iconic drum 00:24:02.380 --> 00:24:05.160 breaks constantly. That drum break from the second 00:24:05.160 --> 00:24:07.539 version of Give It Up or Turn It Loose became 00:24:07.539 --> 00:24:09.920 so popular for breakdance battles that Curtis 00:24:09.920 --> 00:24:12.579 Blow dubbed it the national anthem of hip -hop. 00:24:12.880 --> 00:24:15.000 The irony is just incredible. Even when John 00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:17.140 Brown wasn't hitting the charts, his ghost was 00:24:17.140 --> 00:24:19.559 fueling the next music revolution. However, this 00:24:19.559 --> 00:24:22.220 late career resurgence was consistently undermined 00:24:22.220 --> 00:24:25.099 by a deeply troubled private life and escalating 00:24:25.099 --> 00:24:27.500 legal issues. It stood in such stark contrast 00:24:27.500 --> 00:24:29.759 to his public discipline. That contradiction, 00:24:30.079 --> 00:24:32.700 the man who demanded professional perfection 00:24:32.700 --> 00:24:35.660 versus the man who lives in personal chaos, it's 00:24:35.660 --> 00:24:38.519 just heartbreaking. Despite Brown's strict public 00:24:38.519 --> 00:24:40.900 stance against drugs for his band, his own drug 00:24:40.900 --> 00:24:43.299 use began in the mid -1980s. Yeah. There were 00:24:43.299 --> 00:24:46.200 reports of him using PCP and often mixing cocaine 00:24:46.200 --> 00:24:48.279 with tobacco in his cool cigarettes. And this 00:24:48.279 --> 00:24:50.880 drug use tragically correlated with severe domestic 00:24:50.880 --> 00:24:53.400 violence incidents, which the sources detail 00:24:53.400 --> 00:24:57.339 in painful specificity. There was his ill -fated 00:24:57.339 --> 00:24:59.759 relationship with Tammy Terrell in the mid -60s. 00:24:59.799 --> 00:25:02.890 She left due to his abusive behavior. with former 00:25:02.890 --> 00:25:05.069 famous Flames members claiming they witnessed 00:25:05.069 --> 00:25:07.349 him beat her terribly. And his contentious third 00:25:07.349 --> 00:25:10.230 marriage to Adrian Rodriguez from 84 to 96 was 00:25:10.230 --> 00:25:13.289 just plagued by public abuse. Between 1987 and 00:25:13.289 --> 00:25:16.210 1995, Brown was arrested multiple times for domestic 00:25:16.210 --> 00:25:18.809 violence against her, including shocking incidents 00:25:18.809 --> 00:25:20.710 where she reported being beaten with an iron 00:25:20.710 --> 00:25:22.829 pipe and being shot at. This was a documented 00:25:22.829 --> 00:25:25.430 pattern. And the most famous legal incident is 00:25:25.430 --> 00:25:28.750 still the 1988 high -speed car chase. On Interstate 00:25:28.750 --> 00:25:31.079 20, near the Georgia -South Carolina border. 00:25:31.319 --> 00:25:33.980 He was accused of carrying an unlicensed pistol, 00:25:34.240 --> 00:25:38.180 assaulting a police officer, drug offenses, driving 00:25:38.180 --> 00:25:40.680 offenses. It resulted in a six -year sentence. 00:25:41.000 --> 00:25:43.339 He ended up serving two and a half years before 00:25:43.339 --> 00:25:46.059 he was paroled in 1991. And this is a complex 00:25:46.059 --> 00:25:49.740 event we had to unpack. Brown's FBI file, which 00:25:49.740 --> 00:25:52.349 was released years later. contained his counter 00:25:52.349 --> 00:25:54.430 narrative. He claimed the chase didn't happen, 00:25:54.470 --> 00:25:57.049 as police said, and that local police had actually 00:25:57.049 --> 00:25:59.549 shot at his car several times during what he 00:25:59.549 --> 00:26:02.450 alleged was intense targeted police harassment. 00:26:02.650 --> 00:26:04.750 He also claimed he was assaulted after his arrest. 00:26:04.910 --> 00:26:07.250 Now, local authorities found no merit to these 00:26:07.250 --> 00:26:09.490 accusations. They were never proven in court. 00:26:09.609 --> 00:26:12.220 But the fact that Brown. the man who once saw 00:26:12.220 --> 00:26:14.740 protection from presidential intervention, had 00:26:14.740 --> 00:26:17.519 an FBI file detailing his own claims of harassment, 00:26:17.819 --> 00:26:20.740 it speaks to the perpetual tension he maintained 00:26:20.740 --> 00:26:23.339 with authority figures his entire life. And even 00:26:23.339 --> 00:26:25.819 after parole, the legal troubles just continued. 00:26:26.059 --> 00:26:29.539 Civil suits, wrongful termination claims. Allegations 00:26:29.539 --> 00:26:32.019 of demanding sexual favors. He was even arrested 00:26:32.019 --> 00:26:34.440 in 2004 for domestic violence against his final 00:26:34.440 --> 00:26:37.720 partner, Tomi Rae Heine, and pled no contest 00:26:37.720 --> 00:26:40.240 to the charge. By the mid -2000s, his health 00:26:40.240 --> 00:26:42.839 was clearly failing. His longtime manager noted 00:26:42.839 --> 00:26:45.460 he lived with undiagnosed type 2 diabetes for 00:26:45.460 --> 00:26:47.759 years, though he had been successfully treated 00:26:47.759 --> 00:26:50.539 for prostate cancer in 2004. But he was still 00:26:50.539 --> 00:26:53.240 maintaining that legendary, grueling touring 00:26:53.240 --> 00:26:56.339 schedule. And the end came very quickly in December 00:26:56.339 --> 00:26:59.819 2006. He was hospitalized with pneumonia, and 00:26:59.819 --> 00:27:02.259 his longtime manager, Charles Bobbitt, recalled 00:27:02.259 --> 00:27:04.660 Brown stuttering a final goodbye. I'm going away 00:27:04.660 --> 00:27:07.380 tonight. He died on Christmas Day 2006 at age 00:27:07.380 --> 00:27:10.400 73. from congestive heart failure. And we should 00:27:10.400 --> 00:27:12.160 note the controversial element of his death. 00:27:12.400 --> 00:27:15.940 A 2019 CNN investigation raised suggestions that 00:27:15.940 --> 00:27:18.160 Brown may have been murdered, citing conflicting 00:27:18.160 --> 00:27:20.099 medical reports and the disappearance of key 00:27:20.099 --> 00:27:22.960 witnesses. While this has never been substantiated, 00:27:23.079 --> 00:27:25.519 it remains part of the dramatic, complex narrative 00:27:25.519 --> 00:27:28.440 around his final moments. And then came the long, 00:27:28.440 --> 00:27:32.299 long drama over his financial soul, the 15 -year 00:27:32.299 --> 00:27:34.720 battle over his estate. Brown had signed his 00:27:34.720 --> 00:27:37.980 last will in 2000, establishing an irrevocable 00:27:37.980 --> 00:27:41.000 trust intended to benefit disadvantaged children 00:27:41.000 --> 00:27:43.180 and provide scholarships for his grandchildren. 00:27:43.420 --> 00:27:46.460 And crucially, this will explicitly omitted his 00:27:46.460 --> 00:27:49.460 final partner, Tomi Rae Heine, and their son, 00:27:49.700 --> 00:27:52.960 James Brown Jr. The legal marathon revolved entirely 00:27:52.960 --> 00:27:56.539 around one question. Was his marriage to Heine? 00:27:56.960 --> 00:27:59.680 legally valid if she was legally his widow she 00:27:59.680 --> 00:28:02.039 would have rights to a significant portion of 00:28:02.039 --> 00:28:04.299 the estate regardless of what the will said the 00:28:04.299 --> 00:28:06.960 complexity lay in her prior marriage she bedded 00:28:06.960 --> 00:28:09.460 another man before brown and while she claimed 00:28:09.460 --> 00:28:11.660 that marriage was annulled the annulment did 00:28:11.660 --> 00:28:14.019 not occur until after her marriage ceremony with 00:28:14.019 --> 00:28:16.769 brown So Brown's attorney argued that under South 00:28:16.769 --> 00:28:19.250 Carolina law, a marriage is invalid if a spouse 00:28:19.250 --> 00:28:21.650 isn't legally free from a previous one. This 00:28:21.650 --> 00:28:24.450 single, highly technical legal point was the 00:28:24.450 --> 00:28:26.450 battleground for over a decade. And the South 00:28:26.450 --> 00:28:28.930 Carolina Supreme Court finally ruled in 2020 00:28:28.930 --> 00:28:31.369 that Tommy Ray Heine was not legally married 00:28:31.369 --> 00:28:33.609 to Brown. Because of her failure to properly 00:28:33.609 --> 00:28:36.130 annul her previous marriage before marrying him. 00:28:36.880 --> 00:28:39.059 That ruling confirmed she had no legal right 00:28:39.059 --> 00:28:41.680 to any part of his estate, validating Brown's 00:28:41.680 --> 00:28:44.920 original stated philanthropic intent. The legal 00:28:44.920 --> 00:28:48.839 marathon finally settled in 2021, 15 years after 00:28:48.839 --> 00:28:51.220 his death. 15 years before the trust could finally 00:28:51.220 --> 00:28:53.240 move forward. The ultimate takeaway from this 00:28:53.240 --> 00:28:55.480 deep dive really is that profound contradiction. 00:28:55.819 --> 00:28:58.720 Yeah, the sheer chaos and conflict of his personal 00:28:58.720 --> 00:29:02.099 and financial life stood in direct, bizarre contrast 00:29:02.099 --> 00:29:05.059 to the legacy of technical perfection and rigid 00:29:05.059 --> 00:29:07.380 discipline he created on stage. What remains 00:29:07.380 --> 00:29:09.779 is the music. And the institutional recognition 00:29:09.779 --> 00:29:13.220 is just massive and undeniable. He was one of 00:29:13.220 --> 00:29:15.140 the first 10 inductees into the Rock and Roll 00:29:15.140 --> 00:29:18.730 Hall of Fame in 1986. Decades later, his original 00:29:18.730 --> 00:29:21.569 vocal group, the Famous Flames, were retroactively 00:29:21.569 --> 00:29:24.390 inducted in 2012, recognizing their foundational 00:29:24.390 --> 00:29:26.809 contribution. He also got the Grammy Lifetime 00:29:26.809 --> 00:29:29.369 Achievement Award in 92 and the prestigious Kennedy 00:29:29.369 --> 00:29:32.049 Center Honors in 2003. And when Rolling Stone 00:29:32.049 --> 00:29:34.109 ranked the 100 greatest artists of all time, 00:29:34.230 --> 00:29:36.829 he landed at number seven. Just illustrates his 00:29:36.829 --> 00:29:40.200 undisputed, towering cultural standing. And the 00:29:40.200 --> 00:29:42.420 public memorials were designed to be as grand 00:29:42.420 --> 00:29:44.880 and dynamic as his performances. Oh, absolutely. 00:29:45.339 --> 00:29:47.819 Services at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, the 00:29:47.819 --> 00:29:50.640 James Brown Arena in Augusta, Georgia, attended 00:29:50.640 --> 00:29:53.079 by everyone from Michael Jackson to Prince. And 00:29:53.079 --> 00:29:56.539 his body in a bronze polished casket was driven 00:29:56.539 --> 00:30:00.039 to the Apollo in a white. glass -encased horse 00:30:00.039 --> 00:30:02.359 -drawn carriage. The ultimate showman's exit. 00:30:02.579 --> 00:30:05.519 And Augusta, his childhood home, completely embraced 00:30:05.519 --> 00:30:08.759 his legend. Not only do they have the James Brown 00:30:08.759 --> 00:30:11.960 Arena and a life -size bronze statue. They also 00:30:11.960 --> 00:30:14.880 renamed a section of 9th Street James Brown Boulevard 00:30:14.880 --> 00:30:18.380 and my favorite obscure tribute, which just shows 00:30:18.380 --> 00:30:21.019 his reach. The bridge in Colorado. The James 00:30:21.019 --> 00:30:23.960 Brown Soul Center of the Universe Bridge in Steamboat 00:30:23.960 --> 00:30:26.660 Springs, Colorado, named by a poll of residents 00:30:26.660 --> 00:30:29.500 in 1993. It's fantastic. When you reflect on 00:30:29.500 --> 00:30:31.920 the totality of it, his genius really lay in 00:30:31.920 --> 00:30:34.480 his editorial choices. As a songwriter, producer, 00:30:34.740 --> 00:30:37.339 and band leader, he kept things sparse and focused 00:30:37.339 --> 00:30:39.900 entirely on the groove. He created an environment 00:30:39.900 --> 00:30:41.799 where the funkiest players could play what they 00:30:41.799 --> 00:30:44.079 felt. Under the terrifying threat of being fined. 00:30:44.380 --> 00:30:47.819 Exactly. This constant demand for technical perfection 00:30:47.819 --> 00:30:50.839 from his bands is what fueled his musical innovations. 00:30:51.319 --> 00:30:53.740 It created the stripped -down, rhythm -first 00:30:53.740 --> 00:30:56.720 approach that defines so much of modern music. 00:30:57.130 --> 00:30:59.890 The contradiction is the story. The disciplined 00:30:59.890 --> 00:31:02.750 architect of sound versus the troubled, chaotic 00:31:02.750 --> 00:31:05.470 figure fighting constantly in court and at home. 00:31:05.609 --> 00:31:07.789 He worked harder than anyone to achieve artistic 00:31:07.789 --> 00:31:10.150 perfection, only to live a life riddled with 00:31:10.150 --> 00:31:12.789 perpetual turmoil and conflict. And that contrast 00:31:12.789 --> 00:31:15.410 leads us right to the final provocative question 00:31:15.410 --> 00:31:17.359 we want to leave you with today. Given James 00:31:17.359 --> 00:31:20.519 Brown's career -long vocal advocacy for education, 00:31:20.839 --> 00:31:24.259 from his Don't Be a Dropout campaign to his speeches 00:31:24.259 --> 00:31:27.059 in schools, and his stated philanthropic vision 00:31:27.059 --> 00:31:29.500 established in his final will. How might the 00:31:29.500 --> 00:31:32.119 James Brown sound, the ultimate expression of 00:31:32.119 --> 00:31:34.660 self -reliance, funk, and power? How might it 00:31:34.660 --> 00:31:36.859 have evolved if that 15 -year legal battle over 00:31:36.859 --> 00:31:39.039 his estate hadn't diverted all those resources 00:31:39.039 --> 00:31:41.920 and attention from his final stated vision, creating 00:31:41.920 --> 00:31:44.329 a trust fund for disadvantaged children? It's 00:31:44.329 --> 00:31:46.130 a powerful thought to consider. Did the fight 00:31:46.130 --> 00:31:48.910 for his soul, which was so evident in his struggle 00:31:48.910 --> 00:31:52.150 for artistic control, become tragically overshadowed 00:31:52.150 --> 00:31:54.950 by the fight for his money after his death? And 00:31:54.950 --> 00:31:57.789 did that rob the next generation of the benefit 00:31:57.789 --> 00:32:00.430 of his genius? A great way to explore this further 00:32:00.430 --> 00:32:03.190 is just diving into his expansive discography. 00:32:03.650 --> 00:32:06.349 Start with the Star Time box set for a comprehensive 00:32:06.349 --> 00:32:09.289 overview of his evolution. Or just put on Live 00:32:09.289 --> 00:32:11.470 at the Apollo to understand the genesis of the 00:32:11.470 --> 00:32:14.910 hardest working man. You won't regret it. That's 00:32:14.910 --> 00:32:17.170 all for this deep dive. Thank you for joining 00:32:17.170 --> 00:32:19.069 us in unpacking the extraordinary, difficult, 00:32:19.230 --> 00:32:21.569 and profoundly influential life of the godfather 00:32:21.569 --> 00:32:22.970 of soul, James Brown.