writers connection

source: http://www.thenewblackmagazine.com/view.aspx?index=566

How J.B. Influenced Us

By Mtume ya Salaam of http://kalamu.com/

Type "James Brown" into a search engine or a sample-source website and you’re going to get back pages and pages of hits.

So
many that you’ll initially think you made a mistake. But no, it isn’t a
mistake. James Brown samples are just that prevalent. James is listed
as The-Breaks.com’s number one most-sampled artist ever. And his total
sample count of 903 is more than triple that of the nearest contender.

It’s said that J.B. makes millions per year on sample-related royalties alone.

So why? Why did James Brown’s music have such a pull on all of us?

The answer is actually simple. It’s rhythm.

James
Brown, the maestro managed to turn his entire band into a rhythm
instrument. And by ‘entire band’ I don’t just mean the traditional
rhythm section of the drummer and the bass player.

Listen
closely to the horn riffs on "Funky Drummer" or "Get Up, Get Into It".
That’s rhythmic, not harmonic or melodic. Listen to the classic
‘chicken-scratching’ of the guitar on "The Payback." Again, that’s
rhythm.

By the late 1960s and early ’70s, the period
most-favored by hip-hoppers, J.B. was deep into his ‘New Super Super
Heavy Funk’ phase. Even his vocals were rhythmic. He chant, spoke and
grunted his way through nearly every record.

There was virtually
no attempt on J.B.’s part to actually ‘sing’. He’d eschewed melody and
harmony almost entirely to create symphonies of pure rhythm.

Truthfully,
trying to take a brief look into the world of J.B. is like trying to
write a brief history of the universe, but we’re going to give it a
shot anyway. To keep the job manageable, and keep this post down to a
readable length, I’m going to limit the list to five and keep my
comments brief. So here, in reverse order, are hip-hop’s five favorite
J.B. breaks ever.

 

5. (Tie.) "Blow Your Head" – From Fred
Wesley & The J.B.’s Damn Right I Am Somebody (Polydor, 1974)
& "The Grunt" – From The J.B.’s Food For Thought (Polydor, 1972)

For
me, these two tracks from the J.B.’s – the Godfather’s backup band –
were the jaw-droppers. Even back when my musical diet consisted of 95%
rap and 5% reggae, I’d heard enough classic soul around the house to
know my hip-hop heroes were rapping over lifted loops.

Those
next-century-sounding ‘sirens’ from Public Enemy’s It Takes A Nation Of
Millions To Hold Us Back? Straight outta "The Grunt." The eerie, Big
Brother-ish keyboard whine from "Public Enemy #1" and "9th Wonder" That
would be the intro to "Blow Your Head".

If you’re familiar with Golden Age-era hip-hop and you haven’t heard either one of these, you’re in for a surprise.

Times Sampled (according to The-Breaks.com): 33 each

Overall Rank on Top 20 ‘Most-Sampled’ List: N/A

Mtume’s
Picks: Public Enemy – "Public Enemy No. 1", Ultramagnetic M.C.’s –
"Ease Back", Digable Planets – "9th Wonder (Blackitolism)"

 

4. "Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved" – From In The Jungle Groove (Polydor, 1985) (Originally issued as a single in 1970)

The
actual groove is too hyper for anyone except, say, a Big Daddy Kane,
who visited and revisited this sample several times during his career.
For everyone else, it’s all about the guitar line, which is remarkably
funky and upbeat, yet at the same time, strangely ominous. I first
remember hearing this sample on K.R.S. One and Scott La Rock’s classic
boast/tribute/threat "South Bronx".

Times Sampled: 59

Overall Rank: #12

Mtume’s
Picks: Boogie Down Productions – "South Bronx", Original Concept – "Can
You Feel It?", Kool G. Rap & D.J. Polo – "Poison"

 

3. "The Payback" – From The Payback (Polydor, 1974)

Any
revenge song that includes a line like, "I don’t know karate, but I
know ka-razy" can’t be half-bad. Throw in a bassline for the ages, a
guitar line that’s about as addictive as nicotine and some serious funk
coming from the drum kit and it’s another classic. "I’m a man," J.B.
says. "I’m a man. And I’m a son of a man".

What about the soul sisters in the background?

Times Sampled: 65

Overall Rank: #9

Mtume’s Picks: L.L. Cool J – "The Boomin’ System", Ice Cube – "Jackin’ For Beats", En Vogue – "Hold On"

 

2. "Funky President (People It’s Bad)" – From Reality (Polydor, 1975)

This
one has been chopped up so frequently and so completely, that it’s hard
for me to hear it as an actual song. For someone with hip-hop ears
"Funky President" sounds more like a megamix of rap breaks than it
sounds like a musical performance by an actual band. How’s that for
weird? A sample source that has been sampled so much that it starts to
sound like a mix of samples.

Times Sampled: 100

Overall Rank: #5

Mtume’s Picks: Eric B. & Rakim – "Eric B. Is President", Ice Cube – "Jackin’ For Beats" (again), Das EFX – "They Want EFX"

 

1. "Funky Drummer" – From In The Jungle Groove (Polydor, 1985) (Originally issued as a single in 1969)

Number
one by far. And, I can say with certainty that the 182 records listed
on The-Breaks.com are only the tip of a very large, wide and deep
iceberg. Remember, The-Breaks lists only verifiable samples and nearly
all of them are from the world of hip-hop.

But like the ‘Amen’
break, the break from "Funky Drummer" has become ubiquitous enough that
it is no longer always thought of as an actual sample, and its use
certainly isn’t contained to hip-hop.

These days, the James
Brown beat can turn up anywhere: commercials, pop tunes, movie
soundtracks, random NBA dancers’ halftime routines, embarrassingly bad
Madonna/Lenny Kravitz records, literally anywhere.

The "Funky
Drummer" break may have began as a fragment of a song, but it’s become
an integral part of the soundscape of the modern world. The thing is,
someone had to play that beat. That someone is James Brown’s main man
and master funk drummer Clyde Stubblefield. With the possible exception
of the ‘Amen’ break’s G.C. Coleman, Stubblefield is probably the most
unwittingly prolific session musician in the history of recorded music
itself.

Times Sampled: 182

Overall Rank: #1

Mtume’s
Picks: Run-DMC – "Run’s House", Ice Cube – "Jackin’ For Beats" (why
not?), Sinead O’Connor – "I Am Stretched On Your Grave"

 

When
you consider that rap music in its essential form is nothing but vocal
rhythms (MCing) layered over drum rhythms (DJing) with no melody or
harmony, it shouldn’t be surprising that hip-hop and James Brown would
fit so well together.

In fact, the Godfather of Hip-Hop himself,
Kool DJ Herc has been quoted as saying that if it weren’t for James
Brown, there would no such thing as hip-hop. All I can say to that is
‘amen’. (No pun intended.) This one’s for you, J.B. Rest in Peace!

Mtume
ya Salaam is a published writer and an expert on contemporary Black
music. He lives in New Orleans, USA and can be reached at
mtume_s@yahoo.com
Please e-mail comments to comments@thenewblackmagazine

Tayari Kwa Salaam Says:

Hush mah mouff! It’s James Brown!

Little
did I know bout how much he meant to hip hop. I mean, I know he is an
influence, but to the extent you’re reportin here . . . damn!

 
Youngblood Says:

Funk
is a process; a process changing one’s perception of self in time and
space. One of the greatest songs in the history of popular black music
is James Brown’s sixties soul classic, ‘Say It Loud, I’m Black And I’m
Proud’. Never before had any popular entertainer captured the mood of
Black people.

 
It was The Godfather dancing under the white
hot and exacting glare of television light. Adorned in black silk papa
humped and slid, leaving sweaty images of obsidian Jesus on the back of
his shirt and shinning images of Blackness in the national
consciousness. They hated James. We loved him. As we raised our voices
in song a dark cloud of polution also billowed as hundreds gathered to
burn James’ records. Now they love him. And We hate to see mug shots of
him on every national news telecast and tabloid; hair laid to the side
‘processed’ like unfortunate strands of genocide. Good song though!