James Brown — "I had to learn how to be a man, and the way I learned how to be a man was to lea…"
I had to learn how to be a man, and the way I learned how to be a man was to learn how to be a black man. And that's a hard thing to do in America.
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More from James Brown
"When I'm on stage, I'm trying to do one thing: bring people joy."
"I'm not going to die. I'm going to live forever."
"I'm a black man, and I'm proud. And I'm going to keep on being proud until the day I die."
"I got soul. I got funk. I got rhythm."
"I'm a good Samaritan. I help people. I give back to the community."
About James Brown (1933-2006)
American singer and 'Godfather of Soul' whose 1960s-70s recordings invented funk and shaped hip-hop's rhythmic foundations. Closely associated with Sly Stone (fellow funk pioneer (Sly and the Family Stone)) and George Clinton (Parliament-Funkadelic successor). For an intellectual contrast, see Berry Gordy, Motown founder — Motown made Black popular music palatable for white radio with smoothed-out crossover production; Brown's funk insisted on the raw groove without compromise. The two opposite paths Black popular music took out of the 1960s — Motown polish vs JB raw.