Deanna Brown, the daughter of the legendary James Brown stated that there would be “no hip-hop, Michael Jackson or Usher” without her late father
Now 55 years old, the iconic musician’s offspring said that her father (who died in 2006 at the age of 73) was hugely influential on Jackson and Usher as well as several musical genres , including hip-hop, and that music wouldn’t be the same without him.
Speaking to PEOPLE to promote A+E’s four-part docuseries, ‘James Brown: Say It Loud’, Deanna said:
“There would be no hip-hop. There would be no rap, because he’s the most-sampled artist.” “There would be no Michael [Jackson], there would be no Usher, there’d be no Chris Brown — all these people who took from him.” “I mean, where would it be? You could ask a lot of these musicians, they’ll tell you the same thing. It would probably be zero. I think LL [Cool J] says that in the documentary that the trajectory of music would be — he can’t even imagine where it would be without James Brown.”
James’ young daughter, Yamma, now 50, addressed her father being the creator of funk and influencing many genres, stating:
“Somebody sitting at home maybe watching it and think, ‘His story is not that dissimilar than mine and look what he went on to do.’ And if you can inspire somebody to be the greatest at what they can be, that’s amazing.” And, about what her father would think about the docuseries, she added: “I just wish he was still here to see some of this. He would not believe it.”
James Brown’s fifty-year career saw him start out as a gospel singer before pioneering and experimenting with funk, soul, blues, jazz, R’n’B and rock and roll. His sweat-inducing live shows, that oft times went on for hours, witnessed his intense dance moves, including dropping to his knees while clutching the microphone stand in his hands
The father of nine children, Brown, was famous for his rowdy, shouting style of singing, and in a 1988 interview with SPIN magazine, he shed some light on the invention of funk, saying:
“Funk is the root of the blues.” “It’s soul, jazz, and gospel. Funk is coming down on the one. If it’s on the one, then it’s funky. But it’s hard for me to get people to understand that.” “It took me four or five years to get Bootsy Collins to understand what ‘on the one’ was. Most people didn’t know what it was. They know now. ‘Take me to the bridge,’ I heard someone use that expression maybe 45 years ago, referring to the middle part of a song, and I changed it to mean a release.”
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Author: Al Denté
Photo: Uncredited photographer for the Jambalaya – Public Domain