All language subtitles for James Brown Say It Loud s01e04 Big As Big Can Be.eng

-People like to see...winners.

They like to see

people that are doing something,
you know?

Uh...

Only time I want to appear dead
is when I'm buried.

Wait a minute!
-Wait a minute.

-Everybody feel good?
-Yeah!

-You feel real good?
-Yeeeeah!

-Over 50 years
in the business,

singing and dancing hard.

-Are you ready to party?

-Yeah.
-I knew about James

having a lot of health issues.

He was losing weight.

-I really became his advocate
when it came to health.

-♪ Yeah!

♪ Say

-When Brown loves you,

he'll hand you his business
to handle.

-♪ Yeah! Say!

-There was one moment when

James Brown
almost got super vulnerable.

-♪ Yeah!

-James Brown wanted
separate payment

for sampling.

-He didn't get paid the money

that he was supposed
to get paid.

-Thank you.

-We see people who we deem
as genius

experiencing a lot of turmoil.

♪

[ Cheers and applause ]

-I get up every morning
to show that the small man

can become
as big as big can be.

[ Cheers and applause
continue ]

-James Brown has been in prison
for the last two years.

He was arrested and convicted
of assaulting his neighbor

and resisting arrest
in a car chase

with the local police.

Well, despite pleading
not guilty,

James Brown was then sentenced
to six years imprisonment.

♪

-People over in England
now think that James Brown

is actually free.

-No, I'm not free.

The only thing free in me
is my spirit.

But my body is not free.

I'm incarcerated.

-For two and a half years,
he was there.

And we really thought
this was the end of his career.

He's in his late 50s.
He's gonna be 60 years old.

-The period
between '87 and 1990,

it's probably
the most humiliating

or hardest times of his life.

-Ahmir Thompson and I
went to high school together,

and we grew up
in the same neighborhood,

so every time James Brown
would be on the news,

we would get together in school

or on the phone after school

and like, "Man, what's going on
with James, man?

What's happening?"

But in retrospect,
when he went to jail,

part of me also felt, like,

maybe if he goes away
for a couple of years,

he can dry himself out.

-He's like, "This is
my two-year unwanted vacation."

[ Laughs ]

And he was like,
"I needed to rest.

I needed some things to..."

You needed to detox.

-Soul singer James Brown

went before the South Carolina
Parole Board,

hoping to become a free man
after serving

just over two years of
a six-year sentence for assault.

-He'll be paroled today,
provisionally.

So you're free to go today.

-The announcement brought
tears of joy to Brown's wife

Adrienne,
and smiles from his daughter.

Brown will be on parole
until October of '93,

and must undergo a drug
and alcohol treatment program.

-I would definitely say prison
was transformative...twice.

Early [chuckles]
and later on in life.

-I just trust God and I hope
for the best.

I try to let my --
my first two years show that,

um, what kind of man I'm about.

♪ Ooooow!

♪

[ Whistles ]

♪ Yeah, I'm back

♪

♪ I'm back

♪ I'm back

-I was with him
when he walked out

of that prison.

I'll never forget it.

-♪ Get up offa that thing

♪ And dance
'til you feel better ♪

♪ Get up offa that thing

♪ And dance
'till you sing it now ♪

-When he got out,

everybody wanted
a piece of James Brown.

-♪ Get up offa that thing

-People will say about
"Oh, how James Brown

career is ruined,
look what he did to himself."

I said, "Don't kid yourself.

The truth is that
if it's handled right,

he will have one of
the greatest comebacks

of any entertainer
there ever was."

♪

-I contacted Mr. Brown

some almost
two years ago just to say

that we out here love him,

and we thought perhaps there
may have been some injustice.

-He said, "You know, Butch Lewis
the promoter came to see me.

He wants to put up money
for the first show to come back.

He said, uh, "It's going
to be pay-per-view."

I said, "Like a boxing match?"
He said, "Yeah."

I remember sitting
in his dressing room that night,

and he looked up at me,
he said,

"I told you I'd be back,
Reverend."

Dear God, we thank you for
surviving these difficult times,

to bring us to this place
and this point.

He said, "Are they sold out?"

I said, "They are sold out,"
he said,

"Big names out there,"
I said, "Huge names."

Thank you for the greatest
entertainer in the world,

The Godfather, James Brown.

Amen.
-Amen. [ Cheers and applause ]

-When I said Amen,
he dropped our hands

and walked on stage
and grabbed the mic.

James Brown was back.

[ "Living in America" plays ]

[ Cheers and applause ]

-I was very lucky
when I walked out,

all I had to do to show
that I could still do it.

And that was very important
for myself

that the career was there.

-♪ Living in America

♪ Living in America

-James Brown!

-♪ Ah
-James Brown!

James Brown!

James Brooown!

♪

[ Cheers and applause ]

-All right, all right.

Got MC hammer out here
and James Brown.

Boy, I tell you,
if my back wasn't bad, I'd...

[ Laughter ]

-♪ Oh-oh oh-oh,
here comes the hammer ♪

♪ Watch me!
-James Brown,

he's my number one inspiration

because he's the hardest
working person I've seen.

-In the '80s, for example,
when you put your radio on

and you heard a hip-hop record
with a James Brown sample in it,

and you knew there was no law

to allow you to get paid
for that, how did you feel?

-It was a law,
but they didn't exercise it.

You can't do over
four bars or nothing.

So the law was there, but they
didn't want to understand it

and didn't want to deal with it.

-He's the world's
most sampled artist of all time.

-You can take a piece of his
and add it to --

add it to yours, and then that's
just created a whole new era

of how to do music
and -- and it's assisted people

along the way with making
their records cool, you know?

"Oh, that's cool.
It's got the James in it."

-For a lot of the inner cities,

we just kept playing the music

that was the magic period
between 1968 and 1975.

♪

-I started in 1976 as a B-girl.

[ Rapping ] Well, I'm Sha, party
people, and I'm ready to rock,

and if it want to be done,
you got to give me what you got.

-♪ Ain't it funky?

-If you put on
a James Brown song,

you can let that song play
all the way through

or you could wait
for that breakbeat.

-♪ A-one, two, three, four

♪

-The DJs in hip-hop
had the ability,

with two turntables
and a mixer,

to go in and make that
one little area

of a song go on and on.

That's what they say, "On and on
till the break of dawn.

You keep on."

-When Herc and Bambaataa
and Flash

and these guys are piecing
these records together

and going back and forth,

we're recreating
and reinventing the records

to serve a different
artistic purpose.

James was at the center
of all of that.

-1989!
-The number.

Another summer.
-Get down!

Sound of the Funky Drummer.

-♪ I'm gonna knock you out

♪ Mama said knock you out

-♪ Whose house?

-♪ Say what?
-♪ Run's house

-♪ I ain't no joke
I used to let the mic smoke ♪

♪ Now I slam it when I'm done
and make sure it's broke ♪

-♪ It takes two
to make a thing go right ♪

♪

♪ It takes two
to make it outta sight ♪

♪

-I think James Brown really was
the architect of hip-hop.

You think about Funky Drummer,

you think about "Think,"
Lyn Collins.

Hip-hop was built
on those grooves.

-You know, it was crazy
because it was hip-hop

for its time,
that's how I look at it.

And then it became
what made hip-hop

hip-hop, you know,
for our time.

-I grew up in nightclub periods,

and I've never, ever,
ever knew a night

where some element of
James Brown wasn't in the air.

-Hip-hop, you know,
we stand on James's shoulders.

James Brown, without a doubt,

is one of the cornerstones
of hip-hop culture.

-♪ That's the way love goes

♪ Like a moth to a flame,
burned by the fire ♪

-"Papa, Don't Take No Mess"
was the foundation of

"That's the Way Love Goes,"

which is my favorite Janet song.

I remember, um, loving
the groove to that and thinking,

"What if we could create
an actual song

with chord changes and melodies

and all kinds
of different stuff over that

"Papa Don't Take No Mess"
groove.

Obviously one of her
biggest records ever.

-If you have 15,000 people,
you know,

just taking even
snippets of his beat,

it's because they want to be
solidified as that artist.

Because with a James Brown
beat behind you,

there's no way
that you could lose.

-Each year,
our most prestigious award

is the American Music Award
of Merit.

This year's recipient,

the Godfather
of Soul, James Brown...

[ Cheers and applause ]

...is having as much effect
on music of today

as he did on the music
of 30 years ago.

♪

-♪ Get up
-♪ Get on up

-♪ Get up
-♪ Get on up

-♪ Stay on the scene
-♪ Get on up

-♪ Like a sex machine
-Dance,

expression, vocalization,
and musicianship.

That's James Brown.

There's a meaning to what
James Brown,

when he put a umph in it.

It's not just a "you heard it,"

It's like you felt it.

-His hard work
and his determination

is what got him there.

But really,
what truly got him there

is his heart.

[ Cheers and applause ]
-Thank you very much. Come on.

Would you take this back?

'Cause I got something
I gotta do right here.

[ Cheers and applause ]

Thank you very much.

First, I thank God.

Then I thank
my lovely wife Adrienne

out there who stood with me
when times were rough.

-You know I will give it
to Adrienne.

She stood by him the whole time.

James was back
being the James that I loved,

and then back
being the James that I knew.

-When Brown loved somebody,
he does.

You know, there's no half way
with James Brown.

-Yeah.

-♪ Did you forget?

For close to 30 years,

he has been a musical legend,

living up to the image
as the hardest working man

in show business,
an innovator who is imitated

and not always paid for it.

-This guy had
an intrinsic talent

for just taking things
and putting them together.

He was a soup maker,
and he was a master at it,

and nobody could
cover his songs.

Otis Redding did
"Papa's Got a Brand New Bag."

Nobody wants to hear that.

Gene Chandler did
"There Was a Time"

It was a joke.

You couldn't cover his songs

because they were so personal

and so much a part
of who he was.

-There's only one James Brown.
He is instantly recognizable.

Impossible to copy,
although many have tried.

He is somebody who changed
the course of popular music,

and I think by doing that,
he changed culture as well.

-There are seven acknowledged
wonders of the world,

and you are about to witness
the eighth live

in that little tiny TV set
that you still haven't paid for.

Please welcome...
[ Laughter ]

...the greatest
soul singer in the world,

the hardest working man
in show business,

the Godfather of Soul,

Mr. James Brown!

[ Audience cheers ]

♪

-He was certainly
popping in the states,

but he was -- he was
beyond that in -- in Europe.

He was worshipped.

And he spent a lot of time
touring in Europe.

-♪ Try me

-♪ Try me

-♪ Ooh!

♪ Try me
-♪ Try me

-♪ And your love

♪ Will always be true

♪ Oh

♪ I need you

-♪ I need yoooou

-Sandy Clark,
Japan broadcasting.

Overall,
how do you feel tonight?

-Now you want to --
Now, there's only one leading --

And if you are American
or you just human being

and got any blood
going through your veins --

Oh! I feel good!

[ Laughter, cheers ]
What's next?

-You know, he just had so many
accolades and awards and Grammys

and, you know,
it was just, like,

he didn't get involved
with the --

thinking about it that much,
he just accepted it

and went on.

-For James Brown
when he belted out a note,

you could hear the soul
bleed from it,

like with the first iteration
of James Brown,

it was very much reader
in Sunday morning service.

That's what I like to call it.

So when you listen to, like,

"Please, Please, Please"
or "Try Me,"

that's literally, you know,

the first selection
from the choir.

And, you know, when he gets
ready to sing those songs,

you can really hear the pain
in his voice.

-James Brown put every morsel
of everything he ever remembered

throughout his life
into his music.

Whatever pain,
whatever black pain,

whatever personal pain,
it affected all of us.

And sometimes
we were feeling that same pain.

[ "I Guess I'll Have To Cry,
Cry, Cry" plays ]

♪

-Adrienne died on
the plastic surgeon's table.

-When his wife Adrienne passed,
that -- that got him.

That got to him.

-♪ Cryyyy

-♪ Cry, cry

♪ People let me cry

-What was the cause of the --
of the death of Adrienne?

-♪ I'd feel
a little bit better ♪

Uh, I wanted to make
her happy.

I didn't think
she needed anything,

'cause I think
she was beautiful enough

to not have anything,
but just God

and -- and herself
and -- and me.

-Well, he just kind of had
this dazed look in his eyes,

you know, he wasn't crying,
but he, you know,

you could tell he had been.

She was his rock, you know?

He was kind of, like,
floundering around.

Kind of lost without her.

-♪ When I

♪

♪ I lost yoooou

♪

♪ I lost the best thing

♪ I eve-e-er haaaaad

-Here's a terrific lady,
I met her a few times

with you in our studios
in Washington.

She was always so
full of life and energy.

She was some lady.
I bet you miss her a lot.

-Well, I miss her more
than I've ever --

in anything in my life.

My wife, um, she was...

She was sight,
and I was sound.

-Has it been tough to perform?

-Well, when I perform, I sweat
out the sorrow and the worry.

♪

-My father has performed
in this building,

and he did a lot of rehearsals
in this building.

His wife is Adrienne Brown.

Funeral was held in many,
many years ago,

so it's -- i-it --
it's got spirit.

A lot of Brown spirits in it.

-You can go down
the street here

and look at the graves
of James's father

and his wife, Adrienne.

And the huge,
elaborate gravestone

are identical to Elvis Presley's
at Graceland.

James Brown and Elvis Presley,
weathered being rivals,

were admirers of each other.

When Elvis Presley died,

James Brown was among
the first to stand

by that casket in
the living room of Graceland.

-I saw Elvis and I
put my hand on him, I say --

as couple of friends, I say,

"You alright,"
with tears in my eyes,

I say, "You left me."

♪

-I think Elvis saw
that James Brown

took a lot of country sounds

and turned it into his music.

Elvis Presley
took black gospel sounds

and incorporated into his music.

Plus, they both were poor boys.

They had both
come out of rural areas.

They were trying
to live fairly average,

normal lives and deal
with this worldwide fame.

-People don't really dwell
so much on Elvis' drug situation

and his stuff was crazy.
-That's right.

-That's right.
-Crazy.

With greatness, comes flaws.

You know, that balance is
necessary for you to be great.

That's important for
young people to know, too,

that, "Damn, with all that
greatness, all that money,

I could lose it?
I could mess up?"

Yes, you can.

-All the years are hard,
living in tour life

and stress
and being in the limelight,

that wears on a 50-something,
60-something-year-old man.

-So your back is okay?

-I play football.

Quarterback.

Pass to the best.

Uh! They can't play.

I can get you the ball
right here...

They can't play either.
-Be it the drugs,

the craziness,
or the parasites

that have been
sucking money from them

and all the different
relationships, men and women,

it's just, like,
all those things

and they just break down.

-It's no secret he had
a drug problem

and that was
a constant situation,

and it would affect
his performances.

And we had some periods,
especially overseas,

where it got very close
to him being arrested.

We had to wheel and deal,
as we say,

to keep him out of trouble.

-I was just trying to
make sure my dad stayed healthy

because he was older
and people really weren't --

I wouldn't say they weren't
looking out for him,

but he's James Brown
and they work for you.

-I'm sitting with
James Brown and Al Sharpton,

I have him playing
at the Paramount Theater

in New York City,
it's probably 1997, 1998.

I'm backstage
and we're talking.

I said, "If you have
your publishing,

I heard about this Bowie Bond

where we could take
your publishing, spin it off,

get you, you know,
tens of millions,

and then we're gonna
take your money from the bond

and you'll learn to invest it.

You'll put it
with good money managers.

You'll grow that 40 million
to 80 million,

and you could build
a tremendous net worth."

-Unfortunately,
he had an accountant

that was not so honest.

James Brown got a check
for $22 million.

And without going
into great details,

'cause it's public record,
a lot of the money

that James Brown got from
that publishing deal,

this accountant,
uh, ended up with.

-I have a real reason to,
to, uh, push education

because I've had four fortunes
taken away from me

because of the fact that
I had to trust a lot of people.

In some areas,
I should have been able

to be more familiar.
-Right.

-I get a phone call
from Nicoletta Pavarotti,

that's Luciano's wife.

She says she has an idea --
he does a concert

in Modena, Italy,
and like Brown to participate.

And he says, "I want to do
'It's a Man's World'

with James Brown.

He'll sing in English

and I'll sing in,
you know, opera and Latin."

I said, um, "How do you know
what words in Latin to sing

'It's a Man's World?'
He says, "I make it up."

I said, "You make it up?"

He goes, "Yeah,
who speaks Latin? [ Chuckles ]

[ Orchestral intro to "It's a
Man's Man's Man's World" plays ]

♪

-♪ This is a man's world

♪

♪ This is a man's world

♪ And

♪

♪ But it wouldn't be nothing

♪ Nothing, nothiiing

♪ Without a woman or a girl

-It was an all Italian audience

and the crowd loved it.

-Yeah, that was phenomenal,

they had a 70 piece orchestra
behind him.

I literally cried.

I'd never heard him
do it like that.

I mean, it was awesome.

-♪ And man made the boat
for the water ♪

♪ Like my Bible said
Noah made the ark ♪

♪ Ahhh!
O-o-o-oh ♪

♪ This is a man's world
-♪ Nulla ha piú senso

♪ Sé

-♪ But it wouldn't be nothing
-♪ Si vive

♪ Solo per sé

-♪ Without a woman or a girl

-♪ Solo per sé

-♪ Hey!

-♪ Solo

♪ Per sé-é-é-é-é

-♪ This is a man's world

♪ Hey!

♪

[ Cheers and applause ]

-Grazie, Grazie. James Brown.

Luciano Pavarotti. Grazie.

♪

-In 2003, they gave him
the Kennedy Center Honors,

which is one of the biggest
in the world.

And, uh, the President
of the United States comes,

everybody comes.

During the intermission,
James Brown said,

"President Bush,"
"Yeah, Mr. Brown," he said,

"You know Reverend Sharpton,
I know y'all got

political differences,
but shake hands.

I'm the godfather,
I put everybody together."

He never --
He was never intimidated

or awed by anybody.

♪

-My family and I,
we had dinner with James Brown

before
the Kennedy Center Honors,

and I got to sit there and
listen to the stories he told me

and experience his
energy firsthand.

In the midst,
and even at the peak

of the Civil Rights movement,
he was, like,

one of the most
important artists in America.

If James Brown is peaceful,
things can be more peaceful.

If James Brown goes left,

things could
potentially go left.

You know, when you see
these interviews

where he was joking around
or being silly,

you miss how serious this guy is

and how aware
and self-aware he was.

In music law,
there are three B's.

-There's Bach.

[ Crowd chuckles ]

Love Bach.

[ Laughter ]

-There's Beethoven.

Love Beethoven.
[ Laughter ]

And then there's Brown.

James Brown!

[ Cheers and applause ]

Without that man up there,

there's no funk, no soul.

No hip-hop.

You blaze trails

and broke down mental
and social barriers.

And made it possible for me,

a black kid from Queens,

to stand in front of presidents

and many other distinguished men
and women, and say it loud.

I'm black and I'm proud.

[ Applause ]

I got to...do that for him.

[ "I Feel Good" plays ]

-No, he exercised, right,
because he was on the stage.

He was in really good
physical shape,

but because he ate
high-fatty foods,

I remember him having diabetes
and high blood pressure,

right, and he had to --
he didn't have to take insulin

or anything for his diabetes,
but he had to take medication

and he didn't want to do it.

He understood it later on,

this is a direct product

of what you've been doing
in your body all these years.

I mean, he wasn't
a huge drinker.

Um, so that really wasn't --
it was more about the food

and just, you know, the late
night lifestyle and all that

what he did, the lack of sleep,

but the prostate cancer,
they caught it early

'cause he was having
some symptoms.

-I don't want
to be babied though.

I want to go to work.

-I love you,
-I love you too.

-Okay.
He was like, "I can't do chemo

'cause I don't want
to lose all my hair."

I mean, this was a real thing.

Thank God it was in
the early stages enough

that all he really needed
was radiation.

It was tough to see him
go through that,

but it was humbling.
-Thank you.

God bless you.

-I remember one time
I was in California,

my sister and I, Yamma,
we went out to, uh,

check out Dad perform.

It was a Greek theater
in Los Angeles.

So we got there and surprised,
"What y'all doing here?"

"You just want to hang out
with you, Dad, for the weekend."

"Well, hang out with me,"
like, "Yeah, [Chuckles]

we ain't got
nothing else to do."

We went out there
and it was so much fun.

Just us and Dad, just having a
-- just -- just fun.

I mean, he was working,
but it was fun.

-♪ Make it funky
-James Brown.

-♪ Make it funky
-There!

The world's Godfather of Soul.
-♪ Make it funky

-Mr. Jaaaaaames Brown!
-♪ Make it funky

-That night I says, "Dad,
can I dance with you on stage?"

And he said, "Uh, nah.

Not tonight, baby girl,
we'll do it another night."

"Okay, no big deal."

-♪ Try me

-♪ Try me

-♪ Try me
-On the song "Try Me,"

he would always go,
and he would

pull one
of the background singers

and do a little, little
slow drag dance to the song.

And this night.

-♪ Whoa, I need you

-[ Inhales ]
He let me dance with him.

-♪ You

-I'll never forget it.

♪

♪

-And you wonder sometimes,

what was it for him?

It wasn't the money
all the time,

and he was still doing it

at 70 years old.

He could have stopped.

-♪ For once I can touch

♪ What my heart
used to dream of ♪

♪ Long before I knew,
o-o-oh ♪

♪ Someone warm like you

♪ Would make
my dream come true ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah

-I had been named creative chair
for jazz programing

with the LA Philharmonic.

So my inaugural season was 2006.

I thought, "Wow,
what if I get Mr. Brown

to come to the Hollywood Bowl
and we redo Soul on Top live

with, uh -- with a big band,
just like the record."

-♪ It's a long time

♪

♪ May to December

♪ Heh

♪

♪ But the days grow short

♪ Can't you count 'em now

♪ When you reach September

♪

-It was clear that James Brown

wasn't the best
picture of health.

He was still gigging. He was
still touring all the time.

But he was -- he was
an old man by then, you know?

-Whenever we would go on
the road, he would get healthy

'cause he'd start being active
and he would,

you know, moving around and
whatnot and start to eat right,

and all that stuff,
but when he'd go home,

he...he would get in trouble
'cause he wouldn't eat right,

or he wouldn't take care
of himself or whatever.

-I feel good.

Papa's got a brand new bag.

-We went to dinner one night
at a restaurant

out in West Augusta,

he, uh -- Tomi Rae --
this was before

they were married --
Tomi Rae and James,

and my wife and I,
we had -- we had dinner there.

And my wife and I were leaving,

James and Tomi Rae
went into the piano bar

and James sat there
and started singing.

-My friend Flo Carter
and her husband Don

were having
their anniversary dinner,

and we were at
a real nice restaurant,

uh, near the Augusta National
Golf Course.

And, uh, James walked in
and he shot right over to us.

I said, "James," I said,
"It's, uh,

Don and Flo's anniversary."

Without missing a beat,
James looked right at them

and started singing,
[ Sings ] time after time.

[ Normal voice ] And I didn't
hear James do that again

until he sang it to Tomi Rae
after their wedding.

-I don't care what you read
and what they tell you,

Brown loved her,
bought her new teeth.

She's a girl
without much money, right?

And Brown had access to money.

And if Brown loved you,
he wanted you to be better.

-Mr. Brown, you're in London
at the moment.

Just tell us, first of all,

what you think about
this particular city.

I know you've been shopping.
You've been enjoying yourself?

-Well, I've been enjoying
myself shopping for my wife,

who's also my, uh,
one of my stars on the show.

[ "Hold On, I'm Comin'" plays ]

♪

-♪ Hold on, yeah
-♪ Hold on

♪ I'm comin'

♪ Hold on

♪ I'm comin'

♪ Hold on

♪ I'm comin'
-♪ Hold on

-Killed it. And he was sick.
Very sick at that time.

He was so sick that they had him

on IV fluids and a catheter.

And when it came time
for the show, he pulled 'em out

and went and did
an hour and a half,

went back to the hotel

and put 'em back in.

♪

♪

[ Cheers and applause ]

-On Friday before
the Christmas Day of 2006,

James Brown did
what James Brown loved to do.

And that was one,
at Thanksgiving,

he would give
away turkeys to poor people,

black and white, who got in line
to get a free turkey

from him in Augusta.

The second thing he would love
to do is at Christmas.

He loved to give away toys
to needy kids.

-December 22, 2006,

he was doing
the James Brown Toy Giveaway.

He had on this
black and red jumpsuit.

And he had the zipper down.

So I walked up to him
and I said,

"Hey, Dad, how you doing?

You act like
you're bringing sexy back,"

and I zip that zipper
slap up

'cause it was cold outside.

And he wasn't well,

I gave him a kiss.

He got in the limousine.

I said, "I'll talk to you later,
Daddy. I love you."

-The nation is mourning
the loss of a legend today,

the Godfather of Soul,

James Brown has died.

According to his agent,
Brown died early this morning

in Atlanta after being admitted
to the hospital

Sunday for pneumonia.

Brown was known for his
revolutionary rhythms of funk,

soul, and disco,
and was considered

one of the most important
musical influences

over the past 50 years.

James Brown was 73 years old.

♪

-I wasn't sure
if I was gonna make it.

Because now I didn't know
how life was gonna be

without my daddy.

I didn't know life
without my daddy.

♪

-I cried.

I called my brother.

And...

...to quote one of his songs,

it was a lonely Christmas.
[ Chuckles ]

-[ Sighs ]

I threw the phone over,
uh, somewhere.

-Uh...

It was -- It was, uh...

Not a...

[ Zipper unzips ]

-I love James Brown so much.

You know, it's, uh...

Oh, God, it's, uh...

I loved him so much so.

Most people
who knew him loved him.

-I was like, "Yo.

That is the most epic exit
of all time."

Like... [ Laughs ]

Like, James Brown
is such a star.

I want to take the one
most iconic, universal day

and take it over.

Like, even Christmas
don't got nothing on me.

[ "Christmas in Heaven" plays ]

♪

-♪ It's Christmas

♪

♪ In heaven

♪

♪ It's heaven

♪

♪ Here with you

♪

♪ And darling

♪ Believe me

♪

♪ I don't know

♪ I don't know

♪ What I'll do

-James Brown,
he always drew huge crowds

to the Apollo Theater
and today, of course,

is no exception.

50 years
after Brown's first appearance

at the legendary
Harlem Showplace,

fans are paying
their last respects.

[ All chant ] Say it loud,
I'm black and I'm proud.

-When I got off the plane
and we got to the Apollo,

and I seen the crowds
in freezing weather like that,

just to show respect
for the man, they lined up,

just to get a glimpse
of him in the coffin

and just to pay the respect
to us as a family was beautiful.

That's a lot of love, you know?

-I've never had a father

at home growing up,
but I had James Brown.

I had him personally,
and I had him with the world.

-♪ I've seen days

♪ When the sun didn't shine

♪ Raised in Georgia

♪ Born in Carolina

-They arrived before dawn.

-We love you, James Brown.

-Thousands lining
the sidewalks

in the heart of the city
James Brown called home.

-It's called
a homecoming celebration

because we're talking about
a legend and an icon.

A man that's American.

-♪ Hold my hand, Lord

-Those who got a seat
in James Brown Arena

got quite a show.

-We have Mr. Michael Jackson
come here to the city.

-In a surprise appearance,
the King of Pop

paid his respects
to the Godfather of Soul.

-What did he mean to you?

-Everything.
He was my greatest inspiration.

-Michael!

I'll miss him very much.

-Michael Jackson danced
and sang to "I Got the Feeling"

when he auditioned
for Berry Gordy.

All his life it was James Brown,
James Brown.

And actually,
there were some people

who encouraged him
not to come to the funeral.

They said, "You know,
you just had all of this stuff

go on in the courts
and everything.

You -- you might want
to stay away from that.

Michael said no.

-Leaving this earth on
Christmas morning

is the perfect bookend

for a life that actually
started as a stillborn.

He came to this earth
with -- with -- without a prayer

and through the sheer will
of the universe came to us.

So, it's rather
apropos that his birth was death

and that his death was life.

-Ladies and gentlemen, friends,

I'd like to say thanks
for coming out to see me here --

James Brown Show.

Every man has to know
what he's come from

and where he's going,

and know he has a chance to do
what he want to do in life.

-We all, as black people,

face challenges
every single day.

And certainly in America,
every single day

we face challenges,
and there are challenges

that our white counterparts
may not even acknowledge.

Even though we could walk down
the same sidewalk

at the exact same time
in the exact same city,

and have vastly
different experiences.

So with Black Genius,
it's no different.

And it's a strong person
that can --

that can understand that,

process it,
and continue to persevere.

-I think his level of genius
is a gift from God.

You know, you always
hear the story about James

running into the woods
or something happened special

when he was a little
down in Augusta,

and either somebody got
picked out to be anointed

and be special,
and some spirit came through him

to get him out of that way,
to get it --

because the education
wasn't gonna get it.

The opportunities
wasn't gonna get it.

So, to defy all that, something
special had to come in.

He's just been in every facet
and every part of this life,

you know, every part of music,

every part of entertainment
and just culture, period.

So it's like my little --
my little -- my little shrine.

I walk by this every day
and get inspired.

♪

-James tapped into that thing
in your spirit.

That's why you see people
of all colors, all hues.

James was an international --

is an international icon
and superstar

all over the planet.

-He showed me, initially,
what was possible,

you know,
not that I could do it,

but I could dream of it.

-I was 18 years old
when I joined Mr. Brown,

and he had a way of calling
my parents to say,

she -- I'm doing fine,
don't worry about me,

I'm in good hands.

And, you know,
when I was coming home,

not just my parents,
but a lot of the band members

and the other singers
and dancers.

-When we look at him,

we would understand
some of our sons

and fathers and nephews
and friends

that we didn't understand
their pain.

And I think some black men
will look at it and say,

"That's what I've been
trying to describe

and couldn't find the words."

A decade or more
since his death,

he's still healing people
that were wounded like he was.

-What we lost with James Brown
is a certain generation

that lived in a way
we could never imagine,

a generation that tried to
teach us to have a little guts,

some gumption, tough skin.

A generation
that was built on manners.

Mister, miss, ma'am,
holding the door.

A certain way of living that
we'll never be familiar with.

That's one thing we lost
with Mr. Brown.

But what did we gain?

A whole lot of great music,

a whole lot of
great inspiration,

and a blueprint

on how to make it
with very little.

-Daddy was a super spirit.

He was not perfect,
he had flaws,

but my father was a spirit.

Came into this world
with nothing.

He gave the world
everything God gave him.

-Ladies and gentlemen,

here is Augusta, Georgia's
young singing star

and his great combination here,
James Brown.

Let's bring 'em on.

-♪ Please, please, please

♪ Please, please
-♪ Please, please, don't go

-♪ Please, please

-♪ Please, please, don't go
-♪ Yeah!

♪ Ahhhhhhh

♪ Heey, heeeeey
-♪ Don't go

-♪ I love you so

♪ Go, ahh!

♪ Don't leave me

♪ Ahhhhhhh
-♪ Don't go

♪ Oh, don't go

♪

♪ Don't go

♪

[ Cheers and applause ]

-Uh, it's been a pleasure.

-God bless you.
-And don't miss,

don't miss --
Let's hold this up.

-Hoping to live 200 years --
I live 200 years

minus one day,
so I'll never know

beautiful people like you
will pass away.

-Ohh.
-God bless you, ciao, sayonara,

What shall I say?
Hasta luego.

Oh.
-Thanks for coming

and joining us, folks.
-Love you.

[ Upbeat funk music plays ]

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

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