MB Civic

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/26/1519203

AMY GOODMAN: His involvement in the civil rights movement?

HARRY ALLEN: Well, I was talking to my wife yesterday about this, about the record, Say It Loud (I’m Black and I’m Proud). And she says that she remembers when it came out when she was a teenager. And it almost sounded dangerous to say, you know. And to this day, James Brown has carved a path, in terms of music, in terms of politics, that few have followed. You know, a certain number of hip-hop artists have gone that way, as well. But he put down ideas politically and musically that no one else has taken up, that are unique to him. “Say It Loud (I’m Black and I’m Proud),” you know, “I’ll Get It Myself,” “Soul Power.” These are all extremely, extremely strong declarations of black independence and black resilience at a time when those ideas were really needed in music as the lifeblood of black culture.

We need more voices like his