When James Brown INCEPTED Hip Hop

James Brown had an influence on early hip hop in many ways, but the most obvious way is how early hip hop DJ's sampled his music. But was this… purely coincidence? Or was this a calculated move by the Godfather of Soul to GET people to sample his music? Was he trying to expand his Godfather title to encompass other genres of music? Had he tried this before? What does Disco have to do with any of this?

Today I'm talking all about James Brown, his influence on hip hop, and how his failed attempt to claim he invented a completely different genre of music set him up to be the Godfather of Hip Hop.

VINYL

SOURCES

Topics covered:

James Brown
Godfather of Soul
Godfather of Hip Hop
Funky Drummer
Give it up or Turn it a Loose
Get on the Good Foot
DJ Kool Herc
Grandmaster Flash
Early Hip Hop
Old school hip hop
drum samples
hip hop sampling
Disco
The Original Disco Man
Rapper's Delight
Bee Gees
Stayin' Alive
Heist
In The Jungle Groove
I'm Real
Public Enemy
NWA
LL Cool J
Digable Planets
The Pharcyde

[bingflosby]

James brown didn’t sue people who sampled his music unlike everyone else I don’t know if that’s covered just started the video but I remember djs talking about the fact that he was the only person who didn’t sue for copyright infringement and that’s a big reason why he is The Godfather of hip hop

[d-culture]

The way that James Brown worked with his band in the long-form sessions captured on In the Jungle Groove is just incredible to listen to. He'd have his musicians keep repeating short 1 or 2 bar long phrases over a single chord. Then he'd instruct each of the musicians when to drop in or out, when to bring the energy down or build up to a crescendo. He was "playing" the band, like he was controlling an imaginary mixing board. He was effectively working exactly the same way that a modern day hip hop or electronic producer would work, muting, unmuting and soloing tracks and launching clips and loops in a real time performance. Only difference is that he was doing it with a live band.

[williemo]

Fun fact: Staying Alive was the first known record to use a drum loop. True story. The drummer had to fly to England for a funeral while recording the album. They took a 1/2 inch mix down of the drum groove from an adjacent song on the album and spliced it as a loop with one of the engineers acting as the other spool using a pencil. It would be dope if you did an episode on that story. Folks might appreciate the innovative thinking.

[Heregoesnuttin]

This beat is also sampled in the theme song for PowerPuff Girls. There's even a solo part in the theme where the beat plays by itself!

[mader]

I love how you highlight the "space" in these songs. So rare in modern music these days.

[arronhaggerty]

Not only is James Brown the godfather of soul, he's the reason why hip hop exist, he was the precursor to hip hop, and he was rapping before it got to NY.

[liquidamusica]

This channel is going to blow up BIG.

Top notch production and entertainment! Thank u!

[MadSUPANOVA]

James Brown always said... 'Just send me a check'

He was like you can use my work... just pay me accordingly. Love James Brown and because of that business thinking he had... his music lives on through generations during and after his time. Just a savvy business man.

[pruett]

The middle section where you mixed James Brown and the Bee Gees LIVE and it sounded amazing gave me new life!

That mix was a match made in heaven and Im so glad Ive heard it!

[Waluiginumberone]

Let’s not forget Clyde Stubblefield, with one take of a drum beat with no other instruments he influenced the sound of hip hop for decades to come

[shawncharles]

Bruh... The Bee Gees mash up with James Brown had me jumping out my seat lol is there a way lol

[jnyerere]

Disco did not "die" with Demolition Night. Some of the greatest hits between 1980 -1983 were very much Disco-esque. Popular examples include "I'm Coming Out" by Diana Ross in 1980, "Let's Groove" by EW&F in 1981, and "Flashdance (What a Feeling)" by Irene Cara in 1983. Many more songs in the 80s incorporated Disco elements even if they weren't explicitly made obvious. One can even make the argument that 90s House Music was Disco reincarnated.

[nocarbonfootprint]

this guy knows his sh*t. i'm almost 60 and grew up with everything he's talking about here. SUBSCRIBED

[ryanpolo]

Hip-hop wouldn’t exist at all without the influence of “Funky Drummer” and “Impeach the President” both are the essence of classic hip-hop songs literally the foundation

[benji.B-side]

Sometimes, less is more. James Brown was a master with this. The 'Space' you mentions is an example of this.
From off the top of my head, The Funky Drummer break and the 'Amen' break are the two biggest influences used in early Hip Hop. Great video, respect!

[kaibricturner]

All hail James Brown “The Godfather of Hip-Hop” 🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾

[TangleWireTube]

This is golden content. Love the presentation, and the info.
RIP Clyde Subblefield. RIP James Brown.
Both are legends.

[novacorps]

Fun fact: it wasn't only Hip Hop artist that sampled Funky Drummer. An artist I'm sure you heard of named George Michael sampled it for his song Waiting for That Day.

[PaulDA]

And plus FUNKY DRUMMER was not a failed song, it went up to number 50 on the pop chart and number 20 on the soul chart so it was a decent hit although didn’t go as high as his other hits

[glassesstapler]

One thing about the 80s Rap songs. I was living just outside Philly and 'Static' was being played in heavy rotation. Every night during the count down STATIC was being played on the main r&b station, and it lasted for months. He was legit popular in hip hop