BLACK PRIDE

James Brown’s involvement with the civil rights movement also began
in the mid-’60s. He embraced it with the same energy and dynamism
he devoted to his performances. In 1966, the song “Don’t Be a Drop-
Out” urged black children not to neglect their education. In the same
year, he flew down to Mississippi to visit the wounded civil rights
activist James Meredith, shot during his “March Against Fear.” From
1965 onward, Brown often canceled his shows to perform benefit
concerts for black political organizations like the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference (SCLC). In 1968, he initiated “Operation Black
Pride,” and, dressing as Santa Claus, presented 3,000 certificates for
free Christmas dinners in the poor black neighborhoods of New York
City. He also started buying radio stations.
By 1968, James Brown was very much more than an important
musician; he was a major African-American icon. He often spoke
publicly about the pointlessness of rioting and in February 1968,
informed the black activist H. Rap Brown, “I’m not going to tell
anybody to pick up a gun.” On April 5, 1968, African Americans rioted
in 110 cities following civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.’s
assassination the day before. James Brown was due to perform in
Boston, Massachusetts. Mayor Kevin White and Brown decided to
proceed with the show and televise it. They realized people could not
resist watching a James Brown concert, and the riots gripping other
cities were averted in Boston.
In May 1968, President Lyndon Johnson invited James Brown to the
White House. The following month, the government sponsored him to
perform for the troops in Vietnam. In August, he recorded “Say It Loud
— I’m Black and I’m Proud.” Brown later attested the song “cost me a
lot of my crossover audience,” but it definitely caught the rising spirit
of African-American nationalism and became the unifying anthem of
the age. He graced the cover of LOOK MAGAZINE, which asked, “Is this
the Most Important Black Man in America?”
SANTA CLAUS GO STRAIGT TO THE GHETTOS
DNA – KENDRICK LAMAR
APES**T – THE CARTERS (clip)

As the title suggests, this song is about black pride. Brown was a leader in the black community,
and encouraged his people to stand up for their rights. The '60s was a tumultuous time for race
relations in America, and this song became an anthem for the black power movement.
•Brown recorded this live with a group of children from the Los Angeles area answering Brown's
"Say It Loud" with "I'm Black And I'm Proud." This call-and-response style was a fixture at
Brown's shows and inspired a generation of funk. The song came out the very end of the civil rights
movement. The aim wasn't exactly to support the movement but moslty to show to young black
people that they have to be proud of there roots. For James it was not a message to whisper Black
people had to shout it. During this time of this period, he decided to have a big afro instead of his
straight hair (artificially straighted). This temporary change is the representation of this time, a
growing pride among blacks in the late sixties, an embrace of their African heritage. The afro was
one of the most obvious sign. Treating his hair was a sign of submission to the white culture.

Illustration 1: "Godfather of Soul" Michael

Ochs, 1965

•https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW18UgwJ5l0, Teeanna Munro «Burn Scar».

•According to Brown's close friend Al Sharpton, the song came about when Brown witnessed
infighting among blacks in Los Angeles. "We've lost our pride," he thought. He went to his hotel
room and wrote the lyrics on a napkin.
•James Brown got politically active in 1968, endorsing the Democrat Hubert Humphrey for
president. He had enormous sway in the black community, which overwhelmingly supported
Humphrey, but it was not enough to defeat Richard Nixon, who was elected.

Brown didn't identify as a Democrat though, and quickly switch his allegiance to Nixon, performing
this song at the inauguration. Brown got more politically conservative over the next few years,
espousing individualism (do it for yourself) over systematic change. In 1972 he supported Nixon's
re-election campaign, which put him at odds with most of his audience.
•Despite becoming a highlight of his concerts, within a year of the release of the studio recording
this had largely disappeared from Brown's set list, as he was concerned with how its message was
being interpreted. Brown wrote in his autobiography: "The song is obsolete now... But it was
necessary to teach pride then, and I think the song did a lot of good for a lot of people."

He added: "People called 'Black and Proud' militant and angry - maybe because of the line about
dying on your feet instead of living on your knees. But really, if you listen to it, it sounds like a
children's song. That's why I had children in it, so children who heard it could grow up feeling
pride... The song cost me a lot of my crossover audience. The racial makeup at my concerts was
mostly black after that. I don't regret it, though, even if it was misunderstood."
•The song's percussive, pounding rhythm and verbal attacks provided a blueprint for hip-hop. Eric
B and Rakim sampled it on "Move The Crowd" in 1987 and Big Daddy Kane, LL Cool J and 2 Live
Crew have all also borrowed from the tune.
•This was Brown's first recording to feature trombonist Fred Wesley, who was to be a pivotal
member of the Godfather of Soul's bands for several years. After leaving Brown's band in 1975,
Wesley spent the remainder of the decade playing with George Clinton's various Parliament-
Funkadelic projects.

Wesley recalled to Uncut magazine in 2017: "It wasn't as hard musically as jazz, but playing James
Brown music was a challenge - you had to play it right on the beat, right on time, and you had to
play long vamps, so it was different. It wasn't the same as jazz but it was just as hard. Jazz and funk
have come together as one now but back in those days rhythm and blues were mainly (swung beats)
but the James Brown thing was tight."
•The song was recorded at the spacious Vox Studios in Van Nuys, California on August 7, 1968.
With lots of room, the band set up like a live show and watched Brown for cues, capturing the live
energy and spontaneity that energized their music.
•Brown was getting entrepreneurial around this time, buying the radio station WRDW in his
hometown of Augusta, Georgia and launching a chain of restaurants called the Gold Platter in urban
areas. This synchs with what he sings in the second verse:

We're tired of beatin' our head against the wall

And workin' for someone else

Brown was a shrewd (and ruthless) businessman when it came to music, but his non-musical
ventures were a drain - the Gold Platter restaurants soon closed.
•Brown made a visual statement as well, going natural with his hair instead of filling it with product
for a stiff, shiny look. This was part of a trend in the black community that accelerated when Brown
did it.
•Among the many this song impacted was Chuck D of Public Enemy, who was eight years old
when it was released. "I remember defining myself as these American terms
of negro to colored to black," he said in the documentary Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown.
"Because of that one song, black was beautiful. It was the beginning of being beautiful.
This song could be a bit awkward for listeners at Brown's concerts who were not black. Brown
would sometimes give instructions before performing it, telling black audience members to repeat
the "I'm black" line, and everyone else to come in on "I'm proud," giving everyone a chance to
participate.