by cheo tyehimba

We all knew him as the Godfather of Soul with a Super Bad cape...the man with a brand new bag... but when I was growing up, James Brown, or at least his persona, was also a source of comedy. Not for me particularly, but for my brothers. In fact, before I heard any of his music, I thought James was my alter-ego. Let me explain.

As a kid, I was not always the most well-behaved sort. Not quite a BeBe kid but defintely a badass. In fact, since I seemed to be blessed (or cursed) with a penchant for questioning authority, there was a period of time where I just got my ass whupped on the regular. And I'm talking old school, switch-and-extention-cord-brought-you-into-this world-and-I'll-take-you-out-Black Southern Baptist-child rearing style-beatings. Still not sure that stuff worked, though.

Anyway, invariably, when I would be sent to the "gallows" to take my punishment, the prodigious screaming and hollering I produced was legendary in our house. Here's a lil' sample: "Please! Puhleasse!! PLEASE!!! NO!! Mama NO! Wowww! AH! Ya-oww!" ... well, you get the idea.

One day when I recieved a whipping for... I don't even remember what - probably staying out too late or exercising my perceived freedom of speech - I must have screamed louder than usual because as I emerged from the room to "lick my wounds," my brothers commented that I did a great "James Brown" impersonation.

A "who" impersonation?

"Who was James Brown," I thought. "And what did he get in trouble for?"

When I finally saw the godfather of soul on TV I completely understood the comparison. He was a wild man. No one was beating him, but the brother sure could scream. He was on fire... and he was funky.

As I look back on his work (been playing all his songs this week) I know our Soul Brother Number One has gotta be smiling down on us now. We gave him a great send off from the world Famous Apollo in Harlem last week to the funk-filled wake in his hometown of Augusta, Georgia.

James influenced me and just about every Black child in America during the Seventies. His funky anthem "Say it Loud (I'm Black and I'm Proud)" possibly helped me avert a few race-fueled fisticuffs during elementary school and raised an awareness within me that I was a part of a larger legacy of greatness.

In a way, it was fitting that I discovered James Brown during my "flights of resistance" because for me, more than his ability to entertain, he will be know as someone who exhibited true, magnetic "soul power" (to use his phrase) on stage and off. We of the hip hop generation took the godfather's soul power and injected it into rap baselines and looped it in-between our lyrics.. which were about, feeling good, having fun, and fighting the power. James welcomed it and was the first to embrace hip hop as his child.

Last week, Jesse Jackson said it was fitting that the 73-year-old James Brown died on December 25th - Christmas - because it made his exit larger than life, just like his performances... I couldn't agree more.