Arguably, James Brown was one of the most popular and successful black performers in the 1960s and early 70s. Called "Soulbrother No. 1", he was an innovative Soul musician and in the mid-60s revolutionized Pop music with his move towards Funk. LeRoi Jones at a Black Power Conference in 1968 called him "our No. 1 black poet". James Brown can be considered one of the central figures of the Black Arts Movement in music.

The purpose of this paper is to shed light on James Brown's relation to central ideas of the movement, such as Black power and Black Nationalism. What was it that made James Brown such an important figure for African-Americans during this period, when the civil rights movement was surpassed in importance by the Black Power movement? How did he fit into the Black Arts Renaissance?

James Brown has never been a very political person in the sense of thinking and acting from a coherent ideological position. As he explains in his autobiography, he never voted. Instead, he "tried to go a step beyond being a local statesman. I'm a humanitarian, not a politician." This did not keep James Brown from commenting on politics: his probably most disputed political act was his endorsement of "that notoriously antiblack politician" (in Nelson George's words) Richard Nixon in 1972 after Hubert H. Humphrey, with whom he had cooperated on the "Don't be a Drop-out" campaign, had lost in the Democratic Primaries. But already in 1968 the musician had been criticized by SNCC chairman Rap Brown as "Roy Wilkins of the music world" for calming riots after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, dining at the White House, and releasing "America Is My Home".

Quite rightly, Dave Marsh speaks of a "fundamental eccentrity of his thought". Furthermore, in his autobiography James Brown often sounds somewhat naive, for example when he writes about how his endorsement of Nixon came about: One of his reasons for endorsing the conservative politician was that he responded positively to the musician's proposal to introduce a holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, as James Brown thought. According to Brown, Nixon argued that he would like to see King honored, but only after the election, because, as James Brown quotes him: "If I do it now, people will say it's calculated just to get votes."

James Brown's deep-seated humanism and optimism was hardly fully compatible with the pessimistic and militant stance of Black Nationalism. Another example that shows the difference in the approach is told of in his autobiography:

"One day my real estate man in Augusta showed Deedee and me the kind of house we'd been looking for. It was on Walton Way, one of the best streets in the wealthier part of town then. It was in a white section of town, but that was all right with me--I wasn't prejudiced. It had enough room and enough yard that we could have some privacy and peace and quiet when I came off the road, which is what Deedee wanted. It didn't matter to me who the neighbors were, and it shouldn't have mattered to them. I told the agent I'd take it." (JB, p.208)

Other than most Black Power activists James Brown never held up socialism and did not even criticize the Vietnam war. Instead, he played for the troops there, and released the single "America Is My Home". It cannot surprise that many black Nationalists did not particularly approve of the song. James Brown was "a proud exemplar and champion of Black Capitalism" and lived the American dream.

At the same time, however, he cut ">Say it loud, I'm black and I'm proud" in 1968, speaking for millions of black Americans. The hymn came to be one of his most successful R&B as well as Pop hits.

What can be said for certain is that James Brown always was very conscious of his being black. He stuck to his roots and, in all his wealth, never forgot that he came from the black ghetto. In his concert at the Apollo in 1967, for example, he told his audience: "I'll never forget who I am, where I came from, where I am today, and who put me there: you. Thank you." Parts of his profits were always dedicated to black neighborhood projects.

In his verbal statements, however, James Brown's emphasis was on civil and human rights much rather than on Black power. He believed strongly in integrationism and reports proudly of the auditoriums he "integrated". In his autobiography he explains his rather mild understanding of Black Power:

"Black Power meant different things to different people, see. To some people it meant black pride and black people owning businesses and having a voice in politics. That's what it meant to me. To other people it meant self-defense against attacks like the one on Meredith. But to others it meant a revolutionary bag."

He then goes on to explain that he himself sees nothing wrong with self-defense, but that he thinks problems should and can be solved through education, and not with violence, which was the reason why he started his "Don't Be a Drop-Out" campaign. Ultimately, he always came down on the side of non-violence, despite his oft-quoted statement: "Die on your feet, don't live on your knees."

One thing James Brown strived for was black unity and solidarity. In his concerts he was able to produce a feeling of unity and soulfulness that united the audience. His urge to unite all blacks also shows in the fact that he bought a lifelong membership in the NAACP and made contributions to CORE and the H. Rap Brown Defense Fund at the same time.

All things considered, it is not wrong then when Albert Goldman sets up the equation "Black Power = James Brown". The most important factor, however, is not James Brown the successful businessman nor James Brown the black spokesman, but James Brown the artist.

"If the people who were on me about "America Is My Home" wanted to know who James Brown was, all they had to do was listen to "Licking Stick". My music said where I stood."

The most important aspect in explaining James Brown's importance and success do we find when we look at the performing artist James Brown and his music. From the beginning, James Brown's music had black roots, and he never left them. His first group was a gospel group. He then moved on to Rhythm and Blues before he composed and performed Soul music. His singles "Out of Sight" and "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" in 1964 and 65, respectively, marked a new period in his artistic development. The new style was soon labeled Funk music. James Brown and his band "reduced" all instruments as well as his own voice to mere rhythm instruments. James Brown explains the change as follows: "The horns, the guitar, the vocals, everything was starting to be used to establish all kinds of rhythms at once. ... I was trying to get every aspect of the production to contribute to the rhythmic patterns." Peter Guralnick describes the sound and its implications:

"All the grunts, groans, screams, clicks, and screeches that had been lurking in the background, the daringly modal approach to melody (soon there would be virtually no chord changes in a James Brown song, with forward motion depending entirely on rhythm) were--without anyone fully realizing it in 1965--imitations of African roots, declarations of Black pride that would very soon earn James Brown plaudits from cultural nationalists and the musical avant-garde alike."

James Brown introduced a percussionist in his band and would sometimes use two drummers during his performances, which was unheard of before in popular music.

James Brown's popularity with Black Cultural Nationalists stemmed from his compliance to their aesthetic as described by Van Deburg: "Their major goal was to spur the growth of a dynamic, functional black aesthetic that (1) emphasized the distinctiveness of African-American culture--along with its unique symbols, myths and metaphors; (2) extolled the virtues of black life-styles and values, and (3) promoted race consciousness, pride, and unity." All this James Brown did par excellence. He was the musical expression of Black Soul and was able to evoke feelings of Black pride and unity in his audiences. It should be stressed that not only his music, but the whole show personality JAMES BROWN, his dancing on stage, the band choreography, everything was distinctly James Brown, and thus distinctly black.

James Brown on stage expressed pride, power, energy, emotion. To quote Mel Watkins in his interpretation of the performer's lyrics:

"What his songs characterize is the physical, emotional and down-front nature of black life. If the truth be told, the artistry of James Brown is epitomized by the guttural grunt (uh, uh) or the equally familiar cry of "oo-wee" that punctuates practically every song he has recorded. In those simple, primal utterances Brown comes nearer his poetic goal than in any of his more elaborate lyrics. For there, he is not singing about black life--he is black life."

And, in the same vein, Arnold Shaw, who stresses the erotic aspect of James Brown's performance:

Whether one regards his style as orgiastic religion or sanctified sex, it is compounded of extremes of emotion, excitement, and expression that are characteristic of Gospel meets. It is the blackest black."

Last but not least LeRoi Jones--as early as 1966--testified for the power of James Brown's music for blacks:

"James Brown's form and content identify an entire group of people in America. However these may be transmuted and reused, reappear in other areas, in other musics for different purposes in the society, the initial energy and image are about a specific grouping of people, Black People."

It was impossible to imitate James Brown, especially in his funky period. His music and his performance style were so deeply rooted in the African-American experience in the US that no white entertainer without that experience would even try to copy him. The unsurpassed atmosphere of his concerts relied heavily on call and response schemes. James Brown was (and is) probably more dependent on audience reaction than any other performer. He would be deeply disappointed if he could not arouse concertgoers out of their seats and if his was not the most successful act of the night. And his song titles alone are evidence enough to show that he would not use anything but black speech and living black idioms.