News & Updates — James Brown

The original hippy, the mystical eden ahbez wrote a tune called "Nature Boy" and by chance was able to hand it to Nat King Cole who turned it into a mega-hit in 1948. He looked like a hippy long before it was a thing and lived outdoors in Los Angeles. He lived under the "L" of the Hollywood sign and held a job as a piano player in a raw foods store. He was a vegetarian, straight edge and an anti-vaxer and wore a white robe. This lifestyle inspired "Nature Boy", and after the hit by Cole, ahbez became an...

Here's a birthday shout to Jimmy "Chank" Nolen, the "chicken scratch" guitar player with the James Brown band, and a crucial part of his sound. He came from Oklahoma City, first playing the violin before switching to guitar, inspired by T Bone Walker. He then went to Los Angeles in the mid-'50s and cut some tunes as a leader before joining the Johnny Otis band in '57. In fact, Nolen's "chicken scratch" sound can be heard on Otis' seminal "Willie & the Hand Jive" from '58. He brought the sound to J.B. in '65, just in time to contribute to...

The social worker-turned-rap producer/DJ Scott La Rock formed Boogie Down Productions with homeless teen KRS-One in the South Bronx in 1986 and the act brought the art of rap to a new level of poetry. Their first album, the proto-gangsta Criminal Minded, was a heavy blast of borough pride, battle raps, sparse and cutting funky production (inspired by James Brown and dancehall) and a gritty urban realism that has been a continuation in rap (for good or bad) ever since. They (theatrically?) initiated the "rap beef" with their battle boasts. Scott was shot while trying to defuse a situation and...