VIA PRESS RELEASE | Urban Legends, a division of UMe, Universal Music Group’s global catalog company, is continuing to spotlight one of the greatest artists of all-time, “The Godfather of Soul” James Brown, with the second installment of the animated mini-series Get Down, The Influence of James Brown.
On September 1, 2020 James Brown’s official YouTube Channel will unveil Funky President, episode two of the new three-part series, following the first episode, Funky Drummer, released on July 10th. Narrated by Questlove (The Roots, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon), and featuring Lord Finesse and Co-founder/former EIC of Wax Poetics magazine, Andre Torres, the three-part series was created by UMe along with Dreambear and explores the sonic DNA of James Brown whose music is continually sampled and whose trademark vocal phrasing is deeply woven into the fabric of Hip-Hop.
This second episode explores the fascinating and unpredictable politics of James Brown while following the influence of his second most sampled track of all time, “Funky President (People It’s Bad).” Touching on the civil rights movement and Brown’s seminal “Say It Loud – I’m Black and I’m Proud,” Funky President shows how James Brown, as well as his musical peers and successors, has been able to encourage social change and raise political concern from a black American perspective.
The full episode of Funky President premieres on September 1, 2020 and can be viewed here with part three (The Payback) coming later this year.
