WHY JAMES BROWN IS STILL THE COOLEST!!!

THE BEAT

There’s a beat you know before you know it. It sneaks in through your feet, rises through your spine, and takes over your whole body before your brain has a chance to say anything clever. That’s James Brown. That’s funk. That’s the beginning of hip-hop, the pulse of pop, the backbone of soul, and the reason your favorite rapper sounds like your favorite rapper.

You see, James Brown didn’t just make music. He made rhythm laws. He didn’t follow the beat, he was the beat.

You don't believe me? You want facts? Numbers? Cool.

Well, James Brown is the most sampled artist in music history.

Thousands - yes, thousands. Like almost 9000 times - of tracks across genres have decided to use his grooves. From his iconic scream to Clyde Stubblefield’s legendary “Funky Drummer” break, his sounds have been chopped, looped, flipped, and resurrected in hip-hop, pop, R&B, K-pop, J-pop, and even commercials selling stuff he probably never even heard of.

-Public Enemy used him. 

-Dr. Dre built G-Funk on his bones. 

-Kendrick Lamar took his gospel and gave it new fire.

-BTS? They might be dancing in Korean, but those rhythms?

Yeap! Mr. Brown’s fingerprints are all over it.

Every time you hear a funky bassline, a wah-wah guitar, a rapper commanding the mic like a preacher, or a drum break that hits you right in the chest, that's not just style. That’s James Brown’s soul still doing its thing. That’s a man who stood on stage and shouted:

“Get up offa that thing and dance till you feel better!”

And the world has been obeying ever since.

He made it okay to shout, to move, to be loud, to be black and be proud, to be sweaty, and alive.

He gave hip-hop its first marching orders. He gave pop its swing. He gave the world its groove.

So when you see a rapper in Tokyo, a girl group in Seoul, a DJ in Paris, or a break-dancer in Bogotá, just remember, James Brown is still in the building.

Don’t believe me?  Ask your hips, ask your heartbeat, ask the next track that makes you say, “Damn, that’s funky.”

Because the truth is… James Brown didn’t just start a new kind of music, he started a movement. And my brothers and sisters, it’s still moving.

Thanks for reading! 🪮🪮🪮 Abrazos