avoided violence. A few months later he wrote and recorded "Say It Loud: I'm Black and I'm Proud," a protest anthem that has unified and inspired generations. He continued his message of selfreliance and education in songs such as "I Don't Want Nobody to Give Me Nothing (Open Up the Door, I'll Get It Myself)." Brown had a turbulent personal life, especially during the late 1980s, when his career was on a downturn and he slowly slid into a mire of drug addiction and depression. In a notorious 1988 Incident, high on PCP and brandishing a shotgun, he led police on a high speed chase across two states before he was apprehended. He spent 15 months in jail before being released on parole in 1991. After his release, Brown returned to touring, once again delivering inspired and energetic concerts, even though he was in 60’s by this time. He continued to perform and record for the duration of his life, up until his death in 2006 from congestive heart failure at age 73. James Brown is unquestionably one of the most influential musical pioneers of the last half-century. The Godfather of Soul, the inventor of funk, the grandfather of hip-hop—Brown is cited as a seminal influence by artists ranging from Mick Jagger to Michael Jackson to Afrika Bambaataa to Jay-Z. Perfectly aware of his role in American cultural history, Brown wrote in his memoir, "Others may have followed in my wake, but I was the one who turned racist minstrelsy into black soul—and by doing so, became a cultural force." Brown always maintained that there was only one way to truly understand him: "As I always said, if people wanted to know who James Brown is, all they have to do is listen to my music." Brown was honored by many institutions including inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of Fame. He had several Grammy’s and in 1992, he won a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement. In Joel Whitburn's analysis of the Billboard R&B charts from 1942 to 2010, Hot R&B Songs, James Brown is ranked as number one in The Top 500 Artists. Brown is ranked seventh on Rolling Stone's list of its 100 greatest artists of all time. James Brown remains to this day the world's most sampled recording artist. Cause Magazine
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