I'm Rick James, B*tch: The artist behind the Superfreak.
By Tony Green
http://slate.msn.com/id/2105003/

James: The real deal

Among the many downsides to the death of funk legend Rick James was its
uncanny penchant to bring out the worst in human decorum. Namely, the
inability not to go for the obviously stupid one-liner. To wit: I was
hanging out in a record store (they still have those, you know) when the
cashier mentioned that James had died.

Before I could comment, a voice chimed in from behind me. "Rick James is
daid, beeyitch."

Which was tasteless and a little corny. But it caused me to bemoan the
fact that James' status as Joe Cocker to Dave Chappelle's Belushi is
what the average person will remember him for.

Part of it, of course, is James' doing: No one disputes his appetite for
chemical and sexual excesses, least of all the juries that sent him to
jail for two separate sexual assaults in 1991 and 1992. James performed
a mea culpa on "Good Old Days," from his 1997 album Urban Rhapsody, part
of a planned comeback that was derailed by a stroke that same year. And
James' recent appearances demonstrated just how unkind time is to
flashy, spotlight-stealing artistsdouble-chinned super freaks in
too-tight jumpsuits tend to invite ridicule.

But thanks to a news media that can't keep its mind on anything long
enough to provide any semblance of context or perspective, it's tough to
come up with a take on Rick James compelling enough to compete with the
admittedly hilarious Dave Chappelle version (which James himself thought
was pretty funny; Chappelle is now reportedly gearing up for a role in a
James biopic). Even during James' peak, mainstream pop culture didn't
quite get the full picture.

A skilled instrumentalist, songwriter, singer, bandleader, and
performer, James was an heir to the do-it-all mantle that Prince fooled
everybody into believing was his alone. The classic "Rick James
sound"new-wavey synths spread over a barely discernible rock foundation
(he shared bandspace with Neil Young early in his career and played a
Rickenbacker bass more often adopted by rockers like Paul McCartney than
funksters)was just one color in his sonic palette. As a producer, he
knew when to get out of Teena Marie's way, how to make the Mary Jane
Girls sound even better, and how to distract listeners from Eddie
Murphy's voice (on the Murphy vanity project "Party all the Time"). He
could funk with the best of them ("Loosey's Rap") and craft the kind of
slow-grind ballads ("Fire and Desire," "Ebony Eyes") that cause
birthrate spikes. He fit in with both MC Hammer (whose "U Can't Touch
This" spun off James' "Super Freak") and old school stalwarts like
Smokey Robinson and the T!
emptations, both of whom he penned tunes for. Not for nothing did the
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers honor him with a
Lifetime Achievement Award in June.

Unfortunately, James' salad years coincided with the creation and
consolidation of what Black Rock Coalition founders Greg Tate and Vernon
Reid called "Apartheid Oriented Radio." It may seem hard to believe,
what with urban culture leading the pop world around by its nose
nowadays, but MTV didn't consider urban music part of the "rock 'n'
roll" universe (read: everything that mattered) until Sony allegedly
threatened them with a companywide boycott if they didn't allow Michael
Jackson in their rotation. That opened things up for some other
megastarsPrince, Whitney Houston, Janet Jacksonleaving the rest to
fend for their own on urban-only outlets like BET. The iron curtain
separating "urban" (black acts) from "pop" (white acts, and black
crossover acts) spawned a whole subgenre of artistsmany of them gold-
and platinum-sellingwho are household names to African-Americans and
trivia questions to nearly everyone else: Kashif, Roger Troutman and
Zapp, Levert. James crossed ov!
er, to be sure, but the core of his listenership still consisted of the
ordinary working-class African-Americans who flirted with the jheri curl
for a bit, chilled out with Canei wine, and looked at you funny if you
didn't know who Donnie Simpson was.

The fact that 1980s funk and soul is still searching for its place in
the retrospective pop timeline makes it even tougher to contextualize
James. It was sandwiched between the '70s creative whirlwind (Sly, James
Brown, P-Funk, the Isley Brothers, Stevie Wonder) and the mainstream
rise of hip-hop and New Jack swing, which is kind of like being
president between Reagan and Clinton. One reason for this is that the
'80s spawned what writer Rickey Vincent dubbed "Naked Funk." It was
still funk, but without the extra-musical calling card that helped it
break out of the "urban" ghetto.

The great lie about music of the post-rock era is that it was something
other than dance music at its core. Which is garbage, of coursethe
Rolling Stones aren't still touring because their fans are debating the
meaning of "make some girl."

But the appearance that dance music is something other than "just dance
music" has always been essential to success in a pop-music universe full
of fans who haven't yet disowned critical oxymorons like "intelligent
drum and bass." When you heard P-Funk or Prince, you felt were getting,
at the very least, something more than just a call to shake your ass. On
albums like Funkentelechy vs. the Placebo Syndrome George Clinton
recontextualized extended dance jams as Star Wars-esque space epics with
allegorical references to the corporate entertainment complex. Prince's
mysterious (and sometimes creepy) take on sex and spirituality allowed
you to think that your taste for armchair psychology was impelling you
out of your seat. And more than one hip-hop scribe has ridden the "pain
and roar of a disaffected generation" angle to mainstream status.

James, as good as he was, never really had that kind of cachethis
hedonistic funk-punkster played well, but it didn't obscure the fact
that he was just an extremely accomplished, seriously prolific,
outlandishly funky individual who had more of an effect on pop music
than people give him credit for. That should be enough for people to try
to scratch the surface of the Chappelle caricature, and "Super Freak"
and all the other totems that we associate with his legacy. But in the
real world, it isn't. And that's a bitch.

Tony Green, a musican/writer, lives in Largo. Fla. He teaches 7th grade
at Clearwater Intermediate School and hosts the Grooves show on
Community Radio WMNF-FM in Tampa.

your article was interesting, but you left out the most important thing, It was Rick James who started the movement for videos by black artist to be played on MTV. Rick James told MTV/Viacon that they were being hypocrites & racist (which they were) for not allowing videos by black artist in MTV's rotation. He(Rick James) also told MTV/Viacon that music should not be restricted or catagorized by color,or demographics. Rick was out there alone in this fight, until Grace Jones & Herbie Hancock joined in on the fray. Herbie Hancock even went so far as to say, he made his award winning "Rock It" video with all robots, so it could be played on MTV! Once Rick's charges of racism by MTV/Viacon started getting publicity & spotlighting MTV in a negative light, they(MTV) retaliated by playing Rick's rival at the time(Prince). MtV never supported Rick james' music, still he sold between 75 to 100 million records without them! As a very respected magazine by & for musicians once said in a cover to cover article in the early 90s " Rick James was selling millions,while Prince was a cult figure"
It was'nt that Rick James' music was not good, or did'nt keep up with the so-called times, it was the simple fact that he never got the support of MTV. Rick's Uban Rapsody cd was given 3 & a half stars out of 4 stars in the USA Today! Rick James always made some great music, until the day he died. You are correct though, there is definately more to The King Of Punk Funk than Superfreak or his excesses in life!

ps> 1 more thing, Rick Jmaes actually bet that 1st case against him, it was'nt until the 2nd incident that the courts combined the 2 cases & found Rick guilty of assualt & supplying or transporting drugs for sale or consumption. Rick James was not convicted of rape or kidnapping & all the other charges, he got convicted of beating the shit out of the 2nd woman. In which Rick gave an explanation on the Behind The Music special! One last thing, it is also reported & documented that a person who testified against Rick James was actually provided drugs by a person or persons on the prosecution's team. So when you all write articles & comment on the Life & times of Rick james, please DO NOT 4get those important facts!!

YticEnots,you brought up an interesting point.Rick James was the first Black artist to question MTV's misguided decision to not show videos by black artists.I never understood why they didn't show his "Super Freak" video.That song has an undeniable New Wave/pop sound!

Rick James will always be the 1 & only King Of Punk Funk, that title will never belong to any other artist! R.I.P. brother Rick!!!

I'm just wondering why Prince fans & anybody else is not reading or commenting on this very accurate & interesting article?

YticEnots said:

Exactly.