It's criminal that MTV didn't showcase this man and the large variety of other black artists during this time.
Other than Superfreak, Rick didn't get a lot of Top 40 airplay though. Most of what early MTV showed was Top 40 and some AOR. It wasn't like they showed country music videos. Rick didn't really get the crossover audience like Kool & The Gang or Lionel Richie did. And Lionel was on the same label as Rick. Technically they were on different labels (Motown & Gordy), but they're from the same company. Kool & The Gang were probably the only R&B band of the early 1980s to get a lot of pop hits. Others got maybe 1 or 2 songs that became popular with the mainstream like Let It Whip, Fantastic Voyage, & You Dropped A Bomb On Me. Cameo didn't get a big pop hit until Word Up.
You can take a black guy to Nashville from right out of the cotton fields with bib overalls, and they will call him R&B. You can take a white guy in a pin-stripe suit who’s never seen a cotton field, and they will call him country. ~ O. B. McClinton
I think that MTV would have eventually played Rick's videos IF he had not called them out and accused them of being racist.It's interesting that,in 1985,MTV was airing videos by The Mary Jane Girls ("In My House") and Eddie Murphy ("Party All The Time")....songs that were written and produced by Rick so I guess you could say he made it onto the network after all,lol
On the Motown 60 special, Ciara is on now doing Superfreak & Give It To Me. I wonder why they didn't get Bobby Brown since he has said Rick was his favorite. New Edition did a little snippet of Rick on BET years ago
You can take a black guy to Nashville from right out of the cotton fields with bib overalls, and they will call him R&B. You can take a white guy in a pin-stripe suit who’s never seen a cotton field, and they will call him country. ~ O. B. McClinton
Jennifer Lopez is singing Teena Marie's Square Biz and several other songs in a medley (Please Mr. Postman, Dancing Machine, War, etc)
You can take a black guy to Nashville from right out of the cotton fields with bib overalls, and they will call him R&B. You can take a white guy in a pin-stripe suit who’s never seen a cotton field, and they will call him country. ~ O. B. McClinton
Back then I had my ears open to all of it. Still do. Anything that came across my radar that was funk I was on it. R&B, rock, pop, jazz. All of it. To me Rick offered a more generic sounding funk. Formulatic. Other than Street Songs, his records came across to me as flat, dull one note affairs.
Nothing really stood out to me or was distinctive sounding enough for me to categorize it as anything other than "by the numbers" funk. By contrast, when I listened to P-Funk, I got these vast multi-layered conceptual soundscapes that still interest me to this day. Now there were some tracks that did get to me, like the aformentioned Ghetto Life. Mary Jane. You & I jammed to no end, especially the long version. Dance Wit Me, in fact I think if I had to pick any one album it would be Throwin Down. Don't get me wrong, he's got a few jams. Good songwriter, wrote some solid cuts.
I'm not trying to turn this into a P-Funk vs Punk Funk affair. Even though he did a good job of starting that himself, lol. All I'm saying is he was calling himself the king of funk, I just didn't hear that. This thread came up just as a friend of mine sent me a link to a live performance of the Street Songs tour. So I went back and tried to reassess. Maybe I missed something the first time around. I got thru the Fire It Up and Bustin Out albums and they had the same effect on me.
[Edited 4/21/19 2:59am]
To each his own but Rick definitely possessed a funky sound unique to him. Maybe he wasn't necessarily innovating with new technology, creating a new genre/sub-genre or redefining funk but he had his own style and added an additional (and somewhat more accessible) flavor to an already colorful genre. Out of all the funksters then, Rick felt the most like a traditional rockstar both in image/persona and the music itself. No one else combined the worlds of funk and rock better than he. His compositions combined with the sleazy, grimy attitude he brought to the table made him stand out. On top of that, his vocals made him stand out as well and though not the first, he paralleled Prince himself and came after him by only a hair to have "Produced, Composed, Arranged and Performed by..." preceding his name in the album credits. That doesn't mean you should like him but still a credit that's due. Man, after typing that, I'm just thinking of the rainbow of unique funk/R&B outfits there were in the late 70s and early 80s, all throwing down hot buttered LPs simulataneously... Rick, Prince, Gap Band, Funkadelic, Parliament, Bootsy, Brothers Johnson, Isley Brothers, Slave, Heatwave... man y'all were spoiled back then!
Yes sir. Radio was golden then. I would listen to the radio every morning on my way to school.
It was jam after jam after jam. The unique thing then too of all these artists you would hear
other album cuts that would make you say yes I'm going to get that new Rick James, Gap Band, etc. album.
Don't laugh at my funk
This funk is a serious joint
It's criminal that MTV didn't showcase this man and the large variety of other black artists during this time.
Other than Superfreak, Rick didn't get a lot of Top 40 airplay though. Most of what early MTV showed was Top 40 and some AOR. It wasn't like they showed country music videos. Rick didn't really get the crossover audience like Kool & The Gang or Lionel Richie did. And Lionel was on the same label as Rick. Technically they were on different labels (Motown & Gordy), but they're from the same company. Kool & The Gang were probably the only R&B band of the early 1980s to get a lot of pop hits. Others got maybe 1 or 2 songs that became popular with the mainstream like Let It Whip, Fantastic Voyage, & You Dropped A Bomb On Me. Cameo didn't get a big pop hit until Word Up.
Honestly, Rick had more Top 40 success than the majority of the artists and bands MTV featured. I've been watching old recordings of the channel on YT; for every main event name, there were several times the amount of underground acts which seemed to consist mainly of glorified garage bands in the daily rotation. Many of those groups' biggest success was having a video on MTV.
On the Motown 60 special, Ciara is on now doing Superfreak & Give It To Me. I wonder why they didn't get Bobby Brown since he has said Rick was his favorite. New Edition did a little snippet of Rick on BET years ago
Forgot all about the special. Not that I could watch it anyway since I had to go to work but from what I've read, Motown 25 it was not. Ciara's performance seems to be the highlight of an otherwise poorly produced show.
On the Motown 60 special, Ciara is on now doing Superfreak & Give It To Me. I wonder why they didn't get Bobby Brown since he has said Rick was his favorite. New Edition did a little snippet of Rick on BET years ago
Forgot all about the special. Not that I could watch it anyway since I had to go to work but from what I've read, Motown 25 it was not. Ciara's performance seems to be the highlight of an otherwise poorly produced show.
I felt Ciara was a VERY disrespectful choice to pick to perform a tribute to Rick.When I first attended this event back in February it looked like a skit on SNL.
"That mountain top situation is not really what it's all cracked up 2 B when was doing the Purple Rain tour had a lot of people who knew 'll never c again @ the concerts.just screamin n places they thought they was suppose 2 scream."
Back then I had my ears open to all of it. Still do. Anything that came across my radar that was funk I was on it. R&B, rock, pop, jazz. All of it. To me Rick offered a more generic sounding funk. Formulatic. Other than Street Songs, his records came across to me as flat, dull one note affairs.
Nothing really stood out to me or was distinctive sounding enough for me to categorize it as anything other than "by the numbers" funk. By contrast, when I listened to P-Funk, I got these vast multi-layered conceptual soundscapes that still interest me to this day. Now there were some tracks that did get to me, like the aformentioned Ghetto Life. Mary Jane. You & I jammed to no end, especially the long version. Dance Wit Me, in fact I think if I had to pick any one album it would be Throwin Down. Don't get me wrong, he's got a few jams. Good songwriter, wrote some solid cuts.
I'm not trying to turn this into a P-Funk vs Punk Funk affair. Even though he did a good job of starting that himself, lol. All I'm saying is he was calling himself the king of funk, I just didn't hear that. This thread came up just as a friend of mine sent me a link to a live performance of the Street Songs tour. So I went back and tried to reassess. Maybe I missed something the first time around. I got thru the Fire It Up and Bustin Out albums and they had the same effect on me.
[Edited 4/21/19 2:59am]
To each his own but Rick definitely possessed a funky sound unique to him. Maybe he wasn't necessarily innovating with new technology, creating a new genre/sub-genre or redefining funk but he had his own style and added an additional (and somewhat more accessible) flavor to an already colorful genre. Out of all the funksters then, Rick felt the most like a traditional rockstar both in image/persona and the music itself. No one else combined the worlds of funk and rock better than he. His compositions combined with the sleazy, grimy attitude he brought to the table made him stand out. On top of that, his vocals made him stand out as well and though not the first, he paralleled Prince himself and came after him by only a hair to have "Produced, Composed, Arranged and Performed by..." preceding his name in the album credits. That doesn't mean you should like him but still a credit that's due. Man, after typing that, I'm just thinking of the rainbow of unique funk/R&B outfits there were in the late 70s and early 80s, all throwing down hot buttered LPs simulataneously... Rick, Prince, Gap Band, Funkadelic, Parliament, Bootsy, Brothers Johnson, Isley Brothers, Slave, Heatwave... man y'all were spoiled back then!
Yes sir. Radio was golden then. I would listen to the radio every morning on my way to school.
It was jam after jam after jam. The unique thing then too of all these artists you would hear
other album cuts that would make you say yes I'm going to get that new Rick James, Gap Band, etc. album.
Yeah, magical times. And that was only a sample of the talent in that genre alone.
As for the radio playing cuts, we kinda have that now where the biggest names are having very near their whole album's tracklist charting. Although that's via streaming and is due to the listeners themselves rather than DJs. Just ain't the same though.
On the Motown 60 special, Ciara is on now doing Superfreak & Give It To Me. I wonder why they didn't get Bobby Brown since he has said Rick was his favorite. New Edition did a little snippet of Rick on BET years ago
Lord have mercy! I'm glad I missed it.
"It's not nice to fuck with K.B.! All you haters will see!" - Kitbradley
"The only true wisdom is knowing you know nothing." - Socrates
I think that MTV would have eventually played Rick's videos IF he had not called them out and accused them of being racist.It's interesting that,in 1985,MTV was airing videos by The Mary Jane Girls ("In My House") and Eddie Murphy ("Party All The Time")....songs that were written and produced by Rick so I guess you could say he made it onto the network after all,lol
He deserves some credit for speaking his mind and calling MTV out on their double standards and inconsistencies. I think him doing so is what opened the doors to that line of thinking getting support. Bowie had that infamous interview with Mark Goodman in '83 on the subject but Idk if that would have happened had Rick not put his foot down on MTV's neck. [Edited 4/22/19 22:35pm]
His first album "Come Get It" is classic...and even though some may disagree, his 1997 "Urban Rapsody" album was great. The production is similar to "Emancipation" but still has some great songs on it.
Yeah, you can't go wrong with any Rick James album. I love them all, although, I'm not a fan of 'Wonderful'. Rick is one of my all time favorite artists, he was a great singer, musician, and songwriter. I always felt that he was one of the few who could've given Prince a run for his money, but the cocaine got the best of him.
And, I agree with everyone else, 'Urban Rhapsody' was a fantastic album! Very underrated.
Lady Cab Driver is one of the greatest songs ever!
as someone else mentioned,the Val Young debut album ‘Seduction’ is also worth checking out.Rick wrote and produced several tracks including the excellent title track,which he also sings on.
His first album "Come Get It" is classic...and even though some may disagree, his 1997 "Urban Rapsody" album was great. The production is similar to "Emancipation" but still has some great songs on it.
Yep, Urban Rapsody was(is) a damn good album.
Sad to say I've never listened to this album. I only know of Players Way with Bobby Womack.
What's crazy is I remember more off his Deeper Still album than Urban Rhapsody.
Have to give Urban Rapsody a listen.
Don't laugh at my funk
This funk is a serious joint
His first album "Come Get It" is classic...and even though some may disagree, his 1997 "Urban Rapsody" album was great. The production is similar to "Emancipation" but still has some great songs on it.
Yep, Urban Rapsody was(is) a damn good album.
Sad to say I've never listened to this album. I only know of Players Way with Bobby Womack.
What's crazy is I remember more off his Deeper Still album than Urban Rhapsody.
Have to give Urban Rapsody a listen.
Yeah, give it a listen.I was pleasantly surprised at how good it is
Remember the Eddie Murphy line from "Nutty Professor", when He said Luther Vandross was the "Black Pavarotti"? Like His Late Brother Charlie said, "Wrong......WRONG! We talkin' bout Rick James, Man!"
Do you guys remember several years ago when the unreleased third Mary Jane Girls album appeared out of nowhere? Recorded in 1986,it was titled Sweet Conversation.We had a lengthy thread about it and all the tracks were posted on Youtube.
www.prince.org/msg/8/431180?&pg=1
I assumed that it was going to be released officially,in some form or another,but then it soon disappeared......again anyone know the scoop?
Do you guys remember several years ago when the unreleased third Mary Jane Girls album appeared out of nowhere? Recorded in 1986,it was titled Sweet Conversation.We had a lengthy thread about it and all the tracks were posted on Youtube.
www.prince.org/msg/8/431180?&pg=1
I assumed that it was going to be released officially,in some form or another,but then it soon disappeared......again anyone know the scoop?
..
[Edited 5/1/19 14:07pm]
Weird isn't it? I assumed it was going to get an offical release like Rick's 1989 unreleased album "Kickin" but it never happen. Thank goodness for youtube and downloading!
Do you guys remember several years ago when the unreleased third Mary Jane Girls album appeared out of nowhere? Recorded in 1986,it was titled Sweet Conversation.We had a lengthy thread about it and all the tracks were posted on Youtube.
www.prince.org/msg/8/431180?&pg=1
I assumed that it was going to be released officially,in some form or another,but then it soon disappeared......again anyone know the scoop?
Weird isn't it? I assumed it was going to get an offical release like Rick's 1989 unreleased album "Kickin" but it never happen. Thank goodness for youtube and downloading!
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so I guess you could say he made it onto the network after all,lol
was doing the Purple Rain tour 
the good ol' days 
anyone know the scoop? 