Chuck Brown was a guitarist, funk expeditionary, high flier, big baller, and D. C. landmark that walked around looking like a damn Kansas City pimp, which isn't really fair to Kansas City, because being compared to Chuck Brown carries with it a base swagger requirement that doesn't exist in this day and age.
In the 70's Parliament Funkadelic delivered the funk to the masses in a spaceship while wearing glitter armor and a diaper, which is undeniably awesome, but Chuck just rubbed some funk off his face with a towel, walked up, threw that shit at your head, que'd the baseline, and suggested you dance out of politeness, while knowing you didn't have a choice. It would be a little gross at first, and people would say to the person next to them, "Did this nigga just throw a funky towel at my head and tell me to dance?" But you would dance though, and it was cool.
And funk operators managed to do all this while disco was in play, a musical situation that most 70's youth survivors still deny happened. It's bittersweet that Donna Summer and Chuck Brown passed around the same time, but it's all good cause they did their jobs well on separate sides of the street. They got the kids of the time where they needed to go, took a bow, then went to sleep.
It's almost romantic that American innovators have been quietly passing since Jell Roll Morton without much pomp or circumstance, but the styles they created can be heard in every cord and break in musicians performances after them. Call and response, jazzy bridges, funky breaks, it's all there in every hip hop, R&B, and rock track if you listen to them in sections.
I mean, it's romantic for the fans, but still must suck for the artists estate, all that music in life only adding up to a spam obit in the midweek news cycle and debt your kids have to deal with. Meh, music is a tough gig, and not one you can measure accurately in money. But if you do it well enough you change the world for the better, so there is that.
The Protoculture Mixtape : V.79 Issue : Games : Last Dance
