"Brother Rapp" is a 1970

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

song written and performed by

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...

. It was first released as a two-part

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

on King Records (K6285) in early 1970, but was quickly withdrawn from sale. It was released again later that year in a mechanically sped-up version that charted #2 R&B and #32 Pop. It also appeared on the album ''

Sex Machine Sex Machine may refer to: Human sexuality * Sex machine, a mechanized apparatus that acts as an automated erotic stimulation device * Virtual sex machine or teledildonics, computer-controlled sex toys * Sex Machines Museum, a sex museum in Pra ...

'' with

overdub Overdubbing (also known as layering) is a technique used in audio recording in which audio tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto one or more a ...

bed crowd noise, and Brown later issued it in a faded version with different guitar work, in 1973 for the '' Slaughter's Big Rip-Off'' soundtrack album. A live version of "Brother Rapp" is included on the album ''

Love Power Peace ''Love, Power, Peace: Live at the Olympia, Paris, 1971'' is a live album by James Brown. It is the only recording that documents one of his live performances with the original J.B.'s lineup featuring Bootsy and Catfish Collins. (The group's con ...

''. In his 1986 autobiography, Brown related the lyrical message of "Brother Rapp" to his support of

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

music:

I admire the rap and the break dancing and all the stuff coming out of hip hop. A lot of the records are messages that express community problems. Used right, those records could help prevent the riots of the sixties from happening again. If you know how a community feels about things, then you can do something about it... That's what my song "Brother Rapp" is all about. A fella is calling on his lady and protesting at the same time: "Don't put me in jail before I get a chance to rap. Here what I'm saying. When you see me on a soapbox out there complaining, don't lock me up. Sit down and join me." And that's what I'm saying about these records. Let 'em testify. Let the brothers rap.Brown, James, and Bruce Tucker (1986). ''James Brown: The Godfather of Soul'', 263. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press.

References

James Brown songs Songs written by James Brown 1970 singles {{1970s-R&B-song-stub