Quit Playin’…James Brown gave the gift of pride

By Vincent L. Hall Texas Metro News Talkin’ about the gift that keeps on giving, you must be describing James Brown. In 2006 he commanded the world stage by dying on Christmas Day. His gift was magnified under the heat of the spotlight, and so was his departure. Seventeen years after his Yuletide departure, James Brown is still a part of my psyche. You can’t forget a guy who once released 20 songs a year and at least one new dance. To say that he was the “hardest working man in show business is no stretch or exaggeration. James Brown is the Godfather of Soul, Disco, Hip Hop, Rap, and whatever music genre comes along in the next generation. Musicians will be samplin’ this brother for another millennium. Some journalists could impress you by knowing that the orphaned Brown was born in Barnwell, South Carolina. Others could dazzle you by reciting the cavalcade of hits that hallmark his music history. You know all the history if you saw Chadwick Boseman’s almost-perfect biopic, “Get On Up.” That 2014 classic was eerily precise, down to the hand movements and jive talk. There is no need to bore you with the history. Long...