The Museum Of UnCut Funk Presents c-dub's Rick James Interview - Excerpt 1

I always hoped that one day I'd at least meet Rick James. In 1987 I began an internship at W-B-L-S in NY. This was the station that played his music. Years pass and I eventually get a job at MTV as a journalist. I'm now a writer, not based on a degree from any college mind you, but because of my wealth of knowledge and appreciation for "Urban" music, Black music, R&B, FUNK music. By this time, Rick has been arrested and released and done a concert at the House of Blues in LA, which I naturally attended. I interviewed him there for the first time. My second interview with him was a phoner, both of these were done during my tenure with a radio syndication company called MJI. After that Rick fell victim to a stroke. I prayed for his recovery. Once he got well, he recorded his last release Urban Rapsody in 1997. A few years later, I had the fortune to interview him one more time. He came to MTV during his last tour in 2002, we kicked it for over an hour like old friends.

This is an excerpt from that interview. You can hear the entire interview at The Museum Of UnCut Funk - http://www.museumofuncutfunk.com/ or my Funkalicious blog - http://www.funkaliciousblog.com/ or our funky community - http://museumofuncutfunk.ning.com/


Peace
c-dub
Music and Culture Expert
Funkalicious Blog
The Museum Of UnCut Funk

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[BabyG18]

naa nsync had some r&b

and so did britney

but because theyre white they ''only done pop'

RJ tell it!

[iloveteena]

rick pointed out some serious issues in this interview

[discovery781]

anone who knows anything about 70s music would know that there was a fine line between soul/funk/disco...."kool and thre gang" was considered a funk/disco band, rick james was considered a funk artist/disco artist, johnny taylor ws a "soul" artist who make a disco record "disco lady"... the group, instant funk was a disco/funk band....KC was a disco/soul band

[discovery781]

black people always try and use race in their favor when someting doesnt go their way....i fully expect rick james, prince and any other black aritst whos music was disco oriented that was ignored by MTV to play the race card....but what about the bee gees and kc and france joli? they were ignored by MTV, they are all white, can they play the race card too???

[discovery781]

rick james wasnt disco perse, his music was disco oriented, all his records charted on the "disco charts", his music was played on disco radio, as was princes, as did most black artists in the 70s, 98% of disco artists were black, many got their start in disco music, you werent born yet, so you dont remember how the music scene was in the 70s....so dont pretend to know...i dont give a shit how many articles you claim to read, if you werent there to experience it, you missed it...PERIOD

[discovery781]

if the industry is liily white, then explain to everyone why the pop charts are mostly hip/hop/r&b based?

[discovery781]

prince was also considered a disco aritist, his first album and his first charting pop single was a disco single.."i wanna be your lover"

black people dont see it that way, they always use color as an excuse for something, when something doesnt go thier way...thats unfortunate because they will never get societies respect because of it....your a perfect example of it... poor stupid negro

[discovery781]

youve researched? where wikipedia? i lived it first hand

perhaps you failed reading comprehension, rick james was considered a disco oriented artist, just like KC, bee gees, and other solo acts who had pop hits but DIDNT get played on MTV. key word here being DISCO ORIENTED.....last i checked KC, BEE GEES, are white, and they didnt get played on MTV

WHY? because they were percieved as "DISCO ARTISTS"

[discovery781]

im beginning to wonder if rick james even knows what hes talking about, after his statement "britney spears is r&b" britney has never been played on r&b radio.....i dont think anyone who knows about music would ever categorize brit as being r&b.....

[discovery781]

i find it most interesting the black rock band "living color" did havew a hit record on the pop charts and did get played on MTV, of course this was later in the 80s when many blask aritsts were being played...as time went on the disco tag was further and further behind...what i find more interesting is black radio completely ignored "cult of personality"...so again what do call it when your own kind wont play your record??