GET DOWN: THE INFLUENCE OF JAMES BROWN
Get Down, The Influence Of James Brown is a three-part documentary miniseries made for @drmbear with Urban Legends, a division of UMe, Universal Music Group’s global catalog company to spotlight one of the greatest artists of all-time, “The Godfather of Soul” James Brown.
AWARDED AT THE WEBBY AWARDS 2022
The Episode 2, “THE FUNKY DRUMMER”was awarded at the prestigious Webby Awards in the 2022 edition. Click on the festival logo to find out more!
DESIGN AND ANIMATION
Together with the Dreambear team and UMe Urban Legends we took care of the design and animation of this amazing project centered on the figure of James Brown. In this work we use different techniques and resources to approach the work: collage, illustration, video interviews, photo and video footage…
EPISODE 1 «THE FUNKY DRUMMER»
Get Down, The Influence Of James Brown is a three-part miniseries narrated by Questlove (The Legendary Roots Crew) that unravels the question of how James Brown changed American music forever. The first episode examines «The Funky Drummer», the single released in 1970, which appears on the album, «In A Jungle Groove». Brown’s band, specifically the legendary drummer Clyde Stubblefield, set in motion one of the most devastating moments in music, in this episode the super producer Lord Finesse and the founder of Wax Poetics, Andre Torres, analyze exactly the influence of “Funky Drummer ”.
EPISODE 2 «THE FUNKY PRESIDENT»
This second episode explores the fascinating and unpredictable political vision of James Brown while following the influence of his second most sampled song of all time, “Funky President (People It’s Bad)”. By touching on the civil rights movement and Brown’s seminal “Say It Loud – I’m Black and I’m Proud,” Funky President shows how James Brown, as well as his musical companions and successors, has been able to foster social change and increase political concern from an African-American perspective.
Additional research provided by WhoSampled.
With the participation of:
Fred wesley
Vince Wilburn Jr.
Andre Torres
Breakbeat lou
EPISODE 3 «THE PAYBACK»
In this third and final episode of the three-part miniseries, we explore James Brown’s third most sampled song, “The Payback”. Narrated by the legendary Patrice Rushen (Artist, Composer, and Musician), this episode explores the story behind how the ultimate revenge song was created and the many displays and influence it has had on hip-hop music culture. Where “Funky Drummer” provided one of hip-hop’s most iconic drum breaks, and “Funky President” provided the social conscience, “The Payback”, well, Payback brought the swagger!
Additional research provided by WhoSampled.
With the participation of:
Patrice Rushen
Fred wesley
Vince Wilburn Jr.
Andre Torres
Breakbeat lou
FINAL FRAMES AND ANIMATIONS
A quick look at the project through some of the styleframes we made for the project.
A HIDDEN VIDEOCLIP
Due to the importance of the title song of the episode 2, “The Funky President, we created a mini lyric-video to illustrate the song it as it plays.
