WEBVTT FILE

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Downloaded from
YTS.MX

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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

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lively funk music

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Rick James' "Mary Jane"

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Come here, baby

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Mary, I love you

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Do it, girl

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Mary Jane

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Mary Jane

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I'm in love with Mary Jane

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She's my main thing

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She makes me
feel all right

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She makes my heart sing

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And when I'm feeling low

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She comes as no surprise

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Turns me on with her love

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Takes me to paradise

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[vocalizing]

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Do you love me Mary Jane?

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Yeah

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Whoa-oh-oh

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Do ya? Do ya? Do ya?

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Now do you think
you love me Mary Jane?

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Don't you play no games

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Ooh

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Mary Jane...

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-[Ty] Patrick!
-[Patrick] Hi. How are you?

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[Ty] Good.

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-Been a while.
-[Ty] I know.

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It's been at least 12 years

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since I've seen anything
that we put away in storage.

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But they are all
personal artifacts

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from my dad's whole life.

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low bass music

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Oh, wow.

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Hey, Daddy.

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Most of these things
were in Buffalo, New York.

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And then a lot of stuff
was also in the house

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we had in Woodland Hills.

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Oh, my God.
Look how beautiful this is.

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This was hanging in the house
in Woodland Hills.

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Oh.

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[Patrick]
Is that Catherine Bach

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from, uh,   Dukes of Hazzard?

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Probably so.

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I mean...

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Daddy had his share
of women, that's for sure.

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Oh, my gosh.

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This is OJ and his wife.

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You know my dad.
He speaks his mind.

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I don't know
if he had some insight,

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but he said,
"That motherfucker did it."

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I haven't been here
since my dad passed

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because I knew
it could be sort of emotional.

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This is his whole life.

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Oh, my gosh.

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Oh, man.

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We had some father/daughter

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chats right here.

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I love this piece.

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I miss you, Daddy.

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[news anchor]   Sad news tonight
for Rick James fans.

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The funk singer best known

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for his hit song
"Super Freak" has died.

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[news anchor]
He was in fragile health

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after a stroke
and years of drug use.

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[news anchor]
It was in 1981 that James'

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million-seller album
Street Songs   gave us

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the hits "Give It to Me Baby"
and "Super Freak."

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James earned a Grammy
nomination for that album.

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After that, though, James'
personal life was troubled.

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He was arrested several times
on drug charges, assault,

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and served time
in Folsom Prison.

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It didn't take his death for me
to start playing his music.

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It's been in my car.

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It's been in my house.
I'm--big fan.

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[Ty]
On behalf of the James family,

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we would like to thank
all of his fans.

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This is his moment of glory,

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and he would have loved to...

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know that he had
this much support,

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and we appreciate your prayers.

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Thank you.

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soft funk music

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[Rick]   When I hit the stage,
I become Rick James.

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That character exemplifies
everything that it stands for:

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freedom, sex,
love, power, truth.

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I couldn't be the same person
off the stage.

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If I was that way off
the stage, I'd be nuts by now.

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Rick James' "Super Freak"

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Rick James was the ultimate
"be yourself" artist.

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upbeat funky music

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He was groundbreaking
and fearless.

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His music speaks for itself.

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It gets no more funkier
than Rick James.

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[Big Daddy Kane]
And he was just so raw.

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He became one of the guys
that a lot of men wanted to be

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and women wanted to be with.

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[Nile]   He had a certain magic

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in his style of production.

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His musical legacy
is undeniable.

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[Dr. Boyd]   Rick's powerful
music really anchored itself

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to the evolution
of Black history in America.

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Rick put it to music,
and he put words to it.

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[Tanya]
From the bottom to the top,

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from the top to the bottom,
he could relate to everybody

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because he had been
in every shoe.

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Musically, there weren't many
that could touch him.

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He was a real motherfucker.

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She's a super freak,
super freak

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She's super freaky, yow!

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[engine revving]

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Everybody sing

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Super freak,
super freak...

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Never mind who you thought
I was.

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I'm Rick James, bitch.

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[cheers and applause]

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I used to have these dreams.

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I just knew that it was gonna
happen, you know,

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and I used to see it,
and my mother,

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consequently, would take me
to a psychiatrist,

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and the psychiatrist
would tell her,

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"Hey, he's real normal.
He's above normal.

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He has a super high
intelligence,

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but the boy just...

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wants to be a star.

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And that is that."
[both laugh]

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[narrator]   This is Buffalo,
the second-largest city

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in New York state.

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Strategically located at
the eastern end of Lake Erie,

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it early was given the title

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of the Queen City
of the Lakes.

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Buffalo is
a bustling community,

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and serves as the hub
of the Niagara frontier.

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Its dynamic development
results

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from an unusual diversity
of industry.

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classical music playing

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[news reporter]
What's Buffalo like to you?

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What is Buffalo?

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It's basically a small town.

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It's a good place for music,
you know,

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'cause we have a lot
of music there.

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Nice hills and ghetto.

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[laughter]

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[speaking language]

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Rats this big.

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mellow music

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[Conway]   Buffalo, to me,
is one of the most

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racially-segregated cities
in the country.

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Now we posted up
at the Chinese store

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Hopin' somebody
would buy us a cigar

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Then we evolved

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To breakin' in houses
and stealin' cars...

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It's split up in sections,

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you know what I'm saying?

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Like, this the east side,
that's your ghetto.

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You see the school.
You see how this shit look?

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It's more Black kids and shit,
you know what I'm saying?

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And Black families
trying to figure it out.

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The bottom, I call it.
You got the west side.

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It's more, like,
you know, Hispanic--

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like, Latinos and shit,
you know what I mean?

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Your Puerto Ricans and
Dominicans and shit like that,

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but it's also still
more cultural, too,

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because you got
your Middle Easterns

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and, you know,
you got some people--you know,

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you got people from all over,
really, on the west side,

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you know what I'm saying?
Then you got South Buffalo.

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That's, like,
your poor whites.

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And then North Buffalo,
they're--you know,

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it's nice houses,
it's nice schools.

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You know, everybody is doing
well-well-off,

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so to speak, over there.

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Me, personally,
I stay on the east,

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where I belong,
you know what I mean?

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lively soul music

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[producer]   What's the local
legend of Rick James?

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[Conway]   OG Jimbo once had
our nigga Rick James

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to come through,
you know what I mean?

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Caught him.
Caught him getting right, man.

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Pulling up in the limo
with furs and shit on, though.

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Bitches and shit with him.

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Two, three cars deep and shit,
making a spot hot.

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Like, "Damn, nigga,
you gonna--

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you gonna make my spot hot."

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[laughs]

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He was just one of them dudes

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that you didn't want
to fuck with,

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you didn't want to mess with,

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who was known for definitely

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everything you hear
in his music,

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you know what I'm saying?

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Songs like "Ghetto Life"
and all that shit, like,

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that's Rick James,
man, in a nutshell.

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Like, you know what I'm saying?

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Coming from we from,
we all like that.

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lively funk music

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[David]
He was born in 1948.

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So his growing up period
in Buffalo

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were really the 1950s.

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- Here today
- Here today

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To make you dance
the ghetto way

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You telling me?

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And we're gonna sing
a little song...

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[Carmen]
His first name is James.

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His second name is Ambrose

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'cause that's
his father's name,

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so he was
James Ambrose Johnson.

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And I do remember
when he was born.

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He was a little light,
bright dude, almost white.

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[Ty]
My dad was one of eight

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in a household
where his mom struggled.

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He watch his dad abuse his mom.

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His mother was
very protective of him.

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I feel like
he was the favorite.

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She was a hustler,
and she did what she had to do

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00:09:39.787 --> 00:09:41.414
to raise her eight children.

228
00:09:41.455 --> 00:09:43.916
[Rick]   My mother was
a very strong disciplinarian.

229
00:09:43.958 --> 00:09:46.377
We got a lot of what
they call whoopings

230
00:09:46.419 --> 00:09:48.963
with ironing cords--
what they call now child abuse.

231
00:09:49.005 --> 00:09:50.298
So I guess you might say,
in a kind of a way,

232
00:09:50.339 --> 00:09:53.718
I was an abused child.

233
00:09:53.759 --> 00:09:55.428
But I had a lot of love
in my family.

234
00:09:55.469 --> 00:09:57.972
somber music

235
00:09:58.014 --> 00:10:00.141
My first sexual encounter,
I had when I was, like,

236
00:10:00.182 --> 00:10:01.642
eight or nine years old.

237
00:10:01.684 --> 00:10:03.102
And it was kind of
a strange thing,

238
00:10:03.144 --> 00:10:04.979
because, you know,
most men like to claim, like,

239
00:10:05.021 --> 00:10:07.481
the first time they make love,
they know exactly what to do,

240
00:10:07.523 --> 00:10:09.775
and, well,
that's a complete fallacy,

241
00:10:09.817 --> 00:10:11.444
a complete lie, you know.

242
00:10:11.485 --> 00:10:13.821
But when I was around 13,
there was this older woman,

243
00:10:13.863 --> 00:10:15.948
a friend of my mother's
babysat me.

244
00:10:15.990 --> 00:10:17.658
And I remember laying on
the bed, and this older woman,

245
00:10:17.700 --> 00:10:19.118
she started touching me
and doing these things,

246
00:10:19.160 --> 00:10:20.328
and it felt good to me.

247
00:10:20.369 --> 00:10:21.454
I'm not gonna
sit here and lie.

248
00:10:21.495 --> 00:10:22.830
It didn't go very far...
[laughs]

249
00:10:22.872 --> 00:10:24.957
because my mother
came home early,

250
00:10:24.999 --> 00:10:27.501
and my mother snatched her
out of those covers.

251
00:10:27.543 --> 00:10:29.378
It's the first time I've ever
seen my mother fight.

252
00:10:29.420 --> 00:10:31.005
My mother just punched her,

253
00:10:31.047 --> 00:10:32.840
and, you know, and, "How could
you do this to my son?"

254
00:10:32.882 --> 00:10:34.634
and beat her down the stairs,
because in those days,

255
00:10:34.675 --> 00:10:36.177
it wasn't about,
you call this bureau,

256
00:10:36.218 --> 00:10:39.680
you call this association
for sexually abused children.

257
00:10:39.722 --> 00:10:41.015
If you caught something
like that going down

258
00:10:41.057 --> 00:10:42.892
where I grew up, you beat
the person down.

259
00:10:42.933 --> 00:10:43.684
That was it.

260
00:10:43.726 --> 00:10:47.688
dramatic R&B music

261
00:10:47.730 --> 00:10:49.106
[Carmen]   In Buffalo,
the street life was--

262
00:10:49.148 --> 00:10:50.775
it was lively, man.

263
00:10:50.816 --> 00:10:52.818
There were a lot
of Black businesses,

264
00:10:52.860 --> 00:10:56.489
but most of your bigger ones
were numbers-orientated.

265
00:10:56.530 --> 00:10:58.199
Numbers today,
it would be the lotto.

266
00:10:58.240 --> 00:10:59.700
My mother got into that.

267
00:10:59.742 --> 00:11:01.994
My mother wanted to be
a dancer and a singer.

268
00:11:02.036 --> 00:11:03.871
It didn't take her too long
to see that

269
00:11:03.913 --> 00:11:06.207
working scrubbing floors
and washing dishes

270
00:11:06.248 --> 00:11:07.208
was not gonna make it.

271
00:11:07.249 --> 00:11:08.668
And she ran numbers,

272
00:11:08.709 --> 00:11:10.544
and she was making
a very good living.

273
00:11:10.586 --> 00:11:12.380
[Stan]   His mother,
she introduced Rick

274
00:11:12.421 --> 00:11:13.881
to the numbers racket.

275
00:11:13.923 --> 00:11:16.217
Rick's job
was to pick up the money.

276
00:11:16.258 --> 00:11:19.512
That's his first involvement
in breaking the law.

277
00:11:19.553 --> 00:11:21.055
[Levi]   Rick and I went
to grammar school together

278
00:11:21.097 --> 00:11:23.432
from the third grade
through the eighth grade.

279
00:11:23.474 --> 00:11:25.059
As a child, he was, uh,

280
00:11:25.101 --> 00:11:27.019
rambunctious,
like we all were.

281
00:11:27.061 --> 00:11:29.897
Rick hated school.
He was bored, like I was.

282
00:11:29.939 --> 00:11:31.524
And Rick wanted
to be a musician,

283
00:11:31.565 --> 00:11:32.900
and I thought he was nuts.

284
00:11:32.942 --> 00:11:34.235
Yeah

285
00:11:34.276 --> 00:11:35.569
[playing lively rock and roll]

286
00:11:35.611 --> 00:11:38.406
Yeah

287
00:11:38.447 --> 00:11:40.574
[David]
What he really absorbed

288
00:11:40.616 --> 00:11:42.743
in that period
were two things:

289
00:11:42.785 --> 00:11:44.412
one was the music

290
00:11:44.453 --> 00:11:46.914
of Ray Charles and Bo Diddley
and Little Richard,

291
00:11:46.956 --> 00:11:48.916
but the other thing
he discovered in Buffalo--

292
00:11:48.958 --> 00:11:51.419
because there was a club there
called the Royal Arms

293
00:11:51.460 --> 00:11:52.837
that he went to--was jazz.

294
00:11:52.878 --> 00:11:55.047
Headed for the station
with a pack on my back

295
00:11:55.089 --> 00:11:57.174
[Carmen]   He listened to music
all the time.

296
00:11:57.216 --> 00:11:59.719
My mother had
a huge jazz selection.

297
00:11:59.760 --> 00:12:03.764
We had everything.
I remember Louis Jordan.

298
00:12:03.806 --> 00:12:05.683
Take her right back
to the track, Jack

299
00:12:05.725 --> 00:12:07.435
[smooth jazz playing]

300
00:12:07.476 --> 00:12:09.770
[David]   Rick was definitely
a musical prodigy,

301
00:12:09.812 --> 00:12:12.940
and he talked about hearing
Miles and Monk

302
00:12:12.982 --> 00:12:16.610
at a very, very early age,
in person,

303
00:12:16.652 --> 00:12:18.112
and getting it,

304
00:12:18.154 --> 00:12:21.073
understanding exactly
what these guys were doing.

305
00:12:21.115 --> 00:12:22.575
[Rick]   I was playing drums
when I was, like,

306
00:12:22.616 --> 00:12:24.076
I don't know,
nine, ten years old.

307
00:12:24.118 --> 00:12:26.412
My mother would take me
to blues and jazz clubs,

308
00:12:26.454 --> 00:12:27.747
and I'd sit in,

309
00:12:27.788 --> 00:12:29.415
but I just was able
to keep a beat,

310
00:12:29.457 --> 00:12:31.250
and I kinda knew automatically

311
00:12:31.292 --> 00:12:33.335
what I was supposed
to be doing.

312
00:12:33.377 --> 00:12:35.504
He's hearing a lot of
funky R&B, gut bucket stuff,

313
00:12:35.546 --> 00:12:37.590
and, you know,

314
00:12:37.631 --> 00:12:39.467
begins to absorb
all these sounds

315
00:12:39.508 --> 00:12:40.968
that are coming at him.

316
00:12:41.010 --> 00:12:42.636
I don't know, growing up,
I guess I was

317
00:12:42.678 --> 00:12:43.971
sort of a ham, you know.

318
00:12:44.013 --> 00:12:46.474
I was, like,
always kind of crazy.

319
00:12:46.515 --> 00:12:48.851
And I always
liked entertainment,

320
00:12:48.893 --> 00:12:50.936
and I always liked singing,
and...

321
00:12:50.978 --> 00:12:53.272
just kind of joking around,
you know.

322
00:12:53.314 --> 00:12:56.650
My teacher either said
I was going to be...

323
00:12:56.692 --> 00:12:59.570
a hoodlum or a great
entertainer.

324
00:12:59.612 --> 00:13:01.447
ethereal music

325
00:13:01.489 --> 00:13:02.823
[Carmen]   If you lived
in Buffalo, and you were

326
00:13:02.865 --> 00:13:04.950
from the projects,
there were gangs galore,

327
00:13:04.992 --> 00:13:06.660
so you were not
gonna walk around

328
00:13:06.702 --> 00:13:09.163
and be without confrontation.

329
00:13:09.205 --> 00:13:13.083
And he had his share.
Rick was not a choir boy.

330
00:13:13.125 --> 00:13:15.336
[Jason]   There was a lot
of skirmishes with the law

331
00:13:15.377 --> 00:13:19.423
related to theft, burglary,
drug use, and so on,

332
00:13:19.465 --> 00:13:22.176
'cause he was introduced
to drugs pretty early.

333
00:13:22.802 --> 00:13:25.679
[narrator]   The city of Buffalo
grew up as a port

334
00:13:25.721 --> 00:13:29.350
and became
a great industrial center.

335
00:13:29.391 --> 00:13:33.479
But in recent times,
Buffalo has been changing.

336
00:13:33.521 --> 00:13:37.191
Businesses gone, jobs gone,

337
00:13:37.233 --> 00:13:39.860
people gone.

338
00:13:39.902 --> 00:13:42.029
[JoJo]
In the '60s in Buffalo,

339
00:13:42.071 --> 00:13:44.990
people were just tired
of the segregation.

340
00:13:45.032 --> 00:13:47.409
It was basically schools,

341
00:13:47.451 --> 00:13:50.704
bussing, jobs,

342
00:13:50.746 --> 00:13:52.832
and the lack thereof.

343
00:13:54.792 --> 00:13:55.876
[Carmen]   Buffalo is probably
one of the most

344
00:13:55.918 --> 00:13:57.711
racist cities in the world.

345
00:13:57.753 --> 00:13:59.380
I used to love
that little sign

346
00:13:59.421 --> 00:14:00.840
as you're coming in,

347
00:14:00.881 --> 00:14:02.716
where it says
the "All-American City."

348
00:14:02.758 --> 00:14:04.009
I used to laugh at that.

349
00:14:04.051 --> 00:14:06.011
It is the All-American city,
all right--

350
00:14:06.053 --> 00:14:07.888
racist right down
to the bone, you know?

351
00:14:07.930 --> 00:14:10.641
At that time, it was
the whole Black power thing.

352
00:14:10.683 --> 00:14:12.977
[playing percussive music]

353
00:14:13.018 --> 00:14:15.729
We were all into wearing
daishikis and stuff back then.

354
00:14:15.771 --> 00:14:17.481
[Rick]
I had just left high school

355
00:14:17.523 --> 00:14:21.026
because I wanted to play with
this African culture group.

356
00:14:21.068 --> 00:14:23.153
And I played conga drums.

357
00:14:23.195 --> 00:14:25.406
[Levi]   Everybody that I knew
back then

358
00:14:25.447 --> 00:14:28.075
wanted to get the hell
out of town, out of Buffalo,

359
00:14:28.117 --> 00:14:30.244
but when we got of age,
there was a war.

360
00:14:30.286 --> 00:14:35.165



361
00:14:35.207 --> 00:14:36.917
And not trying to be funny,
but that got

362
00:14:36.959 --> 00:14:38.752
a lot of guys
out of the neighborhood.

363
00:14:38.794 --> 00:14:41.630
[President Johnson]   Situation
in Vietnam is difficult,

364
00:14:41.672 --> 00:14:44.133
but there is
an old American saying

365
00:14:44.174 --> 00:14:46.760
that when the going
gets tough,

366
00:14:46.802 --> 00:14:49.138
the tough get going.

367
00:14:49.179 --> 00:14:51.599
[Levi]   You had to go
to Fort Here and Fort There,

368
00:14:51.640 --> 00:14:53.475
and so that's how we learned
about the rest of the world.

369
00:14:53.517 --> 00:14:56.061
He had tried to go in the Navy,
and that didn't work.

370
00:14:56.103 --> 00:14:57.479
[Rick]   I was getting ready
to get drafted.

371
00:14:57.521 --> 00:14:59.273
So they said, "You know,
if you join the reserves,

372
00:14:59.315 --> 00:15:01.025
you won't have to go
to Vietnam,"

373
00:15:01.066 --> 00:15:02.484
but they didn't tell me
if I didn't go to meetings,

374
00:15:02.526 --> 00:15:04.028
I'd go to active duty,

375
00:15:04.069 --> 00:15:05.487
So I stopped going
to the meetings,

376
00:15:05.529 --> 00:15:07.448
and of course, they sent me
on active duty.

377
00:15:07.489 --> 00:15:10.200
sustained guitar note

378
00:15:10.242 --> 00:15:11.785
[Levi]
We got in there, man.

379
00:15:11.827 --> 00:15:14.580
It was too rigid,
too disciplined.

380
00:15:14.622 --> 00:15:16.957
Ain't no place to be
if you're a free spirit.

381
00:15:16.999 --> 00:15:18.626
Tell you what time to get up,
what to put on,

382
00:15:18.667 --> 00:15:22.129
when to take a shower,
when to do everything.

383
00:15:22.171 --> 00:15:24.256
You know, quote,
"That makes you a man."

384
00:15:24.298 --> 00:15:26.634
No, it don't.
Makes you a goddamn robot.

385
00:15:26.675 --> 00:15:29.386
[speaker] I don't think
no Black man should really be,

386
00:15:29.428 --> 00:15:31.221
we'll just say,
drafted into the service.

387
00:15:31.263 --> 00:15:32.973
Actually, I think it really
should be

388
00:15:33.015 --> 00:15:35.601
a voluntary basis
for a Black man.

389
00:15:35.643 --> 00:15:38.729
Every Black man, send him off
to Vietnam, he go out there,

390
00:15:38.771 --> 00:15:41.565
fight, get shot up, yet still,
he come back to the States,

391
00:15:41.607 --> 00:15:44.151
and he can't buy a house,
and so what's the point?

392
00:15:44.193 --> 00:15:45.653
[Rick]   You know, here I come
from the street,

393
00:15:45.694 --> 00:15:48.489
playing African music
and being real Afro-centric,

394
00:15:48.530 --> 00:15:50.449
all of a sudden
into this white society

395
00:15:50.491 --> 00:15:52.785
of a uniform
and white authority,

396
00:15:52.826 --> 00:15:54.662
and it was a terrible change.

397
00:15:54.703 --> 00:15:56.121
I mean, I wasn't ready for it.

398
00:15:56.163 --> 00:15:57.957
My mind was saying,
"Something is wrong here."

399
00:15:57.998 --> 00:15:59.750
That's when I decided
to go to Canada.

400
00:15:59.792 --> 00:16:02.461
upbeat rock music

401
00:16:02.503 --> 00:16:07.216



402
00:16:07.257 --> 00:16:11.428
[David]   Rick went AWOL
and wound up in Canada

403
00:16:11.470 --> 00:16:14.431
and gravitated to Toronto,

404
00:16:14.473 --> 00:16:18.852
where there was a burgeoning
folk rock and roll scene.

405
00:16:18.894 --> 00:16:21.188
[narrator]
This is Yorkville Village,

406
00:16:21.230 --> 00:16:24.024
a phenomena in Toronto
in the mid-'60s--

407
00:16:24.066 --> 00:16:26.443
a colorful, quaint,
cacophonous community

408
00:16:26.485 --> 00:16:28.278
with a split personality.

409
00:16:28.320 --> 00:16:30.990
When the sun goes down,
Yorkville becomes

410
00:16:31.031 --> 00:16:33.617
the no man's land
of the teenagers.

411
00:16:33.659 --> 00:16:36.829
[rock music playing]

412
00:16:36.870 --> 00:16:41.208
[David]   It's interesting how
this whole Canadian entry

413
00:16:41.250 --> 00:16:44.628
begins with Rick
because he's in Toronto,

414
00:16:44.670 --> 00:16:47.548
he's walking down the street,
somebody calls him the N-word,

415
00:16:47.589 --> 00:16:50.384
looks like they're gonna
jump him, there's a scuffle.

416
00:16:50.426 --> 00:16:52.886
Yow! Trap door

417
00:16:52.928 --> 00:16:54.304
[Rick]
Well, what happened was,

418
00:16:54.346 --> 00:16:55.931
some white boys started
fighting with me.

419
00:16:55.973 --> 00:16:57.224
Now here I am,
thinking that white people

420
00:16:57.266 --> 00:16:59.143
are cool in Canada,
and I get in this fight.

421
00:16:59.184 --> 00:17:01.478
And some guys came
to my defense

422
00:17:01.520 --> 00:17:03.522
and beat these guys up
'cause I was a little guy;

423
00:17:03.564 --> 00:17:04.773
I was a little skinny kid.

424
00:17:04.815 --> 00:17:06.692
But the guys
who beat these guys up

425
00:17:06.734 --> 00:17:09.445
were in a band
called The Hawks.

426
00:17:09.486 --> 00:17:12.072
Later, it turned out
they called themselves

427
00:17:12.114 --> 00:17:14.283
The Band--Robbie Robertson,
Levon Helm--

428
00:17:14.324 --> 00:17:15.576
and they played
behind Bob Dylan.

429
00:17:15.617 --> 00:17:17.327
And they kind of rescued me.

430
00:17:17.369 --> 00:17:19.496
And they kind of took me
under their wing.

431
00:17:19.538 --> 00:17:21.874
You know, the Toronto scene,
where he ends up,

432
00:17:21.915 --> 00:17:23.792
pretty much like what was
happening in Greenwich Village,

433
00:17:23.834 --> 00:17:25.377
in New York, at that time.

434
00:17:25.419 --> 00:17:28.338
The music scene
was extremely active.

435
00:17:28.380 --> 00:17:32.926
Yorkville Avenue
had door-to-door clubs

436
00:17:32.968 --> 00:17:35.262
and patios and bars,

437
00:17:35.304 --> 00:17:38.057
and every one of them
had a band.

438
00:17:38.098 --> 00:17:40.517
Rick found his people,
you know,

439
00:17:40.559 --> 00:17:42.686
found kind of a tribe
in the mid-'60s.

440
00:17:42.728 --> 00:17:44.730
[Rick]   When I went to Canada,
I was really at a point

441
00:17:44.772 --> 00:17:46.607
in my life where I didn't like
white people

442
00:17:46.648 --> 00:17:48.442
because I was seeing
what they were doing.

443
00:17:48.484 --> 00:17:50.736
But it seemed like
the Canadian white people

444
00:17:50.778 --> 00:17:52.446
that I met were friendly,

445
00:17:52.488 --> 00:17:54.073
and they didn't have
this hatred

446
00:17:54.114 --> 00:17:56.492
and this animosity
towards Black people.

447
00:17:56.533 --> 00:18:01.080
The Canadian musicians on
Yorkville were very inventive,

448
00:18:01.121 --> 00:18:04.208
and Rick fit in
very well with them.

449
00:18:04.249 --> 00:18:06.043
He's meeting and hanging out
with Joni Mitchell,

450
00:18:06.085 --> 00:18:07.878
and he's hanging out
with Neil Young.

451
00:18:07.920 --> 00:18:09.463
So he's in this stew pot

452
00:18:09.505 --> 00:18:13.008
of all this mid-'60s music
and flow,

453
00:18:13.050 --> 00:18:15.511
and he's 17, 18,

454
00:18:15.552 --> 00:18:19.264
living in that
and figuring that out.

455
00:18:19.306 --> 00:18:22.643
[David]   Whatever this
new music was, he could do it.

456
00:18:22.684 --> 00:18:26.605
It didn't really matter that
he was a brother from Buffalo.

457
00:18:26.647 --> 00:18:27.981
He could adapt.

458
00:18:28.023 --> 00:18:29.983
He went
by many different names.

459
00:18:30.025 --> 00:18:31.443
He was always
changing his name

460
00:18:31.485 --> 00:18:32.736
because he didn't want
to get caught.

461
00:18:32.778 --> 00:18:34.446
[Rick]   I was sitting
around a restaurant,

462
00:18:34.488 --> 00:18:35.656
and this friend of mine
was saying, he's saying,

463
00:18:35.697 --> 00:18:37.116
"You're running away
from the service,

464
00:18:37.157 --> 00:18:38.325
you gotta have another name."

465
00:18:38.367 --> 00:18:40.828
And this girl,
who was a singer in Canada--

466
00:18:40.869 --> 00:18:42.663
her name was Shirley Matthews--

467
00:18:42.704 --> 00:18:44.456
she says, "Well," she says,

468
00:18:44.498 --> 00:18:45.999
"I got a cousin
named Rickie Matthews.

469
00:18:46.041 --> 00:18:48.001
Why don't you call yourself
Rickie Matthews?"

470
00:18:48.043 --> 00:18:50.129
So, I said Rickie,
and I put my name--

471
00:18:50.170 --> 00:18:51.922
middle name James Matthews.

472
00:18:51.964 --> 00:18:53.465
So it was
Rickie James Matthews.

473
00:18:53.507 --> 00:18:55.217
And that's when I had the band
with Neil Young.

474
00:18:55.259 --> 00:18:56.760
-[singer]   Hey, man?
-[Rickie]   Yeah?

475
00:18:56.802 --> 00:18:58.387
[singer]   What's that little
black thing in the corner

476
00:18:58.428 --> 00:19:00.681
-with the yellow beak?
-[Rickie]   That's a mynah bird!

477
00:19:00.722 --> 00:19:01.974
[Rick]   I joined this group,
and we called ourselves

478
00:19:02.015 --> 00:19:04.059
The Sailor Boys,
and then later on,

479
00:19:04.101 --> 00:19:05.477
we stopped
wearing my sailor suits

480
00:19:05.519 --> 00:19:07.104
and just wore whatever
we wanted to wear,

481
00:19:07.146 --> 00:19:08.814
and we called ourselves
the Mynah Birds.

482
00:19:08.856 --> 00:19:11.233
So this group
is Rickie Mathews,

483
00:19:11.275 --> 00:19:15.571
Neil Young on guitar,
and Bruce Palmer on bass.

484
00:19:15.612 --> 00:19:17.865
Those two guys
end up in Buffalo Springfield.

485
00:19:17.906 --> 00:19:21.702
lively rock music

486
00:19:21.743 --> 00:19:23.704
But, you know, we're getting
ahead of the story.

487
00:19:23.745 --> 00:19:26.248
There's John Taylor

488
00:19:26.290 --> 00:19:29.001
and Rickman Mason on drums.

489
00:19:29.042 --> 00:19:31.211
[Rickman]
We played rock, R&B.

490
00:19:31.253 --> 00:19:33.088
We didn't get
into any folky stuff.

491
00:19:33.130 --> 00:19:35.716
That's all we did.
That was our job.

492
00:19:35.757 --> 00:19:38.969
We lived in probably
10 or 15 different places.

493
00:19:39.011 --> 00:19:42.472
We got our own apartment,
and the next thing you know,

494
00:19:42.514 --> 00:19:44.975
there was 15 people
living in the apartment.

495
00:19:45.017 --> 00:19:47.019
[Rick]   We had a very big
following around Toronto.

496
00:19:47.060 --> 00:19:48.395
It was us
playing around the village,

497
00:19:48.437 --> 00:19:49.980
and we were all
just starving musicians

498
00:19:50.022 --> 00:19:51.398
who just loved music.

499
00:19:51.440 --> 00:19:53.400
[Rickman]
Rick--very talented musician.

500
00:19:53.442 --> 00:19:56.904
He knew what he wanted to do,
and that got done that way.

501
00:19:56.945 --> 00:19:59.573
Actually, we basically followed
his lead through tunes.

502
00:19:59.615 --> 00:20:01.074
[Rick]   Me and Neil
wrote a lot of stuff.

503
00:20:01.116 --> 00:20:03.869
Neil was very fluent
on acoustic,

504
00:20:03.911 --> 00:20:05.913
and he taught me a lot
of chords and different stuff.

505
00:20:05.954 --> 00:20:07.164
Some people say
it's hard to imagine

506
00:20:07.206 --> 00:20:08.415
Neil Young
and Rick James together,

507
00:20:08.457 --> 00:20:10.000
but really, when you think
about it, it's not

508
00:20:10.042 --> 00:20:11.418
'cause I was singing
in those days,

509
00:20:11.460 --> 00:20:13.086
and I really wasn't
playing guitar or anything.

510
00:20:13.128 --> 00:20:14.296
I was kind of playing
a little harmonica.

511
00:20:14.338 --> 00:20:18.050
Neil was into
very melodic chords,

512
00:20:18.091 --> 00:20:19.718
real pretty kind of chords,
you know,

513
00:20:19.760 --> 00:20:23.555
and I would write kind of
R&B lyrics over these chords.

514
00:20:23.597 --> 00:20:25.432
So really, it was
a very interesting combination.

515
00:20:25.474 --> 00:20:27.100
We had this manager,
and he thought,

516
00:20:27.142 --> 00:20:28.769
you know, we were great,
and, you know, he used to come

517
00:20:28.810 --> 00:20:29.978
to our shows all the time.

518
00:20:30.020 --> 00:20:31.772
And he ended up
going to Motown

519
00:20:31.813 --> 00:20:34.107
and telling Motown about us,
and they flew us down.

520
00:20:34.149 --> 00:20:37.319
[Harry]   The Mynah Birds
do an audition at Motown,

521
00:20:37.361 --> 00:20:40.739
They get signed, and they go
and they cut four songs.

522
00:20:40.781 --> 00:20:44.743
So, this is a copy of
the actual multitrack session.

523
00:20:44.785 --> 00:20:47.454
Motown had master tape--
master reels.

524
00:20:47.496 --> 00:20:50.123
Here it is. "It's My Time."
Take 21, people.

525
00:20:50.165 --> 00:20:53.961
[upbeat rock music playing]

526
00:20:54.002 --> 00:20:55.545
I mean, I can't play,
but, you know.

527
00:20:55.587 --> 00:20:58.090



528
00:20:58.131 --> 00:21:00.467
I really love you, darling

529
00:21:00.509 --> 00:21:04.638
A love that's so strong
and so fine...

530
00:21:04.680 --> 00:21:06.473
[Rickman]   Being signed
to Motown, it was fabulous,

531
00:21:06.515 --> 00:21:08.141
especially white people too.

532
00:21:08.183 --> 00:21:11.144
They just accepted us
like whammo,

533
00:21:11.186 --> 00:21:12.437
and we were in there
and recording,

534
00:21:12.479 --> 00:21:15.816
And it was a whirlwind,
actually,

535
00:21:15.857 --> 00:21:18.986
'cause all's I remember
is 24/7 being in the studio.

536
00:21:19.027 --> 00:21:21.488
Actually, Rick disappeared
out of the studio somewhere

537
00:21:21.530 --> 00:21:22.531
and passed out on the steps,

538
00:21:22.572 --> 00:21:23.782
and they found him
an hour later.

539
00:21:23.824 --> 00:21:25.367
Love you anyway

540
00:21:25.409 --> 00:21:26.368
[Harry]
Cue Neil Young.

541
00:21:26.410 --> 00:21:28.954



542
00:21:28.996 --> 00:21:30.622
[Rickman]   We had the Supremes
come in and back us up,

543
00:21:30.664 --> 00:21:32.207
and Stevie Wonder
would jump in

544
00:21:32.249 --> 00:21:33.333
and play a little keyboard.

545
00:21:33.375 --> 00:21:35.669
It was a great time.

546
00:21:35.711 --> 00:21:37.004
It's my time

547
00:21:37.045 --> 00:21:38.297
It feels like it's my time

548
00:21:38.338 --> 00:21:40.549
I'm gonna love you anyway

549
00:21:40.590 --> 00:21:41.550
[song ends]

550
00:21:41.591 --> 00:21:43.844
I mean, you know,
I feel like a kid

551
00:21:43.885 --> 00:21:45.887
playing my favorite singles
when I hear that,

552
00:21:45.929 --> 00:21:48.640
and, you know--

553
00:21:48.682 --> 00:21:50.726
but Rick is trying to sound
like Mick Jagger.

554
00:21:50.767 --> 00:21:53.603
I can't get no

555
00:21:53.645 --> 00:21:56.189
Satisfaction

556
00:21:56.231 --> 00:21:58.442
He used Mick Jagger's
actions too.

557
00:21:58.483 --> 00:22:00.819
I think he really liked
the way Mick moved.

558
00:22:00.861 --> 00:22:02.362
He was interested
in being a rock star,

559
00:22:02.404 --> 00:22:03.989
and it's not surprising.

560
00:22:04.031 --> 00:22:08.035
I mean, a lot of Black artists
of the 1960s were inspired

561
00:22:08.076 --> 00:22:12.873
by the rock movement as much as
or more than R&B music.

562
00:22:12.914 --> 00:22:17.127
[singer vocalizing]

563
00:22:17.169 --> 00:22:19.129
soft rock music

564
00:22:19.171 --> 00:22:21.381
In love

565
00:22:21.423 --> 00:22:23.300
If a pain in...

566
00:22:23.342 --> 00:22:24.384
[Harry]   When you hear
the Mynah Birds,

567
00:22:24.426 --> 00:22:25.719
there's a moment
where your brain

568
00:22:25.761 --> 00:22:27.554
can't quite accept
that it's Rick James.

569
00:22:27.596 --> 00:22:29.222
You tell people,
"You know that's Rick James,"

570
00:22:29.264 --> 00:22:32.267
and they go,
"Oh, right. Right."

571
00:22:32.309 --> 00:22:35.562
Kind of lean in
and listen to go, "Oh,"

572
00:22:35.604 --> 00:22:37.230
'cause there's a quality
to his voice that's unique.

573
00:22:37.272 --> 00:22:39.733
And it didn't last

574
00:22:39.775 --> 00:22:43.195
Like you thought it would

575
00:22:43.236 --> 00:22:45.072
[Harry]
I think there's a somewhat

576
00:22:45.113 --> 00:22:47.783
of a vulnerability there
that I hadn't heard before.

577
00:22:47.824 --> 00:22:48.909
Hadn't heard since.

578
00:22:48.950 --> 00:22:51.036
He's 18 and trying
to figure something out.

579
00:22:51.078 --> 00:22:52.454
sentimental piano chords

580
00:22:52.496 --> 00:22:54.915
Rick is thinking,
"Okay, we're on Motown.

581
00:22:54.956 --> 00:22:56.458
We're gonna be popular.

582
00:22:56.500 --> 00:22:59.586
We've got a built-in
promotional machine.

583
00:22:59.628 --> 00:23:00.337
We're going."

584
00:23:00.379 --> 00:23:01.546
But the Mynah Birds,

585
00:23:01.588 --> 00:23:03.423
they had fired their manager.

586
00:23:03.465 --> 00:23:05.717
[Rickman]   Our manager,
Morley Shelman, got upset,

587
00:23:05.759 --> 00:23:08.428
and somehow Morley
knew Rick was a draft dodger

588
00:23:08.470 --> 00:23:10.263
and squealed on him.

589
00:23:10.305 --> 00:23:12.557
Rickie gets snatched back
by the Navy,

590
00:23:12.599 --> 00:23:14.768
has to go in the brig
'cause he's been AWOL.

591
00:23:14.810 --> 00:23:18.188
We had no idea
that he was a draft dodger.

592
00:23:18.230 --> 00:23:19.940
None at all.

593
00:23:19.981 --> 00:23:22.442
We had no Rick, so we had
to find another singer.

594
00:23:22.484 --> 00:23:24.611
We had a couple
of jobs to play.

595
00:23:24.653 --> 00:23:26.279
There was really not much
to talk about, I guess.

596
00:23:26.321 --> 00:23:28.782
It just was bam. Over.

597
00:23:30.409 --> 00:23:32.786
mellow music

598
00:23:32.828 --> 00:23:34.413
[Rick]   Well, after I got out
of the brig,

599
00:23:34.454 --> 00:23:35.914
I went back home for a while,

600
00:23:35.956 --> 00:23:37.791
and I had to decide what
I wanted to do with my life.

601
00:23:37.833 --> 00:23:39.084
I mean, you gotta understand,
it was like three years,

602
00:23:39.126 --> 00:23:41.920
four years of my life
now have passed by.

603
00:23:41.962 --> 00:23:43.964
You know, so I had to get used
to my family all over again,

604
00:23:44.005 --> 00:23:45.924
and, you know,
and just--you know,

605
00:23:45.966 --> 00:23:47.426
I had to get used to me again,
you know,

606
00:23:47.467 --> 00:23:48.927
find out what I wanted to do.

607
00:23:48.969 --> 00:23:51.430
And the outcome was the same--
music, music, music.

608
00:23:51.471 --> 00:23:52.973
I wanted to make music.

609
00:23:53.014 --> 00:23:55.183
[Stan]   The Mynah Birds
don't have the kind of success

610
00:23:55.225 --> 00:23:57.602
that Rick James
was hoping for.

611
00:23:57.644 --> 00:24:00.856
But he ends up
doing more work for Motown

612
00:24:00.897 --> 00:24:03.358
as a session songwriter

613
00:24:03.400 --> 00:24:06.903
and arranger,
among other things.

614
00:24:06.945 --> 00:24:09.739
[narrator]   From Michigan's
Motor Town, a new export

615
00:24:09.781 --> 00:24:13.910
was added to cars--
the Detroit sound.

616
00:24:13.952 --> 00:24:18.081
My world is empty
without you, babe

617
00:24:18.123 --> 00:24:20.584
It's not a one-man organization
or a two-man organization,

618
00:24:20.625 --> 00:24:23.587
but it is an organization
of teamwork.

619
00:24:23.628 --> 00:24:25.005
[David]   Rick would go
to Motown.

620
00:24:25.046 --> 00:24:26.339
He would write.

621
00:24:26.381 --> 00:24:27.632
There would be
Holland-Dozier-Holland

622
00:24:27.674 --> 00:24:29.634
and Norman Whitfield
and Bobby Taylor,

623
00:24:29.676 --> 00:24:32.012
and a whole bunch of people
hanging around,

624
00:24:32.053 --> 00:24:34.806
and was part of the machine.

625
00:24:34.848 --> 00:24:36.641
[Rick]   It was very hard for me
to get into the studio

626
00:24:36.683 --> 00:24:38.185
because, I mean,
there was so much

627
00:24:38.226 --> 00:24:40.020
competition of great people.

628
00:24:40.061 --> 00:24:41.855
So I just really spent
a couple years

629
00:24:41.897 --> 00:24:43.565
just learning my craft.

630
00:24:43.607 --> 00:24:47.027
[David]   Rick doesn't do well
with authority,

631
00:24:47.068 --> 00:24:51.406
and Motown was a highly
authoritarian climate.

632
00:24:51.448 --> 00:24:53.116
He didn't have any hits,

633
00:24:53.158 --> 00:24:56.828
and he was
an impatient young man.

634
00:24:56.870 --> 00:24:59.372
And when it didn't happen
in a hurry,

635
00:24:59.414 --> 00:25:00.874
he got out of dodge.

636
00:25:00.916 --> 00:25:04.753



637
00:25:04.794 --> 00:25:06.421
[Rick]   I just felt
I was going nowhere.

638
00:25:06.463 --> 00:25:08.006
What I wanted to do
was rock and roll,

639
00:25:08.048 --> 00:25:10.926
and what I wanted to do,
Motown was not doing,

640
00:25:10.967 --> 00:25:12.886
and I wanted to take
what they were doing

641
00:25:12.928 --> 00:25:15.722
a step farther,
and I couldn't do it there.

642
00:25:15.764 --> 00:25:18.391
So me and a bass player
named Gregory,

643
00:25:18.433 --> 00:25:20.352
we headed out to California,

644
00:25:20.393 --> 00:25:24.648
and a whole
nother thing happened.

645
00:25:24.689 --> 00:25:27.400
[David]
It's in California

646
00:25:27.442 --> 00:25:29.319
where Rick James
becomes Rick James.

647
00:25:29.361 --> 00:25:32.239
With some stumbles
along the way.

648
00:25:32.280 --> 00:25:35.033
They audition for bass
for Crosby, Stills, and Nash,

649
00:25:35.075 --> 00:25:37.410
and Reeves got the gig.
Rick didn't.

650
00:25:37.452 --> 00:25:42.415
He had designs of continuing
what he had begun in Canada,

651
00:25:42.457 --> 00:25:45.252
which was to be part
of this kind of

652
00:25:45.293 --> 00:25:47.921
burgeoning folk rock culture.

653
00:25:47.963 --> 00:25:52.384
He watched these people
who he had first met in Canada

654
00:25:52.425 --> 00:25:55.011
begin to really get over big,

655
00:25:55.053 --> 00:25:58.431
and whether as a bass player,
whether as a vocalist,

656
00:25:58.473 --> 00:26:00.433
he wanted in.

657
00:26:00.475 --> 00:26:01.768
And it didn't happen.

658
00:26:01.810 --> 00:26:03.144
[Rick]   You know,
they got these houses,

659
00:26:03.186 --> 00:26:04.729
and, you know, all these
gold albums and stuff,

660
00:26:04.771 --> 00:26:06.356
and Buffalo Springfield
are doing well,

661
00:26:06.398 --> 00:26:07.607
and here I am,
feeling like shit.

662
00:26:07.649 --> 00:26:08.525
You know, I'm saying,
like, you know,

663
00:26:08.567 --> 00:26:09.693
"Why don't I have any of this?

664
00:26:09.734 --> 00:26:11.194
You know,
what's wrong with me?"

665
00:26:11.236 --> 00:26:12.654
[Harry]   He gets in this band
called Salt 'N' Pepper.

666
00:26:12.696 --> 00:26:14.406
Interracial band, right?
Salt 'N' Pepper.

667
00:26:14.447 --> 00:26:15.323
They get their big break.

668
00:26:15.365 --> 00:26:16.533
They open for Jethro Tull

669
00:26:16.575 --> 00:26:17.993
at the Fillmore West,

670
00:26:18.034 --> 00:26:20.120
and then they break up.
Doesn't happen.

671
00:26:20.161 --> 00:26:21.288
When I met Rick,

672
00:26:21.329 --> 00:26:23.790
he was in and out
of several bands.

673
00:26:23.832 --> 00:26:27.085
He was in a band, and then
it would be short-lived,

674
00:26:27.127 --> 00:26:29.212
for one reason or another.

675
00:26:29.254 --> 00:26:33.091
And then my job was to get him
out of all those contracts.

676
00:26:33.133 --> 00:26:35.969
Take him down
a country road...

677
00:26:36.011 --> 00:26:37.721
[Harry]   Then there's a band
out of Toronto

678
00:26:37.762 --> 00:26:39.222
called Heaven and Earth.

679
00:26:39.264 --> 00:26:41.933
And this is a band where
they're incorporating horns.

680
00:26:41.975 --> 00:26:45.437
Heaven and Earth
was like a blues band.

681
00:26:45.478 --> 00:26:48.398
Rick wrote
some amazing love songs.

682
00:26:48.440 --> 00:26:51.443
That band mutates
into White Cane.

683
00:26:51.484 --> 00:26:53.653
twangy folk music

684
00:26:53.695 --> 00:26:57.157
He worked that band hard,
and that was a leap up.

685
00:26:57.198 --> 00:27:01.119
The music was hard-driving.
It was just spectacular music.

686
00:27:01.161 --> 00:27:04.414
We heard about this group
called White Cane

687
00:27:04.456 --> 00:27:05.540
at the Whiskey.

688
00:27:05.582 --> 00:27:06.791
Gotta see it.

689
00:27:06.833 --> 00:27:09.878
We were gonna see,
you know, this guy.

690
00:27:09.919 --> 00:27:12.172
And he played the guitar
and wore a hat

691
00:27:12.213 --> 00:27:14.049
almost just like this.

692
00:27:14.090 --> 00:27:17.469
Rick was very electric,
you know.

693
00:27:17.510 --> 00:27:20.096
We all whispered, like,
"Wow," you know,

694
00:27:20.138 --> 00:27:21.973
"He's gonna do something."

695
00:27:22.015 --> 00:27:24.100
[Stan]   Rick, in the middle
of the tour,

696
00:27:24.142 --> 00:27:26.144
gets into arguments
with the band

697
00:27:26.186 --> 00:27:29.522
about Rick stopping the music
and addressing the audience,

698
00:27:29.564 --> 00:27:32.817
getting them to clap
or say things in unison.

699
00:27:32.859 --> 00:27:36.529
And the tour fell apart.
Rick left the band.

700
00:27:36.571 --> 00:27:40.116
I've never seen anybody with
so much drive and ambition

701
00:27:40.158 --> 00:27:43.787
to make it, and frustration
because he wasn't making it.

702
00:27:43.828 --> 00:27:47.540
funky bass music

703
00:27:47.582 --> 00:27:49.542
[Rick]
I met my first true love

704
00:27:49.584 --> 00:27:50.669
when I came out to California.

705
00:27:50.710 --> 00:27:52.045
Her name was Syville.

706
00:27:52.087 --> 00:27:54.881
We met at, like, this crazy
Halloween party.

707
00:27:54.923 --> 00:27:57.050
Drugs, sex everywhere.
It was decadent.

708
00:27:57.092 --> 00:27:59.886
It was like Dionysius
or something going on.

709
00:27:59.928 --> 00:28:01.346
[producer] Your daughter
just informed me

710
00:28:01.388 --> 00:28:03.306
that the party you were at
was actually an orgy.

711
00:28:03.348 --> 00:28:06.184
[laughs]
It was a party and an orgy.

712
00:28:06.226 --> 00:28:10.021
You know, but it was civilized,
you know.

713
00:28:10.063 --> 00:28:11.773
It wasn't just crazy.

714
00:28:11.815 --> 00:28:16.444
I saw Rick sitting in the seat
right by the kitchen area.

715
00:28:16.486 --> 00:28:17.946
He was, you know,

716
00:28:17.987 --> 00:28:20.115
a very nice-looking man,
very intelligent.

717
00:28:20.156 --> 00:28:23.368
There was a lot about him,
you know, that I liked.

718
00:28:23.410 --> 00:28:26.371
Eventually, he came over
to where I was sitting.

719
00:28:26.413 --> 00:28:29.541
He said, "Syville,
do you wanna go with me?"

720
00:28:29.582 --> 00:28:31.751
And I said, "Well, yeah."

721
00:28:33.128 --> 00:28:34.337
[Rick]   I ended up
going over to her place,

722
00:28:34.379 --> 00:28:36.214
and a few years later,
I was still there.

723
00:28:36.256 --> 00:28:38.591
We had two children:
my daughter Ty,

724
00:28:38.633 --> 00:28:40.552
and a son named Rickie.

725
00:28:40.593 --> 00:28:44.431
He was absent.
He was pursuing his career.

726
00:28:44.472 --> 00:28:46.349
He was chasing his dreams.

727
00:28:46.391 --> 00:28:47.934
I'm sure him and my mom

728
00:28:47.976 --> 00:28:51.771
had their reasons
for whatever took place.

729
00:28:51.813 --> 00:28:56.192
That's how life was,
and you have to go with that.

730
00:28:56.234 --> 00:28:59.529
When he got to LA,
he got right smack dab

731
00:28:59.571 --> 00:29:01.114
in the middle
of hippie culture,

732
00:29:01.156 --> 00:29:02.741
and he met Jay Sebring,

733
00:29:02.782 --> 00:29:04.242
who was
a well-known hairdresser,

734
00:29:04.284 --> 00:29:06.453
who knew Sharon Tate.

735
00:29:06.494 --> 00:29:10.123
And he was invited to a party,
and that turned out

736
00:29:10.165 --> 00:29:13.168
to be the party
of the Manson murders.

737
00:29:13.209 --> 00:29:14.919
[news anchor]
An employee came to work

738
00:29:14.961 --> 00:29:17.172
and found several bodies
in the house.

739
00:29:17.213 --> 00:29:19.924
The tentative identification
of the persons are as follows:

740
00:29:19.966 --> 00:29:24.137
Sharon Polanski, Jay Sebring.

741
00:29:24.179 --> 00:29:26.598
[Syville]   We was supposed
to go to a party,

742
00:29:26.639 --> 00:29:28.475
and I wanted to go.

743
00:29:28.516 --> 00:29:30.185
And he said he was tired,

744
00:29:30.226 --> 00:29:31.728
and, you know,
he didn't want to go.

745
00:29:31.770 --> 00:29:34.105
He said, "We'll do something
else another day."

746
00:29:34.147 --> 00:29:36.107
[reporter]
Do you believe that

747
00:29:36.149 --> 00:29:37.984
there should be
a death penalty?

748
00:29:38.026 --> 00:29:42.280
[Charles]   A death penalty?
Aren't we all born to die?

749
00:29:42.322 --> 00:29:44.991
[Rick]   After Jay died,
I was really distraught.

750
00:29:45.033 --> 00:29:47.952
[interviewer] What were
you doing during the '70s?

751
00:29:47.994 --> 00:29:51.790
Tripping around. Going nuts.
Writing music.

752
00:29:51.831 --> 00:29:53.333
Getting turned down
by record companies.

753
00:29:53.374 --> 00:29:56.836
I think hustle is just part
of the American DNA.

754
00:29:56.878 --> 00:29:58.338
And Rick
was definitely a hustler.

755
00:29:58.379 --> 00:30:01.841
And I mean that in a good way
because he did survive.

756
00:30:01.883 --> 00:30:04.511
When the California
hippie thing didn't work out,

757
00:30:04.552 --> 00:30:07.013
he'd go home, he'd deal drugs,

758
00:30:07.055 --> 00:30:09.516
he'd have big shipments
coming in from God knows where.

759
00:30:09.557 --> 00:30:12.268
He did all kinds of crazy shit.

760
00:30:12.310 --> 00:30:14.562
[Rick]   I went to Canada
for a brief moment,

761
00:30:14.604 --> 00:30:17.315
and I met a friend up there,
and, uh...[laughs]

762
00:30:17.357 --> 00:30:19.651
we went to Colombia,
South America.

763
00:30:19.692 --> 00:30:22.070
I really don't even know if I
should get into it, you know?

764
00:30:22.111 --> 00:30:24.864
Anyway, went to South America,
and we did this deal,

765
00:30:24.906 --> 00:30:26.324
and we made a bunch of money.

766
00:30:26.366 --> 00:30:29.202
I took that money,
and I went to Buffalo.

767
00:30:29.244 --> 00:30:31.496
When you really get confused,
you go home to your mother.

768
00:30:31.538 --> 00:30:33.414
I says, "Mom, I'm tired.
I've been away from home,

769
00:30:33.456 --> 00:30:35.542
like, eight or nine years.
Nothing's happening."

770
00:30:35.583 --> 00:30:37.836
So I start getting
into being at home with her,

771
00:30:37.877 --> 00:30:40.046
and listening to the music
going around,

772
00:30:40.088 --> 00:30:41.673
and it was in the ghetto,

773
00:30:41.714 --> 00:30:43.383
so I listened
to a lot of Black music.

774
00:30:43.424 --> 00:30:45.385
And I was hearing
the Parliament-Funkadelics

775
00:30:45.426 --> 00:30:47.470
and Bootsy
and all that kind of stuff.

776
00:30:47.512 --> 00:30:49.389
And I start saying,
"Well, this is kind of

777
00:30:49.430 --> 00:30:54.018
like my concept--rock and funk.
But not the way I would do it."

778
00:30:54.060 --> 00:30:55.979
I wanted to be nasty,
and I wanted to be raw,

779
00:30:56.020 --> 00:30:59.065
and I if I hit a bad chord
or a bad note in my record,

780
00:30:59.107 --> 00:31:00.692
and it made sense, I'd keep it.

781
00:31:00.733 --> 00:31:02.068
Or if I hit
a bad note, vocally,

782
00:31:02.110 --> 00:31:03.903
and if it had the magic,
I'd keep it.

783
00:31:03.945 --> 00:31:06.531
[singer trilling]

784
00:31:06.573 --> 00:31:07.740
[singer vocalizing]

785
00:31:07.782 --> 00:31:09.701
upbeat funk music

786
00:31:09.742 --> 00:31:12.078
You and I

787
00:31:12.120 --> 00:31:15.582
We fit together
like a glove on hand

788
00:31:15.623 --> 00:31:17.667
That's right

789
00:31:17.709 --> 00:31:20.086
Don't you know

790
00:31:20.128 --> 00:31:23.464
That I would gladly
take you anywhere

791
00:31:23.506 --> 00:31:25.300
You wanted to go...

792
00:31:25.341 --> 00:31:27.093
I had written these songs
when I was staying

793
00:31:27.135 --> 00:31:28.761
with my mother
at home in Buffalo.

794
00:31:28.803 --> 00:31:31.639
I got some neighborhood
musicians, and we recorded.

795
00:31:31.681 --> 00:31:33.558
Wouldn't you agree?

796
00:31:33.600 --> 00:31:36.769
And if by chance...

797
00:31:36.811 --> 00:31:38.605
I took the tape,
and I came out

798
00:31:38.646 --> 00:31:39.814
to Los Angeles to make a deal.

799
00:31:39.856 --> 00:31:41.816
The end of me

800
00:31:41.858 --> 00:31:43.276
I had no visions
of being with Motown

801
00:31:43.318 --> 00:31:45.153
when I came out
with this music.

802
00:31:45.194 --> 00:31:46.988
Matter of fact, Motown was
the last company in the world

803
00:31:47.030 --> 00:31:49.282
that I wanted to be with.

804
00:31:49.324 --> 00:31:51.993
I was riding in the elevator,
and I ran into Jeffrey Bowen,

805
00:31:52.035 --> 00:31:53.453
and he was producing stuff
at Motown,

806
00:31:53.494 --> 00:31:55.038
and he said,
"What are you doing here?"

807
00:31:55.079 --> 00:31:56.122
I said, "Well, I got an album
I just finished.

808
00:31:56.164 --> 00:31:57.290
I'm trying to shop a deal."

809
00:31:57.332 --> 00:31:58.917
He said,
"Well, let me hear it."

810
00:31:58.958 --> 00:32:00.793
You know, rest was history.
I ended up signing with them.

811
00:32:00.835 --> 00:32:02.962
My first album
was called   Come Get It!

812
00:32:03.004 --> 00:32:05.089
I always come

813
00:32:05.131 --> 00:32:07.133
It's so much fun, yeah...

814
00:32:07.175 --> 00:32:09.636
He'd been toiling
throughout the 1970s

815
00:32:09.677 --> 00:32:11.095
as a kind of musical
journeyman.

816
00:32:11.137 --> 00:32:14.140
It finally clicked in 1978
with   Come Get It!

817
00:32:14.182 --> 00:32:16.100
[Kerry]
My father thought that

818
00:32:16.142 --> 00:32:19.896
Rick was a great producer.

819
00:32:19.938 --> 00:32:23.399
And he was just like,
"Man, he's got a sound

820
00:32:23.441 --> 00:32:25.234
that we don't have here."

821
00:32:25.276 --> 00:32:28.947
Motown as a label was trying
to make the transition

822
00:32:28.988 --> 00:32:31.783
from being a conveyor belt
kind of a label,

823
00:32:31.824 --> 00:32:36.162
where they produced and wrote
everything for their artists,

824
00:32:36.204 --> 00:32:38.831
and trying to catch up
with the times.

825
00:32:38.873 --> 00:32:42.335
By '77, people were operating
as artists.

826
00:32:42.377 --> 00:32:44.462
They were writing
their own music.

827
00:32:44.504 --> 00:32:46.673
They were expressing
themselves from the heart,

828
00:32:46.714 --> 00:32:49.175
as opposed to having
songwriters do it for them.

829
00:32:49.217 --> 00:32:52.303
[Jason]   Rick James basically
helps Motown by providing it

830
00:32:52.345 --> 00:32:55.306
with a new economic model
of self-sufficiency.

831
00:32:55.348 --> 00:32:58.476
And that becomes
the Motown model in the 1970s,

832
00:32:58.518 --> 00:33:01.479
and it's one that actually
helps save Motown in an era

833
00:33:01.521 --> 00:33:04.023
of dwindling financial returns
for the company.

834
00:33:04.065 --> 00:33:05.817
"You and I" combines
a lot of different sounds.

835
00:33:05.858 --> 00:33:09.195
I mean, it builds to an intro,
and then there's another intro.

836
00:33:09.237 --> 00:33:10.655
There's--these female vocals
come in.

837
00:33:10.697 --> 00:33:12.031
There's, like, these steps.

838
00:33:12.073 --> 00:33:14.367
[lively funk music playing]

839
00:33:14.409 --> 00:33:15.994
Rick loved guitar riffs.

840
00:33:16.035 --> 00:33:20.623



841
00:33:20.665 --> 00:33:22.208
Step three.

842
00:33:22.250 --> 00:33:23.459
Step two.

843
00:33:23.501 --> 00:33:26.170
[singers vocalizing]

844
00:33:26.212 --> 00:33:31.384



845
00:33:33.970 --> 00:33:36.431
Another one.
That's another one.

846
00:33:37.432 --> 00:33:38.891
There's three intros.

847
00:33:42.395 --> 00:33:44.272
You know, he's adlibbing,
feeling free.

848
00:33:44.313 --> 00:33:45.773
He's not trying to fit
in the formula.

849
00:33:45.815 --> 00:33:49.235
He's giving you some odd sounds
right off the bat.

850
00:33:49.277 --> 00:33:51.571
[producer] It's like
disco and funk eloped.

851
00:33:51.612 --> 00:33:53.948
This three-part harmony

852
00:33:53.990 --> 00:33:56.701
Wouldn't you agree?

853
00:33:56.743 --> 00:33:59.454
[Norwood]   "You and I"
was one of my favorite songs.

854
00:33:59.495 --> 00:34:00.997
It was my jam.

855
00:34:01.039 --> 00:34:03.875
I liked the lyrics, the melody,

856
00:34:03.916 --> 00:34:06.586
the bassline, the beat.

857
00:34:06.627 --> 00:34:09.589
I still remember just jumping
up and down,

858
00:34:09.630 --> 00:34:12.425
dancing and singing that--
the hook to that song.

859
00:34:12.467 --> 00:34:15.386
[Kerry]   Rick understood
the demographic

860
00:34:15.428 --> 00:34:17.180
and the psychographic
of the audience

861
00:34:17.221 --> 00:34:19.348
that he was focusing on.

862
00:34:19.390 --> 00:34:20.600
When he says,

863
00:34:20.641 --> 00:34:21.934
Some people must say

864
00:34:21.976 --> 00:34:24.270
I'm infatuated with you

865
00:34:24.312 --> 00:34:27.440
I don't care, 'cause they
really don't know

866
00:34:27.482 --> 00:34:30.943
They never hear
or see the things I do

867
00:34:30.985 --> 00:34:35.865
So far as I'm concerned,
they all can go to hell

868
00:34:35.907 --> 00:34:38.367
[holding note]

869
00:34:38.409 --> 00:34:42.455
Whoa-oh, whoa-oh, oh-oh-oh

870
00:34:42.497 --> 00:34:45.083
When he says that,

871
00:34:45.124 --> 00:34:48.294
we're like,
"What? He said 'go to hell?'"

872
00:34:48.336 --> 00:34:50.630
And it worked.

873
00:34:50.671 --> 00:34:52.340
Sing it, sugar

874
00:34:52.381 --> 00:34:56.135
[Kerry]
It also gave him a vibe

875
00:34:56.177 --> 00:34:59.013
that no other
Motown artist had.

876
00:34:59.055 --> 00:35:00.181
[Rick]
To me, my attitude about it,

877
00:35:00.223 --> 00:35:01.474
it was long incoming.

878
00:35:01.516 --> 00:35:03.476
I was a superstar
in my head already.

879
00:35:03.518 --> 00:35:05.103
I mean, although I wasn't
financially,

880
00:35:05.144 --> 00:35:06.437
my ego at the time was like,

881
00:35:06.479 --> 00:35:08.397
"Yeah, it's about time
for this."

882
00:35:08.439 --> 00:35:11.567
Think about a kid, maybe,
like, 13 or 14 years old,

883
00:35:11.609 --> 00:35:14.654
and we only hit
when we're 30 years old.

884
00:35:14.695 --> 00:35:16.989
It took a whole lot of years
for him to get there.

885
00:35:17.031 --> 00:35:18.658
It was not what you call
an overnight

886
00:35:18.699 --> 00:35:20.159
sensation shit with us.

887
00:35:20.201 --> 00:35:21.744
We had been looking
for a break,

888
00:35:21.786 --> 00:35:23.996
and finally got one in life,
and we took advantage of it.

889
00:35:24.038 --> 00:35:26.916
[Kerry]   That    Come and Get It
album had "You and I" on it,

890
00:35:26.958 --> 00:35:28.793
and it had "Mary Jane" on it.

891
00:35:28.835 --> 00:35:31.254
Now, let's welcome an extremely
gifted young man

892
00:35:31.295 --> 00:35:33.840
who, in less than a year's
time, has a platinum album

893
00:35:33.881 --> 00:35:35.967
and two gold singles
to his credit

894
00:35:36.008 --> 00:35:37.593
on Motown, of course,

895
00:35:37.635 --> 00:35:40.012
and as he joins us to do
one of those smash singles,

896
00:35:40.054 --> 00:35:41.848
how about it, gang,
for Rick James

897
00:35:41.889 --> 00:35:43.683
and the Stone City Band.

898
00:35:43.724 --> 00:35:46.102
I'm in love with Mary Jane

899
00:35:46.144 --> 00:35:48.563
She's my main thing

900
00:35:48.604 --> 00:35:51.357
She makes me
feel all right

901
00:35:51.399 --> 00:35:54.068
She makes my heart sing

902
00:35:54.110 --> 00:35:55.611
[Ice Cube]   I remember hearing
Rick James.

903
00:35:55.653 --> 00:35:58.948
First song I ever heard,
I believe, was "Mary Jane."

904
00:35:58.990 --> 00:36:01.909
My friend Ronnie
and his brother Robert--

905
00:36:01.951 --> 00:36:03.161
we called him Ace--

906
00:36:03.202 --> 00:36:05.246
I knew when Ace
had to watch us,

907
00:36:05.288 --> 00:36:09.208
we was gonna see
some titty magazines,

908
00:36:09.250 --> 00:36:12.044
we was gonna learn
some dirty words,

909
00:36:12.086 --> 00:36:14.589
we was gonna see him
roll a joint,

910
00:36:14.630 --> 00:36:17.425
and we was gonna hear him
play some Rick James.

911
00:36:17.466 --> 00:36:20.344
I'm in love with Mary Jane

912
00:36:20.386 --> 00:36:22.388
I'm not the only one

913
00:36:22.430 --> 00:36:25.516
And Mary wanna play around

914
00:36:25.558 --> 00:36:28.519
I let her have her fun...

915
00:36:28.561 --> 00:36:30.313
[Ice Cube]   When I was young,
I thought it was a song

916
00:36:30.354 --> 00:36:33.900
talking about a pretty girl
that he loved.

917
00:36:33.941 --> 00:36:36.152
Ace taught me, "No.

918
00:36:36.194 --> 00:36:38.362
He talking about weed."

919
00:36:38.404 --> 00:36:41.032
And I'm like, "I be damned.

920
00:36:41.073 --> 00:36:42.867
This man is a genius."

921
00:36:42.909 --> 00:36:46.329
Oh, do ya? Do ya? Do ya?

922
00:36:46.370 --> 00:36:50.875
Now do you think
you love me Mary Jane?

923
00:36:50.917 --> 00:36:52.585
Don't you play no games...

924
00:36:52.627 --> 00:36:54.837
[Dr. Boyd]   People were trying
to go beyond the boundaries.

925
00:36:54.879 --> 00:36:56.964
They were trying to go
against convention.

926
00:36:57.006 --> 00:37:01.427
It kind of linked up perfectly
with the music he was making.

927
00:37:01.469 --> 00:37:04.597
I mean, this wasn't
Nat King Cole singing ballads.

928
00:37:04.639 --> 00:37:08.059
This was a guy making a song
about smoking weed,

929
00:37:08.100 --> 00:37:09.977
which, back in the late '70s,
was radical.

930
00:37:10.019 --> 00:37:12.438
[Steven]   No one had ever
really heard that before.

931
00:37:12.480 --> 00:37:15.274
And at the time--you know,
it's almost laughable now--

932
00:37:15.316 --> 00:37:18.945
this was just
a very controversial record.

933
00:37:18.986 --> 00:37:22.198
[Kerry]   You have this album
from a new artist

934
00:37:22.240 --> 00:37:26.786
who has a totally new
and different persona.

935
00:37:26.827 --> 00:37:28.704
There was a guy
by the name of Skip Miller.

936
00:37:28.746 --> 00:37:30.039
He said, "You know what,

937
00:37:30.081 --> 00:37:32.625
this is one of the first times
that I can say

938
00:37:32.667 --> 00:37:34.585
I think we have
a Benji record here."

939
00:37:34.627 --> 00:37:36.212
I said,
"What's a Benji record?"

940
00:37:36.254 --> 00:37:38.130
He said, "You know,
remember the dog Benji?"

941
00:37:38.172 --> 00:37:40.299
He said,
"This record is so good

942
00:37:40.341 --> 00:37:41.717
that Benji could have
took the record

943
00:37:41.759 --> 00:37:44.804
into the radio station
and got it played."

944
00:37:44.845 --> 00:37:48.266
The main influence I hear in
Rick's music is George Clinton.

945
00:37:48.307 --> 00:37:50.977
[crowd singing indistinctly]

946
00:37:51.018 --> 00:37:52.311
Say it like you mean it

947
00:37:52.353 --> 00:37:56.315



948
00:37:56.357 --> 00:37:58.442
Parliament-Funkadelic
had a focus on creating

949
00:37:58.484 --> 00:38:02.071
these really tight,
funky grooves.

950
00:38:02.113 --> 00:38:03.948
I also hear
Sly and the Family Stone

951
00:38:03.990 --> 00:38:05.241
as a clear influence
in Rick's work.

952
00:38:05.283 --> 00:38:08.244
I want to thank you

953
00:38:08.286 --> 00:38:12.498
For lettin' me
be myself again

954
00:38:12.540 --> 00:38:15.751
Funk was a bad word
until we made it famous.

955
00:38:15.793 --> 00:38:19.046
Funk is, like,
just the way you feeling.

956
00:38:19.088 --> 00:38:21.924
I mean,
whatever you feeling is funk.

957
00:38:21.966 --> 00:38:26.929
We came out of the A-hole
in between the P-hole.

958
00:38:26.971 --> 00:38:29.640
So if you come from that,
then you funky anyway.

959
00:38:29.682 --> 00:38:34.520
Funk is the modern
interpretation

960
00:38:34.562 --> 00:38:39.025
of our ancestors
screaming through us,

961
00:38:39.066 --> 00:38:43.696
from Africa, through the pain
of slavery, through Jim Crow.

962
00:38:43.738 --> 00:38:46.157
It's Black excellence,
and it's nigga shit.

963
00:38:46.198 --> 00:38:48.200
The worst made beautiful.

964
00:38:48.242 --> 00:38:52.621
The lowest given
the opportunity to express.

965
00:38:52.663 --> 00:38:54.707
Shit, Rick James is

966
00:38:54.749 --> 00:38:57.877
an amazing expression
of all of that.

967
00:38:57.918 --> 00:38:59.712
Tonight,   Rock Concert
presents

968
00:38:59.754 --> 00:39:01.297
the Pied Piper of funk fun--

969
00:39:01.339 --> 00:39:02.798
oh, "punk funk," I'm sorry.

970
00:39:02.840 --> 00:39:04.050
[crewmember] 204. Take two.

971
00:39:04.091 --> 00:39:05.384
Tonight,   Rock Concert
presents

972
00:39:05.426 --> 00:39:08.637
the Pied Piper
of punk funk, Rick James.

973
00:39:08.679 --> 00:39:12.391
We're bustin' out
of this L-Seven square

974
00:39:12.433 --> 00:39:14.477
Freaks like you and I

975
00:39:14.518 --> 00:39:17.396
Could never
funk from there

976
00:39:17.438 --> 00:39:19.148
[Big Daddy Kane]   I remember
listening to Rick James'

977
00:39:19.190 --> 00:39:20.733
music when I was a kid.

978
00:39:20.775 --> 00:39:23.944
Bustin' Out   was probably
one of my favorites.

979
00:39:23.986 --> 00:39:26.405
Heavy bassline-driven grooves,

980
00:39:26.447 --> 00:39:28.991
and Rick was just
wilding on the songs.

981
00:39:29.033 --> 00:39:31.160
Just spitting it raw.

982
00:39:31.202 --> 00:39:33.287
Put your hands in the air

983
00:39:33.329 --> 00:39:35.581
And sing along with me

984
00:39:35.623 --> 00:39:36.916
Bustin' out!

985
00:39:36.957 --> 00:39:38.834
[Big Daddy Kane]
Rick James' style of funk

986
00:39:38.876 --> 00:39:41.921
wasn't like the GAP Band,

987
00:39:41.962 --> 00:39:44.924
Con Funk Shun, Ohio Players.

988
00:39:44.965 --> 00:39:47.093
His style was just hard.

989
00:39:47.134 --> 00:39:49.762
[Jason]   He was creating
a really rhythmic, aggressive,

990
00:39:49.804 --> 00:39:51.931
hard-driving
Black dance music.

991
00:39:51.972 --> 00:39:55.768
Rick James' grooves
were groovier than most.

992
00:39:55.810 --> 00:39:58.854
The way that they hit
on the one,

993
00:39:58.896 --> 00:40:02.066
meaning on the first beat
of every measure,

994
00:40:02.108 --> 00:40:05.277
meant that they caused
a kind of energetic response.

995
00:40:05.319 --> 00:40:07.446
Every time you come
to that first melody--uh.

996
00:40:07.488 --> 00:40:09.448
[playing funky rhythm]

997
00:40:09.490 --> 00:40:10.282
Uh.

998
00:40:10.324 --> 00:40:12.451
The Rick James sound

999
00:40:12.493 --> 00:40:14.745
was basically
like a funk grenade.

1000
00:40:14.787 --> 00:40:16.247
[Levi]
He named it punk funk.

1001
00:40:16.288 --> 00:40:17.581
Rick wanted to me a rocker,

1002
00:40:17.623 --> 00:40:19.125
and then he came from Buffalo,

1003
00:40:19.166 --> 00:40:21.127
and, you know, we have
a different kind of style,

1004
00:40:21.168 --> 00:40:22.628
you know, our genre is funk,

1005
00:40:22.670 --> 00:40:24.255
but it's a different
kind of funk.

1006
00:40:24.296 --> 00:40:25.631
You're doing jazz.

1007
00:40:25.673 --> 00:40:28.801
You're doing hard rock
with guitars.

1008
00:40:28.843 --> 00:40:30.970
You're doing big band music,
with the horns.

1009
00:40:31.011 --> 00:40:33.681
The punk part was punk from,
like, Europe.

1010
00:40:33.722 --> 00:40:36.100
He was equating the poor kids
over in England

1011
00:40:36.142 --> 00:40:38.310
with the poor kids here in
the neighborhoods in Buffalo.

1012
00:40:38.352 --> 00:40:39.812
Punk funk was the attitude.

1013
00:40:39.854 --> 00:40:41.439
"We're gonna do what the hell
we want to do."

1014
00:40:41.480 --> 00:40:43.149
It gave me a vehicle
to write about anything

1015
00:40:43.190 --> 00:40:44.608
I wanted to write about.

1016
00:40:44.650 --> 00:40:46.026
You know, I smoke marijuana,
I can write about it.

1017
00:40:46.068 --> 00:40:48.070
If I don't like Richard Nixon,
I can call him an asshole.

1018
00:40:48.112 --> 00:40:51.574
To be able to finally have
Blacks write about whatever,

1019
00:40:51.615 --> 00:40:54.493
and be able to wear whatever--

1020
00:40:54.535 --> 00:40:57.163
because for so long,
Blacks have been stigmatized

1021
00:40:57.204 --> 00:41:00.124
into this choreographed--

1022
00:41:00.166 --> 00:41:01.959
Doo wop, doo wah

1023
00:41:02.001 --> 00:41:03.335
I love you

1024
00:41:03.377 --> 00:41:06.922
Ooh, do, do, do, do
You know, eh.

1025
00:41:06.964 --> 00:41:10.176
And I remember asking Rick,
"Man, what are you gonna do

1026
00:41:10.217 --> 00:41:13.137
if this thing is a success?
What are you going to--

1027
00:41:13.179 --> 00:41:15.473
what are you gonna do
with your money, for instance?"

1028
00:41:15.514 --> 00:41:17.475
"Oh, Steve, ain't nothing
gonna change, man.

1029
00:41:17.516 --> 00:41:19.602
I'm just gonna buy some more
clothes or something."

1030
00:41:19.643 --> 00:41:23.397
But things did change,
and they changed rapidly.

1031
00:41:23.439 --> 00:41:25.649
The hustling energy
is an energy.

1032
00:41:25.691 --> 00:41:29.028
And that energy--
once you get through

1033
00:41:29.069 --> 00:41:31.530
with your non-musical hustle,
whatever it is,

1034
00:41:31.572 --> 00:41:34.033
that energy
is still there in the music.

1035
00:41:34.074 --> 00:41:37.870
You can feel that intensity
in his music.

1036
00:41:37.912 --> 00:41:39.038
It's aspirational.

1037
00:41:39.079 --> 00:41:42.833
He aspires to get over.
It's America.

1038
00:41:42.875 --> 00:41:45.002
[Rick]   I had a double platinum
album on my hands,

1039
00:41:45.044 --> 00:41:46.921
and then I needed a group,
so I went home,

1040
00:41:46.962 --> 00:41:49.882
and I put together my favorite
musicians in that town,

1041
00:41:49.924 --> 00:41:52.259
who became my family for
years--the Stone City Band.

1042
00:41:52.301 --> 00:41:53.719
[news reporter]   Do you want
to present everybody to us?

1043
00:41:53.761 --> 00:41:54.845
Sure.

1044
00:41:54.887 --> 00:41:55.888
'Cause you know them
better than I do.

1045
00:41:55.930 --> 00:41:57.806
[Rick]
This light-skinned fellow.

1046
00:41:57.848 --> 00:41:59.892
This is Tom McDermott,
guitar player.

1047
00:41:59.934 --> 00:42:01.185
-[reporter, indistinct]
-[Rick]   That's Hughes.

1048
00:42:01.227 --> 00:42:02.311
-Drummer.
-How you doing?

1049
00:42:02.353 --> 00:42:03.646
[Rick]
This is Joanne McDuffie.

1050
00:42:03.687 --> 00:42:05.564
We call her JoJo for short.

1051
00:42:05.606 --> 00:42:06.732
One of the girl singers.

1052
00:42:06.774 --> 00:42:07.858
-This is Levi Ruffin.
-How you doing?

1053
00:42:07.900 --> 00:42:09.693
[Rick]
We're the Stone City Band.

1054
00:42:09.735 --> 00:42:12.321
This is Lisa Sarna,
one of the girl singers.

1055
00:42:12.363 --> 00:42:15.074
That's Oscar Alston,
Alexander Monday.

1056
00:42:15.115 --> 00:42:16.909
[laughter]

1057
00:42:16.951 --> 00:42:18.577
That's our bass player.

1058
00:42:18.619 --> 00:42:20.704
Rick came up and asked me,
"Man, who's jamming now?"

1059
00:42:20.746 --> 00:42:22.373
and I said, "As far as, like,
the groove's concerned,

1060
00:42:22.414 --> 00:42:24.542
it's still George Clinton
and Bootsy."

1061
00:42:24.583 --> 00:42:25.751
And he told me, man, I quote,

1062
00:42:25.793 --> 00:42:27.127
"Man, we can do
better than that."

1063
00:42:27.169 --> 00:42:29.129
I said, "Shit. Sign me up."

1064
00:42:29.171 --> 00:42:32.091
[Lanise]   We did our first
rehearsals at Rick house.

1065
00:42:32.132 --> 00:42:34.218
He had some songs
that he wanted to do.

1066
00:42:34.260 --> 00:42:38.305
So we went to the studio.
We recorded the demos.

1067
00:42:38.347 --> 00:42:40.558
Rick took them back to Motown.

1068
00:42:40.599 --> 00:42:42.768
Berry Gordy told Rick--he said,

1069
00:42:42.810 --> 00:42:46.105
"Whoever those musicians are,
that's your band."

1070
00:42:46.146 --> 00:42:47.439
[Oscar]
Rick could write.

1071
00:42:47.481 --> 00:42:49.567
He wasn't
a great pianist or bass,

1072
00:42:49.608 --> 00:42:51.443
but he knew what he liked

1073
00:42:51.485 --> 00:42:54.655
and what would work
and fit together.

1074
00:42:54.697 --> 00:42:56.657
So when he had
all of us around,

1075
00:42:56.699 --> 00:43:00.244
that's like having
all of the notes on the piano,

1076
00:43:00.286 --> 00:43:02.079
all of the notes on the bass.

1077
00:43:02.121 --> 00:43:04.039
[Levi]   Chemistry was like new,
because none of us

1078
00:43:04.081 --> 00:43:05.749
really had played
together in the studio.

1079
00:43:05.791 --> 00:43:07.585
I knew what we was supposed
to sound like.

1080
00:43:07.626 --> 00:43:08.877
I just didn't know
how to make it.

1081
00:43:08.919 --> 00:43:10.921
Rick showed us how to make it.

1082
00:43:10.963 --> 00:43:12.631
He wanted us to see
everything he was doing.

1083
00:43:12.673 --> 00:43:14.049
I guess he was figuring,
you know,

1084
00:43:14.091 --> 00:43:15.884
"One day I might not be here.
Maybe I can't do it.

1085
00:43:15.926 --> 00:43:17.469
Y'all can still carry on
with the shit."

1086
00:43:17.511 --> 00:43:19.388
[announcer]
All-points bulletin:

1087
00:43:19.430 --> 00:43:21.599
be on the lookout
for Rick James.

1088
00:43:21.640 --> 00:43:23.976
Rick James
and the Stone City Band.

1089
00:43:24.018 --> 00:43:25.311
They're bustin' out.

1090
00:43:25.352 --> 00:43:27.646
funky R&B music

1091
00:43:27.688 --> 00:43:29.148
[Oscar]
I was staying with my mom.

1092
00:43:29.189 --> 00:43:31.817
Rick said, "We're all gonna
have to get braids."

1093
00:43:31.859 --> 00:43:35.029
"Braids? Are you kidding.
My mama's gonna kill me."

1094
00:43:35.070 --> 00:43:37.531
He said, "If you want to be
a part of this band,

1095
00:43:37.573 --> 00:43:39.825
you have to get your braids."

1096
00:43:39.867 --> 00:43:41.368
[Rick]   I had, like,
this short Afro,

1097
00:43:41.410 --> 00:43:42.953
you know,
and I didn't want that.

1098
00:43:42.995 --> 00:43:44.496
You know, I didn't wanna look
like everybody else.

1099
00:43:44.538 --> 00:43:47.124
And the Beatles had made such
a tremendous effect on me

1100
00:43:47.166 --> 00:43:48.667
with the Beatle haircut.

1101
00:43:48.709 --> 00:43:50.669
So I ran into this
African woman on an airplane,

1102
00:43:50.711 --> 00:43:53.631
she was from the Masai,
and I saw her hair.

1103
00:43:53.672 --> 00:43:55.758
I said,
"God, that's fantastic.

1104
00:43:55.799 --> 00:43:57.593
How do you do that?"
and she showed me these books

1105
00:43:57.635 --> 00:44:00.471
of Africans
with their short hair,

1106
00:44:00.512 --> 00:44:03.349
and then she showed me some
pictures after they finished

1107
00:44:03.390 --> 00:44:04.892
doing what they did,
their magic.

1108
00:44:04.933 --> 00:44:06.644
I said,
"Can you do this for me?"

1109
00:44:06.685 --> 00:44:08.103
And she said, "Yeah."
I said, "There it is. Bam.

1110
00:44:08.145 --> 00:44:09.855
That's the vision.
That's what I want."

1111
00:44:09.897 --> 00:44:11.106
Bustin' out!

1112
00:44:11.148 --> 00:44:12.608
We're bustin' out

1113
00:44:12.650 --> 00:44:14.026
[Levi]   I had beads
and everything in mine.

1114
00:44:14.068 --> 00:44:15.944
Everybody thought
we was fucking crazy.

1115
00:44:15.986 --> 00:44:17.446
Next thing you know,
all the brothers,

1116
00:44:17.488 --> 00:44:18.697
they started wearing this shit.

1117
00:44:18.739 --> 00:44:20.991
He wanted everybody
to put glitter on,

1118
00:44:21.033 --> 00:44:23.994
you know, their hair,
and it'd be in your suitcase

1119
00:44:24.036 --> 00:44:26.121
for, like, six months
after the tour, you know.

1120
00:44:26.163 --> 00:44:28.207
Rick would pour all
that stuff in your hair, man.

1121
00:44:28.248 --> 00:44:31.460
It was like, man, you know,
I be ready to fight.

1122
00:44:31.502 --> 00:44:33.045
[Lanise]
He wanted us to look like

1123
00:44:33.087 --> 00:44:35.130
we were ready
to take care of business,

1124
00:44:35.172 --> 00:44:37.007
and that's what we did,
every night.

1125
00:44:37.049 --> 00:44:39.134
I mean, for me,
I couldn't fuck with it.

1126
00:44:39.176 --> 00:44:40.219
[laughs]

1127
00:44:40.260 --> 00:44:42.262
Rick James had a style that

1128
00:44:42.304 --> 00:44:46.558
kind of reminded you
of David Bowie, Kiss.

1129
00:44:46.600 --> 00:44:50.396
It was Black, it was rock,
but it was kinda avant-garde,

1130
00:44:50.437 --> 00:44:53.232
in terms
of Black culture, for sure.

1131
00:44:53.273 --> 00:44:55.901
Look at you

1132
00:44:55.943 --> 00:44:58.570
Mary Jane

1133
00:44:59.988 --> 00:45:03.367
[David]   Rick sees
George Clinton's showmanship,

1134
00:45:03.409 --> 00:45:06.120
and he realizes that,

1135
00:45:06.161 --> 00:45:09.373
just as George became
the purple-haired crazy man,

1136
00:45:09.415 --> 00:45:13.585
he's gonna have to come up
with his show identity.

1137
00:45:13.627 --> 00:45:16.171
Where's the ganja tonight?

1138
00:45:16.213 --> 00:45:20.259
[David]   Weed became
a signature part of his act.

1139
00:45:20.300 --> 00:45:23.220
You know,
the giant joint on stage.

1140
00:45:23.262 --> 00:45:25.764
[Val]   They would tell us
at sound check,

1141
00:45:25.806 --> 00:45:27.516
"You cannot smoke."

1142
00:45:27.558 --> 00:45:30.686
Rick said,
"We're smoking anyway."

1143
00:45:30.728 --> 00:45:33.772
So on stage,
he would light it up,

1144
00:45:33.814 --> 00:45:35.607
and he would
tell the audience,

1145
00:45:35.649 --> 00:45:37.860
"If the police bother me,

1146
00:45:37.901 --> 00:45:40.446
you all tear
this mother sucker up."

1147
00:45:40.487 --> 00:45:42.114
funky R&B music

1148
00:45:42.156 --> 00:45:45.951
[Steven]   P-Funk, Parliament,
Bootsy, all these people,

1149
00:45:45.993 --> 00:45:48.996
they were kinda
looking at Rick sideways,

1150
00:45:49.037 --> 00:45:53.876
because he had learned
how to craft pop with funk,

1151
00:45:53.917 --> 00:45:57.921
and so he hit the big time
faster than they did.

1152
00:45:57.963 --> 00:46:00.632
[Bootsy]   Rick was the smartest
one out of all of us.

1153
00:46:00.674 --> 00:46:03.677
He sold a lot of records.
People came to the concerts.

1154
00:46:03.719 --> 00:46:05.304
And, you know,
he used to talk about,

1155
00:46:05.345 --> 00:46:07.264
"Yeah, I'm selling
more records than y'all."

1156
00:46:07.306 --> 00:46:10.142
I think George took offense
a little bit.

1157
00:46:10.184 --> 00:46:14.313
But all was fair
in funk and war, man.

1158
00:46:14.354 --> 00:46:17.274
[cheers and applause]

1159
00:46:18.859 --> 00:46:20.819
[Tommy]
The first tour was amazing.

1160
00:46:20.861 --> 00:46:23.280
We'd be going out six,
seven months.

1161
00:46:23.322 --> 00:46:25.491
We hit every place in America,
it seemed like.

1162
00:46:25.532 --> 00:46:29.578
LA Coliseum, July 1979.

1163
00:46:29.620 --> 00:46:31.121
Greatest Funk Festival.

1164
00:46:31.163 --> 00:46:33.832
[cheers and applause]

1165
00:46:33.874 --> 00:46:39.338



1166
00:46:39.838 --> 00:46:42.257
[Lanise]   There was over
100,000 people in there.

1167
00:46:42.299 --> 00:46:43.509
In the audience.

1168
00:46:43.550 --> 00:46:45.302
And they was
chanting our name,

1169
00:46:45.344 --> 00:46:47.137
screaming and hollering.

1170
00:46:47.179 --> 00:46:49.306
And that made me
feel real good,

1171
00:46:49.348 --> 00:46:51.517
and I was saying, "We did it."

1172
00:46:51.558 --> 00:46:56.939



1173
00:46:57.898 --> 00:46:59.066
[Gail]
He was a showman.

1174
00:46:59.107 --> 00:47:00.651
From the time
he walked on stage

1175
00:47:00.692 --> 00:47:02.319
to the time he walked off,

1176
00:47:02.361 --> 00:47:05.155
he was in it to give everything
that he felt about the music

1177
00:47:05.197 --> 00:47:06.865
and throw that out
to the audience.

1178
00:47:06.907 --> 00:47:07.741
Sing!

1179
00:47:07.783 --> 00:47:09.660
I'm in the beach house

1180
00:47:09.701 --> 00:47:11.286
[Lisa]   Life on the road
with Rick James

1181
00:47:11.328 --> 00:47:12.996
and the Stone City Band

1182
00:47:13.038 --> 00:47:17.751
was tumultuous,
high energy, never-ending.

1183
00:47:17.793 --> 00:47:21.338
One of the most fun nights
of my life

1184
00:47:21.380 --> 00:47:22.881
was jamming with him

1185
00:47:22.923 --> 00:47:25.843
at Giants Stadium
here in New York.

1186
00:47:25.884 --> 00:47:30.639
I guess we were of the mindset
that we were so free,

1187
00:47:30.681 --> 00:47:32.808
we could just really
do anything we want.

1188
00:47:32.850 --> 00:47:34.518
I don't even know
what we played,

1189
00:47:34.560 --> 00:47:37.354
but I remember going out there
with Rick and just jamming,

1190
00:47:37.396 --> 00:47:39.481
and just doing
whatever the hell we wanted,

1191
00:47:39.523 --> 00:47:41.358
and the crowd went bananas.

1192
00:47:41.400 --> 00:47:43.151
I mean, it was incredible.

1193
00:47:43.193 --> 00:47:44.695
[Tommy]   It was just, like,
pedal to the metal.

1194
00:47:44.736 --> 00:47:46.530
We just bump and groove,

1195
00:47:46.572 --> 00:47:49.575
and there was pyrotechnics,
you know, and theatrics.

1196
00:47:49.616 --> 00:47:51.702
We had dancers.

1197
00:47:51.743 --> 00:47:54.454
The pyrotechnics
was really a lot, you know.

1198
00:47:54.496 --> 00:47:55.622
Sometimes it would go off,

1199
00:47:55.664 --> 00:47:56.832
and you'd be, like,
shell-shocked.

1200
00:47:56.874 --> 00:47:58.584
Bam!
[imitates ringing]

1201
00:47:58.625 --> 00:48:00.127
Your ears would be ringing.

1202
00:48:00.168 --> 00:48:05.007
The band, the girls, Rick,
the crew--we were family.

1203
00:48:05.048 --> 00:48:07.134
[Val]   We toured
all over the country.

1204
00:48:07.175 --> 00:48:09.887
Throwing money up in the air
in pillowcases.

1205
00:48:09.928 --> 00:48:12.222
You ate
at the best restaurants.

1206
00:48:12.264 --> 00:48:14.224
Christmas time, bonuses.

1207
00:48:14.266 --> 00:48:16.768
"Let's go.
Let's take a Learjet.

1208
00:48:16.810 --> 00:48:19.563
Let's take a helicopter.
Let's go to New York."

1209
00:48:19.605 --> 00:48:21.398
Just anything he wanted to do.

1210
00:48:21.440 --> 00:48:24.151
Most of us are from Buffalo,
and we moved to LA.

1211
00:48:24.192 --> 00:48:25.777
We were living in
Randolph Hearst's mansion.

1212
00:48:25.819 --> 00:48:27.446
I mean, we were, like,
living big time.

1213
00:48:27.487 --> 00:48:29.990
I brought all these guys out,
my homeboys from the ghetto.

1214
00:48:30.032 --> 00:48:32.075
[Lanise]   Coming from Buffalo,
New York to LA

1215
00:48:32.117 --> 00:48:35.287
was an extreme
culture shock to me.

1216
00:48:35.329 --> 00:48:36.622
That was beautiful, man,

1217
00:48:36.663 --> 00:48:38.373
up in the canyons--
Coldwater Canyon.

1218
00:48:38.415 --> 00:48:41.460
I walked in there and said,
"I--damn."

1219
00:48:41.501 --> 00:48:43.128
I said, "This is living."

1220
00:48:43.170 --> 00:48:46.465
I mean, the house was so big,
you rarely ran into each other.

1221
00:48:46.506 --> 00:48:47.925
[laughs]

1222
00:48:47.966 --> 00:48:51.303
You had to get on the intercom
to find somebody.

1223
00:48:51.345 --> 00:48:53.847
[Levi]   There was some stupid
shit going on out there.

1224
00:48:53.889 --> 00:48:56.016
There was plenty
of dope around.

1225
00:48:56.058 --> 00:48:58.310
Freaky women, all kinds
of different narcotics.

1226
00:48:58.352 --> 00:49:00.729
I think I snorted everything
on God's planet earth

1227
00:49:00.771 --> 00:49:01.647
when I was in the band.

1228
00:49:01.688 --> 00:49:04.107
Drugs. Rock and roll. Women.

1229
00:49:04.149 --> 00:49:06.360
It was all part
of the same package.

1230
00:49:06.401 --> 00:49:07.903
That was Rick.

1231
00:49:07.945 --> 00:49:10.405
I mean, he did that
before he even got famous.

1232
00:49:10.447 --> 00:49:11.740
He partied.

1233
00:49:11.782 --> 00:49:13.367
Plus he liked
to be around people.

1234
00:49:13.408 --> 00:49:15.410
[Rick]   And those days
was wild and crazy.

1235
00:49:15.452 --> 00:49:16.787
I mean, we were
fucking all standing

1236
00:49:16.828 --> 00:49:18.288
on the verge of insanity
in those days.

1237
00:49:18.330 --> 00:49:19.831
Everybody was
snorting cocaine,

1238
00:49:19.873 --> 00:49:22.250
and everybody
was taking quaaludes,

1239
00:49:22.292 --> 00:49:25.212
drinking Cristal
and Dom Pérignon champagne,

1240
00:49:25.253 --> 00:49:28.632
and getting butt naked
and doing it in the bathrooms.

1241
00:49:28.674 --> 00:49:29.633
It was wonderful.

1242
00:49:29.675 --> 00:49:31.218
Girls love girls,

1243
00:49:31.259 --> 00:49:32.844
and I don't know
what guys were doing.

1244
00:49:32.886 --> 00:49:35.639
Personally, I was loving women
very, very hard them days.

1245
00:49:35.681 --> 00:49:38.475
I got a lot of inspiration
from women in those days.

1246
00:49:38.517 --> 00:49:40.852
[Oscar]   There was a girl,
we had the video camera,

1247
00:49:40.894 --> 00:49:43.313
and her and I
were engaged sexually,

1248
00:49:43.355 --> 00:49:47.859
and Rick was behind the camera,
you know, taping us.

1249
00:49:47.901 --> 00:49:51.363
So at one point,

1250
00:49:51.405 --> 00:49:54.032
Rick just, you know,
took off his belt--

1251
00:49:54.074 --> 00:49:58.370
had the belt--and the girl
was on top of me,

1252
00:49:58.412 --> 00:50:03.166
and he started hitting the girl
on her behind with the strap.

1253
00:50:03.208 --> 00:50:04.876
And I'm thinking,
"Oh, these are just love taps.

1254
00:50:04.918 --> 00:50:06.461
You know, no big thing."

1255
00:50:06.503 --> 00:50:09.840
Until one time, the belt
slipped off of her behind

1256
00:50:09.881 --> 00:50:12.676
and hit me on the leg,
and it hurt it.

1257
00:50:12.718 --> 00:50:17.723
And I, you know, hollered out,
but I saw on her body

1258
00:50:17.764 --> 00:50:22.227
these red marks from the belt
hitting her behind.

1259
00:50:22.269 --> 00:50:25.355
If you gave him that space,
if you allowed him to do--

1260
00:50:25.397 --> 00:50:29.776
he would take
that opportunity and do it.

1261
00:50:29.818 --> 00:50:32.029
[Steven]
He did everything to women

1262
00:50:32.070 --> 00:50:34.573
to see
what they could withstand,

1263
00:50:34.614 --> 00:50:39.036
see what would make them say,
"Oh no. I'm not gonna do that."

1264
00:50:39.077 --> 00:50:41.246
The more they agreed to,

1265
00:50:41.288 --> 00:50:43.582
the more upset
he became with them.

1266
00:50:43.623 --> 00:50:48.003
He treated women the way that
rock and rollers treated women.

1267
00:50:48.045 --> 00:50:51.006
[Tanya]   His sexual exploits
were more,

1268
00:50:51.048 --> 00:50:53.759
"You do that to that person.
Let me watch.

1269
00:50:53.800 --> 00:50:56.261
I want to orchestrate
some shit over here."

1270
00:50:56.303 --> 00:50:58.221
He wasn't personally involved.

1271
00:50:58.263 --> 00:51:00.223
He was not
that kind of "super freak."

1272
00:51:00.265 --> 00:51:02.768
He didn't let people
touch him.

1273
00:51:02.809 --> 00:51:04.686
He wasn't, like, in the orgy.

1274
00:51:04.728 --> 00:51:06.271
He would watch the orgy.

1275
00:51:06.313 --> 00:51:08.774
It was not
a personal thing for him.

1276
00:51:08.815 --> 00:51:11.401
If he was gonna be sexual,

1277
00:51:11.443 --> 00:51:12.944
it was with somebody
he trusted,

1278
00:51:12.986 --> 00:51:14.613
and he trusted no one.

1279
00:51:14.654 --> 00:51:16.198
[siren wailing]

1280
00:51:16.239 --> 00:51:17.949
[Levi]   He had broads, man,
chasing our limos

1281
00:51:17.991 --> 00:51:20.702
down the street and shit,
man, throwing panties on stage

1282
00:51:20.744 --> 00:51:22.120
and all kinds of stupid shit.

1283
00:51:22.162 --> 00:51:24.456
And that shit was funny to me,
but it was fun.

1284
00:51:24.498 --> 00:51:27.292
That's what you dreamed of
when you were growing up.

1285
00:51:27.334 --> 00:51:29.461
[Gail]   I would say that
part of his persona

1286
00:51:29.503 --> 00:51:32.506
was the bad boy,
living on the dangerous side,

1287
00:51:32.547 --> 00:51:35.258
running around
with the different women,

1288
00:51:35.300 --> 00:51:38.678
the drugs, the whole
bigger-than-life picture

1289
00:51:38.720 --> 00:51:40.305
that he painted.

1290
00:51:40.347 --> 00:51:43.475
[Jason]   On stage and in his
lyrics and in his music,

1291
00:51:43.517 --> 00:51:48.021
he was portraying this
sexual bravado and machismo.

1292
00:51:48.063 --> 00:51:50.273
Off stage, we now know

1293
00:51:50.315 --> 00:51:52.484
that what was underwriting
that machismo

1294
00:51:52.526 --> 00:51:55.070
and that bravado was
very disturbing,

1295
00:51:55.112 --> 00:51:57.364
very dark, and abusive.

1296
00:52:03.203 --> 00:52:06.414
upbeat R&B music

1297
00:52:06.456 --> 00:52:09.167
[Harry]   Rick essentially has
a run of nine albums

1298
00:52:09.209 --> 00:52:12.003
in six, seven years--
Come Get it!

1299
00:52:12.045 --> 00:52:14.005
Bustin' Out of L Seven,
Fire It Up.

1300
00:52:14.047 --> 00:52:15.674
Bam, bam, bam, bam.
He's got all these hits.

1301
00:52:15.715 --> 00:52:18.135
[Levi]   I used to sit there
and watch him write.

1302
00:52:18.176 --> 00:52:21.012
Incredible speed.
He would just--my God.

1303
00:52:21.054 --> 00:52:23.348
Next thing you know, you got
a hit record right there.

1304
00:52:23.390 --> 00:52:25.934
[Steven]   He was making records
and making music

1305
00:52:25.976 --> 00:52:28.854
and making money,
but he was leveling off.

1306
00:52:28.895 --> 00:52:30.522
people were still into Rick,

1307
00:52:30.564 --> 00:52:33.233
but we were waiting
on something else.

1308
00:52:33.275 --> 00:52:35.193
And then came   Street Songs.

1309
00:52:35.235 --> 00:52:38.321
First, there was rock.
Then there was hard rock.

1310
00:52:38.363 --> 00:52:40.365
Then there was punk rock.

1311
00:52:40.407 --> 00:52:43.201
And now, thanks to--
mainly to our next performer,

1312
00:52:43.243 --> 00:52:44.703
there's punk funk.

1313
00:52:44.744 --> 00:52:49.166
Here he is, the Pied Piper
of Funk, Mr. Rick James.

1314
00:52:49.207 --> 00:52:51.751
[cheers and applause]

1315
00:52:51.793 --> 00:52:54.462
upbeat funk music

1316
00:52:54.504 --> 00:52:56.631



1317
00:52:56.673 --> 00:52:58.216
[Rick] Street Songs   spoke
of things

1318
00:52:58.258 --> 00:52:59.259
that happened in the ghetto.

1319
00:52:59.301 --> 00:53:00.719
It talks
about very real subjects

1320
00:53:00.760 --> 00:53:02.053
and very real things.

1321
00:53:02.095 --> 00:53:03.805
You know, Black people
made me.

1322
00:53:03.847 --> 00:53:05.390
Black people bought tickets

1323
00:53:05.432 --> 00:53:07.475
and sold out concerts
and stadiums.

1324
00:53:07.517 --> 00:53:10.729
So it was a conscious attempt
on my part

1325
00:53:10.770 --> 00:53:13.190
to get back to the roots
of what I'm all about.

1326
00:53:13.231 --> 00:53:15.483
When I came home
last night

1327
00:53:15.525 --> 00:53:18.570



1328
00:53:18.612 --> 00:53:22.032
You wouldn't
make love to me...

1329
00:53:22.073 --> 00:53:23.658
[Lanise]
Rick James had to come back

1330
00:53:23.700 --> 00:53:27.996
to Buffalo, New York,
to feel the vibe of everybody,

1331
00:53:28.038 --> 00:53:31.374
what was going on
at that particular time.

1332
00:53:31.416 --> 00:53:34.586



1333
00:53:34.628 --> 00:53:36.796
Out all night
just dancing...

1334
00:53:36.838 --> 00:53:39.799
This is the album that
everybody's talking about

1335
00:53:39.841 --> 00:53:41.092
and everybody is buying.

1336
00:53:41.134 --> 00:53:42.928
And triple platinum.

1337
00:53:42.969 --> 00:53:44.596
Your sales are just setting

1338
00:53:44.638 --> 00:53:46.389
new records
in the recording industry.

1339
00:53:46.431 --> 00:53:48.600
[host] What are you gonna do
with all that money, Rick?

1340
00:53:48.642 --> 00:53:50.727
Going to invest it
in making more money.

1341
00:53:50.769 --> 00:53:52.062
-Are you?
-[laughter]

1342
00:53:52.103 --> 00:53:53.563
[Jason]
Street Songs   in 1981

1343
00:53:53.605 --> 00:53:54.940
takes him
to a whole other level.

1344
00:53:54.981 --> 00:53:57.776
Street Songs
is a concept album

1345
00:53:57.817 --> 00:54:01.196
that is very much rooted
around his childhood experience

1346
00:54:01.238 --> 00:54:02.697
growing up in Buffalo,

1347
00:54:02.739 --> 00:54:05.575
and his focus on the issues
that informed him

1348
00:54:05.617 --> 00:54:07.077
and informed Black communities
at the time.

1349
00:54:07.118 --> 00:54:08.954
When I was a young boy

1350
00:54:08.995 --> 00:54:11.081
Growing up in the ghetto

1351
00:54:11.122 --> 00:54:13.083
Hanging out on corners

1352
00:54:13.124 --> 00:54:14.960
Singing with the fellas...

1353
00:54:15.001 --> 00:54:16.753
[Dr. Boyd]   "Ghetto Life"
could be a hip hop song.

1354
00:54:16.795 --> 00:54:20.048
The scene he's describing
is sort of, you know,

1355
00:54:20.090 --> 00:54:22.550
Black America
at a particular point,

1356
00:54:22.592 --> 00:54:25.971
from a class perspective,
talking about pimp game,

1357
00:54:26.012 --> 00:54:28.640
the dope game,
police brutality.

1358
00:54:28.682 --> 00:54:32.310
"Mr. Policeman" came out
years before "Fuck tha Police."

1359
00:54:32.352 --> 00:54:35.605
Hey, Mr. Policeman

1360
00:54:35.647 --> 00:54:38.733
I've seen you
in my neighborhood

1361
00:54:38.775 --> 00:54:41.987
You look to me
you'll do no good

1362
00:54:42.028 --> 00:54:45.156
[Ice Cube]   And it's basically
saying the same thing.

1363
00:54:45.198 --> 00:54:46.658
I remember, like,

1364
00:54:46.700 --> 00:54:49.327
listening to it over
and over and over again.

1365
00:54:49.369 --> 00:54:51.496
[Jason]
It's probably his best album.

1366
00:54:51.538 --> 00:54:53.873
It all really came together
on   Street Songs,

1367
00:54:53.915 --> 00:54:57.836
and you understood him
to be a concept R&B artist,

1368
00:54:57.877 --> 00:55:00.130
not just a kind of hired hand.

1369
00:55:00.171 --> 00:55:02.799
[funky music playing]

1370
00:55:02.841 --> 00:55:04.217
[Harry]
So this is bare bones.

1371
00:55:04.259 --> 00:55:05.844
Rhythm section
and some guitar riffs.

1372
00:55:05.885 --> 00:55:10.140



1373
00:55:10.181 --> 00:55:12.058
Master of the hand claps.

1374
00:55:13.810 --> 00:55:15.687
Give it to me, baby

1375
00:55:16.313 --> 00:55:18.023
[Harry]   It's great to be able
to break it apart

1376
00:55:18.064 --> 00:55:19.774
and enjoy the pieces.

1377
00:55:19.816 --> 00:55:20.984
You know, we love it
when it's all together.

1378
00:55:21.026 --> 00:55:22.193
Like, we were just grooving

1379
00:55:22.235 --> 00:55:23.695
when you get the bass
and drums together.

1380
00:55:23.737 --> 00:55:24.612
Ho!

1381
00:55:24.654 --> 00:55:27.824



1382
00:55:27.866 --> 00:55:29.868
[Rick]   All right, I hear
your fingers wearing out.

1383
00:55:29.909 --> 00:55:31.161
I hear 'em wearing out.

1384
00:55:31.202 --> 00:55:32.454
I hear the motherfuckers
wearing out.

1385
00:55:32.495 --> 00:55:34.205
[laughs]

1386
00:55:34.247 --> 00:55:38.168
"Super Freak"

1387
00:55:38.209 --> 00:55:39.502
I hate "Super Freak."

1388
00:55:39.544 --> 00:55:43.381
[playing "Super Freak"
bassline]

1389
00:55:43.423 --> 00:55:44.299
[Kerry]
Well, it's really funny.

1390
00:55:44.341 --> 00:55:45.383
That was the last song

1391
00:55:45.425 --> 00:55:47.052
that he recorded on the album,

1392
00:55:47.093 --> 00:55:50.430
and he didn't have anything
that he felt was pop,

1393
00:55:50.472 --> 00:55:52.223
and he just started
humming this thing.

1394
00:55:52.265 --> 00:55:54.267
[hums "Super Freak" bassline]

1395
00:55:54.309 --> 00:55:56.227
[Lanise]   Every time
it would come on

1396
00:55:56.269 --> 00:55:57.937
in an arena that we was at,

1397
00:55:57.979 --> 00:56:00.398
the people acted a fool.

1398
00:56:00.440 --> 00:56:02.692
They went crazy over it.

1399
00:56:02.734 --> 00:56:05.362
'Cause we was playing
that song early in the night.

1400
00:56:05.403 --> 00:56:08.073
It was so big,
we had to make that

1401
00:56:08.114 --> 00:56:09.282
the last tune of the night.

1402
00:56:09.324 --> 00:56:12.494
She's a very kinky girl

1403
00:56:12.535 --> 00:56:16.373
The kind you don't
take home to mother

1404
00:56:16.414 --> 00:56:19.709
And she will never
let your spirit down

1405
00:56:19.751 --> 00:56:22.921
Once you get her
off the street

1406
00:56:22.962 --> 00:56:26.007
She likes the boys
in the band

1407
00:56:26.049 --> 00:56:28.259
[Rick]   "Super Freak"
was just--it was a parody.

1408
00:56:28.301 --> 00:56:29.594
It was just a fucking joke.

1409
00:56:29.636 --> 00:56:31.679
You know, girls trying
to seduce you.

1410
00:56:31.721 --> 00:56:33.390
You know, I was with girls
who thought--

1411
00:56:33.431 --> 00:56:35.266
whatever--
candle lights and incense

1412
00:56:35.308 --> 00:56:39.020
and ménage à trois
and 714 quaaludes.

1413
00:56:39.062 --> 00:56:40.397
It was right on time.

1414
00:56:40.438 --> 00:56:43.358
I mean, "Super Freak"
was everywhere, you know?

1415
00:56:43.400 --> 00:56:45.068
Rick just called it out.

1416
00:56:45.110 --> 00:56:46.528
That girl is pretty kinky

1417
00:56:46.569 --> 00:56:48.279
The girl's a super freak

1418
00:56:48.321 --> 00:56:49.614
[Bootsy]
And I think it was good

1419
00:56:49.656 --> 00:56:52.283
because they felt good
about coming out.

1420
00:56:52.325 --> 00:56:53.618
Rick knew what he was doing.

1421
00:56:53.660 --> 00:56:56.538
I hate the fact
that it became so popular.

1422
00:56:56.579 --> 00:56:59.499
There were a lot of people
who had no idea

1423
00:56:59.541 --> 00:57:02.335
what Rick was about,
who heard that song,

1424
00:57:02.377 --> 00:57:04.462
and embraced it

1425
00:57:04.504 --> 00:57:08.425
separate from the rest
of his body of work.

1426
00:57:08.466 --> 00:57:10.510
I went to college
in the early '80s,

1427
00:57:10.552 --> 00:57:12.095
and "Super Freak"
was the kind of song

1428
00:57:12.137 --> 00:57:13.555
you'd hear
at a white frat party.

1429
00:57:13.596 --> 00:57:15.390
[host]
Straight from Rick James

1430
00:57:15.432 --> 00:57:17.434
and   Dance Party USA's
Halloween Special!

1431
00:57:17.475 --> 00:57:19.561
Awoo!

1432
00:57:19.602 --> 00:57:21.438
[Dr. Boyd]   And all the rest
of the music they gonna play

1433
00:57:21.479 --> 00:57:22.564
is gonna be rock and roll.

1434
00:57:22.605 --> 00:57:24.524
They're gonna play
one Black song,

1435
00:57:24.566 --> 00:57:25.775
it's gonna be "Super Freak,"

1436
00:57:25.817 --> 00:57:27.277
and they're gonna
freak out over it.

1437
00:57:27.318 --> 00:57:28.319
[producer] So it sounds like
you've been

1438
00:57:28.361 --> 00:57:29.904
to a few white frat parties.

1439
00:57:29.946 --> 00:57:32.490
You know, I made the rounds,
you know what I'm saying?

1440
00:57:32.532 --> 00:57:36.161
That record spoke
to a different mentality.

1441
00:57:36.202 --> 00:57:38.455
It spoke to the
New Wave generation.

1442
00:57:38.496 --> 00:57:40.623
It spoke to a different tempo.

1443
00:57:40.665 --> 00:57:43.001
You got the Oberheim synth
playing this little riff

1444
00:57:43.042 --> 00:57:44.669
where he's like,

1445
00:57:44.711 --> 00:57:47.005
"This is where I'm gonna
get white folks on board."

1446
00:57:47.046 --> 00:57:50.592
[bass line, synth notes
from New Wave song]

1447
00:57:50.633 --> 00:57:53.636
Devo's "Whip It"

1448
00:57:53.678 --> 00:57:56.306
So, it's this little thing
in the mix

1449
00:57:56.347 --> 00:58:00.477
that became the catalyst,
that made it cross over,

1450
00:58:00.518 --> 00:58:02.770
that just kinda caught
white folks' ears, you know.

1451
00:58:02.812 --> 00:58:04.147
[producer]
The dog whistle for whites.

1452
00:58:04.189 --> 00:58:05.648
-[laughter]
-Oh, shit.

1453
00:58:05.690 --> 00:58:08.693
She likes the boys
in the band

1454
00:58:08.735 --> 00:58:12.447
She says that
I'm her all-time favorite

1455
00:58:12.489 --> 00:58:14.324
When I make my move
to her room

1456
00:58:14.365 --> 00:58:16.451
It's the right time

1457
00:58:16.493 --> 00:58:18.369
She's never hard
to please...

1458
00:58:18.411 --> 00:58:21.414
[Nancy]
I directed all Rick's videos.

1459
00:58:21.456 --> 00:58:25.960
He was the first visual artist
for Motown.

1460
00:58:26.002 --> 00:58:27.295
New wave magazine

1461
00:58:27.337 --> 00:58:28.838
That girl is pretty kinky

1462
00:58:28.880 --> 00:58:30.548
That girl's
a super freak...

1463
00:58:30.590 --> 00:58:32.884
[Mark]
It was June 1981.

1464
00:58:32.926 --> 00:58:34.636
It was, like, right after
"Super Freak" came out.

1465
00:58:34.677 --> 00:58:37.347
Us Magazine   sent me
to Buffalo, New York,

1466
00:58:37.388 --> 00:58:40.808
to his house, and I did photos
in all the different rooms.

1467
00:58:40.850 --> 00:58:43.686
Rick was really proud
of his things.

1468
00:58:43.728 --> 00:58:45.813
You know,
he had these two tusks

1469
00:58:45.855 --> 00:58:48.733
that were going into his pool.

1470
00:58:48.775 --> 00:58:51.194
I mean, it was a little
off the top, you know,

1471
00:58:51.236 --> 00:58:53.988
but I think everything
that he ever wanted,

1472
00:58:54.030 --> 00:58:56.199
he wanted to put in his home
in Buffalo.

1473
00:58:56.241 --> 00:58:57.617
He was living
the rock star life.

1474
00:58:57.659 --> 00:59:00.119
[Rick]   Do I love sex?
Yes. Abundantly.

1475
00:59:00.161 --> 00:59:02.497
Do I love women? Yes. Totally.

1476
00:59:02.539 --> 00:59:04.624
Do I love the fact
that I have lots of money

1477
00:59:04.666 --> 00:59:06.292
and I'm rich and famous and--

1478
00:59:06.334 --> 00:59:07.710
yes. That's real great.

1479
00:59:07.752 --> 00:59:09.921
[Mark]   I started shooting Rick
at concerts.

1480
00:59:09.963 --> 00:59:12.590
He was the Black Elvis.
Just larger than life.

1481
00:59:12.632 --> 00:59:15.051
James Brown on steroids.
This just says it all.

1482
00:59:15.093 --> 00:59:17.679
His boys around him, and he's
getting ready to go on stage.

1483
00:59:17.720 --> 00:59:19.389
It's a cross between
David Lee Roth,

1484
00:59:19.430 --> 00:59:21.975
Bret Michaels, and Vince Neil,

1485
00:59:22.016 --> 00:59:24.769
before they were even around.
[chuckles]

1486
00:59:24.811 --> 00:59:27.480
He was on top of the world.
He really was.

1487
00:59:27.522 --> 00:59:28.773
Girl's a super freak

1488
00:59:28.815 --> 00:59:31.276
[Nancy]
He wanted the fame.

1489
00:59:31.317 --> 00:59:33.778
He knew how to get it,

1490
00:59:33.820 --> 00:59:36.281
but he didn't know
how to turn it off.

1491
00:59:36.322 --> 00:59:39.117
That girl's all right

1492
00:59:39.158 --> 00:59:42.704
With me

1493
00:59:42.745 --> 00:59:44.414
[plays single note]
Yeah

1494
00:59:44.455 --> 00:59:47.917
[Nancy]   He was getting high,
you know, and goofing up.

1495
00:59:47.959 --> 00:59:49.586
He talked about,
"I could have gone

1496
00:59:49.627 --> 00:59:51.713
with another video company,

1497
00:59:51.754 --> 00:59:56.301
or, you know--where they supply
a whole cocaine budget.

1498
00:59:56.342 --> 00:59:58.469
They put into the budget
the cocaine.

1499
00:59:58.511 --> 01:00:00.346
How come you don't do that?"

1500
01:00:02.181 --> 01:00:04.642
[Jason]   There was a kind of
visceral danger about him.

1501
01:00:04.684 --> 01:00:06.728
You see this in the lyrics,
right,

1502
01:00:06.769 --> 01:00:08.646
where he's talking
about perversity and kink

1503
01:00:08.688 --> 01:00:11.232
and the kind of seedier
sides of the erotic.

1504
01:00:11.274 --> 01:00:14.277
You see this in his own
kind of self-presentation,

1505
01:00:14.319 --> 01:00:17.030
the way he dresses and the way
he interacts with the camera.

1506
01:00:17.071 --> 01:00:18.781
He sometimes seemed
really coked up

1507
01:00:18.823 --> 01:00:20.658
in front of the camera.

1508
01:00:20.700 --> 01:00:22.118
This wasn't
just a performance.

1509
01:00:22.160 --> 01:00:25.330
This was actually
who he was in some ways.

1510
01:00:25.788 --> 01:00:28.499
[Gail]   If Rick James
came along now

1511
01:00:28.541 --> 01:00:30.335
and was doing
what he was doing,

1512
01:00:30.376 --> 01:00:34.130
it would not pass the test
in terms of misogyny,

1513
01:00:34.172 --> 01:00:35.340
women as sex objects.

1514
01:00:35.381 --> 01:00:36.716
He would probably stand out

1515
01:00:36.758 --> 01:00:39.510
like a sore thumb
and be ostracized.

1516
01:00:43.181 --> 01:00:45.475
The nominees for
favorite soul album are:

1517
01:00:45.516 --> 01:00:47.477
Gap Band III,   The Gap Band...

1518
01:00:47.518 --> 01:00:49.729
[cheers and applause]

1519
01:00:49.771 --> 01:00:51.773
...Hotter than July,
Stevie Wonder...

1520
01:00:51.814 --> 01:00:54.400
[cheers and applause]

1521
01:00:54.442 --> 01:00:56.527
...Street Songs,
Rick James...

1522
01:00:56.569 --> 01:00:58.821
[cheers and applause]

1523
01:00:58.863 --> 01:01:02.158
...and The Dude,
Quincy Jones.

1524
01:01:02.200 --> 01:01:03.951
[cheers and applause]

1525
01:01:03.993 --> 01:01:05.286
And the winner?

1526
01:01:05.328 --> 01:01:08.331
And the winner is...
[giggles]

1527
01:01:08.373 --> 01:01:10.041
...Street Songs,
Rick James.

1528
01:01:10.083 --> 01:01:12.960
[upbeat music plays]

1529
01:01:13.002 --> 01:01:14.712
[Stan] Street Songs
really just facilitated

1530
01:01:14.754 --> 01:01:16.714
this extraordinary explosion

1531
01:01:16.756 --> 01:01:19.217
of what he could do
in all its forms.

1532
01:01:19.258 --> 01:01:21.886
He's winning awards.
He's appearing at the Grammys.

1533
01:01:21.928 --> 01:01:24.555
He's expanding his empire.

1534
01:01:24.597 --> 01:01:27.100
Mom, I love you,
and I told you

1535
01:01:27.141 --> 01:01:29.352
that there's such a thing
called rock and roll.

1536
01:01:29.394 --> 01:01:31.396
Well, now there's a thing
called funk and roll.

1537
01:01:31.437 --> 01:01:32.730
Thank you, people.

1538
01:01:32.772 --> 01:01:35.900
Rick James was not just
a great songwriter

1539
01:01:35.942 --> 01:01:37.402
and producer
for his own music,

1540
01:01:37.443 --> 01:01:38.945
but also for other artists.

1541
01:01:38.986 --> 01:01:41.906
[Steven]   Once Rick
showed Motown

1542
01:01:41.948 --> 01:01:44.534
that he could deliver hits,

1543
01:01:44.575 --> 01:01:46.077
they were interested in him

1544
01:01:46.119 --> 01:01:48.413
producing
"Mary Had a Little Lamb."

1545
01:01:48.454 --> 01:01:50.081
They didn't care. Anybody.

1546
01:01:50.123 --> 01:01:51.457
And they had a girl

1547
01:01:51.499 --> 01:01:54.627
who had been a staff writer
there for the longest.

1548
01:01:54.669 --> 01:01:57.797
[indistinct chatter]

1549
01:01:58.798 --> 01:02:00.091
[laughs]

1550
01:02:00.133 --> 01:02:01.259
[Steven]   Teena Marie.

1551
01:02:01.300 --> 01:02:02.760
They didn't know what to do
with her.

1552
01:02:02.802 --> 01:02:04.595
They had made tracks on her.

1553
01:02:04.637 --> 01:02:07.265
They had done all kinds
of styles with her.

1554
01:02:07.306 --> 01:02:08.766
Which song now?

1555
01:02:08.808 --> 01:02:10.268
Anybody ever wrote for me.

1556
01:02:10.309 --> 01:02:13.271
I always wrote songs
for everybody else.

1557
01:02:13.312 --> 01:02:15.106
Nobody ever wrote me one.

1558
01:02:15.148 --> 01:02:18.109
[Jason]   One of Rick James'
greatest contributions

1559
01:02:18.151 --> 01:02:20.027
as a songwriter
and producer and arranger

1560
01:02:20.069 --> 01:02:21.779
was working with Teena Marie.

1561
01:02:21.821 --> 01:02:24.866
He produced her debut album
"Wild and Peaceful."

1562
01:02:24.907 --> 01:02:26.451
[Carmen]   I was in California.

1563
01:02:26.492 --> 01:02:28.327
And we're riding down
to Motown,

1564
01:02:28.369 --> 01:02:30.830
and he puts this tape in.
He said, "Listen to this."

1565
01:02:30.872 --> 01:02:32.665
So, I'm listening to it,

1566
01:02:32.707 --> 01:02:35.001
and I think it was--that it's
a Black girl,

1567
01:02:35.042 --> 01:02:37.587
automatically,
because it had that sound.

1568
01:02:37.628 --> 01:02:40.631
[Teena Marie]
Young and I'm old

1569
01:02:40.673 --> 01:02:44.260
I'm rich and I'm poor

1570
01:02:44.302 --> 01:02:47.305
It feel like I've been on
this earth

1571
01:02:47.346 --> 01:02:50.016
Many times before

1572
01:02:50.057 --> 01:02:51.642
[Carmen]   So we get to Motown.

1573
01:02:51.684 --> 01:02:53.352
These two girls
are walking towards us,

1574
01:02:53.394 --> 01:02:54.520
Black and a white one,

1575
01:02:54.562 --> 01:02:55.980
and he said,
"Here's Teena now.

1576
01:02:56.022 --> 01:02:58.441
You can meet her,"
and as we get closer,

1577
01:02:58.483 --> 01:02:59.901
I say to the Black girl,

1578
01:02:59.942 --> 01:03:02.779
"Hey, I heard your music.
You're bad."

1579
01:03:02.820 --> 01:03:05.281
And Rick says, "No, not her.
Her."

1580
01:03:05.323 --> 01:03:06.824
And I look at
the little white girl,

1581
01:03:06.866 --> 01:03:08.659
and I'm just like, "Her?"

1582
01:03:08.701 --> 01:03:11.078
[interviewer] How did that
happen when you first met Rick?

1583
01:03:11.120 --> 01:03:12.830
He was walking
down the hallway.

1584
01:03:12.872 --> 01:03:14.499
-[interviewer] 17th floor?
-Yeah.

1585
01:03:14.540 --> 01:03:15.958
[interviewer]
That sounds strange.

1586
01:03:16.000 --> 01:03:17.168
Just walking down the hall
in the record company.

1587
01:03:17.210 --> 01:03:18.419
Walking down the hallway.

1588
01:03:18.461 --> 01:03:19.504
[interviewer] You hadn't
known him before this?

1589
01:03:19.545 --> 01:03:21.339
No, I never knew him
before that.

1590
01:03:21.380 --> 01:03:23.090
[indistinct]

1591
01:03:23.132 --> 01:03:25.593
[Rick]   I starting working
with Teena by sheer accident.

1592
01:03:25.635 --> 01:03:27.512
I was happened to be walking
around the halls of Motown,

1593
01:03:27.553 --> 01:03:28.971
and I happened
to hear this girl

1594
01:03:29.013 --> 01:03:30.431
singing through a room,
and I happened to go in,

1595
01:03:30.473 --> 01:03:32.266
and here's this little
white girl playing piano.

1596
01:03:32.308 --> 01:03:34.936
And I stopped and I listened.
And I thought she was great.

1597
01:03:34.977 --> 01:03:36.354
So I had this song
"Sucker for Love,"

1598
01:03:36.395 --> 01:03:37.230
and I put it on Teena.

1599
01:03:37.271 --> 01:03:38.523
Baby, you too

1600
01:03:38.564 --> 01:03:41.150
Are a mellow fellow

1601
01:03:41.192 --> 01:03:44.737
And you're as rare
as vintage wine

1602
01:03:44.779 --> 01:03:46.030
[Steven]   I remember
the first time

1603
01:03:46.072 --> 01:03:47.740
they did a session together.

1604
01:03:47.782 --> 01:03:50.034
They were at
Marvin Gaye's studio.

1605
01:03:50.076 --> 01:03:52.829
Everybody and they mama
was in this place,

1606
01:03:52.870 --> 01:03:54.539
all sitting
in the control room,

1607
01:03:54.580 --> 01:03:55.748
just watching this.

1608
01:03:55.790 --> 01:03:57.291
Rick was behind the board.

1609
01:03:57.333 --> 01:03:59.043
And he knew exactly
what he wanted.

1610
01:03:59.085 --> 01:04:01.254
And he gave her a huge record.

1611
01:04:01.295 --> 01:04:04.173
[David]   He knew she was
an R&B vocalist.

1612
01:04:04.215 --> 01:04:05.800
He obviously knew
she was white.

1613
01:04:05.842 --> 01:04:07.468
And he didn't really care.

1614
01:04:07.510 --> 01:04:10.888
He was open-minded.
He saw she could really blow.

1615
01:04:10.930 --> 01:04:12.974
He allowed her to grow.

1616
01:04:13.015 --> 01:04:15.810
He tutored her.
He mentored her.

1617
01:04:15.852 --> 01:04:18.354
And she became a star
in her own right.

1618
01:04:18.396 --> 01:04:20.231
smooth funky music

1619
01:04:20.273 --> 01:04:24.735
She developed primarily
a Black fan base,

1620
01:04:24.777 --> 01:04:27.697
because she was
authentically Black.

1621
01:04:27.738 --> 01:04:29.073
She just had the soul.

1622
01:04:29.115 --> 01:04:31.033
I used to tell her
all the time,

1623
01:04:31.075 --> 01:04:34.412
"Your skin is light,
but you're a Black woman."

1624
01:04:34.453 --> 01:04:36.205
[Levi]   She was a sister.
She wasn't faking shit.

1625
01:04:36.247 --> 01:04:37.874
And that's the first thing,
you know, one would think.

1626
01:04:37.915 --> 01:04:40.042
"Man, bitch can't be
all that shit, man.

1627
01:04:40.084 --> 01:04:42.253
You faking this bull."
No, no, she's straight sister.

1628
01:04:42.295 --> 01:04:44.881
[Steven]   Their relationship
was initially

1629
01:04:44.922 --> 01:04:47.258
one of big brother
and little sister.

1630
01:04:47.300 --> 01:04:50.970
But it turned into a boy-girl
relationship sort of a thing.

1631
01:04:51.012 --> 01:04:52.388
[Levi]   She said, "Me and Rick
getting married."

1632
01:04:52.430 --> 01:04:54.307
I said, "When?
When the fuck you hear this?"

1633
01:04:54.348 --> 01:04:55.641
"Levi, I'm in love,

1634
01:04:55.683 --> 01:04:56.809
and he's in love.
We getting married."

1635
01:04:56.851 --> 01:04:59.604
I said,
"Teena, he ain't marrying you."

1636
01:04:59.645 --> 01:05:01.147
And it never happened.

1637
01:05:01.188 --> 01:05:03.316
That was just Rick high
somewhere talking that shit.

1638
01:05:03.357 --> 01:05:06.277
[Teena vocalizing]

1639
01:05:14.285 --> 01:05:17.121
[cheers and applause]

1640
01:05:17.163 --> 01:05:19.457
Abuse them

1641
01:05:19.498 --> 01:05:23.085
[band plays soul music]

1642
01:05:23.127 --> 01:05:28.049
Oh, that's what
I used to do

1643
01:05:28.090 --> 01:05:32.470
Use and abuse them

1644
01:05:32.511 --> 01:05:35.556
Oh

1645
01:05:35.598 --> 01:05:37.934
Then I laid eyes on you

1646
01:05:37.975 --> 01:05:39.977
[Ice Cube]   "Fire and Desire"
is one of the most

1647
01:05:40.019 --> 01:05:42.063
perfectly produced songs
ever made.

1648
01:05:42.104 --> 01:05:43.981
Pain for pleasure

1649
01:05:44.023 --> 01:05:45.608
[Ice Cube]
It walks you through

1650
01:05:45.650 --> 01:05:47.985
a relationship that once was

1651
01:05:48.027 --> 01:05:50.488
but can't be no more.

1652
01:05:50.529 --> 01:05:54.033
It was burning too hot.
Too much passion.

1653
01:05:54.075 --> 01:05:57.495
When you don't think Rick
can hang with Teena Marie,

1654
01:05:57.536 --> 01:05:59.080
he does.

1655
01:05:59.121 --> 01:06:01.207
You were cold as ice

1656
01:06:01.248 --> 01:06:04.126
[Teena]    Whoo

1657
01:06:04.168 --> 01:06:08.714
Don't you know,
sugar, sugar

1658
01:06:08.756 --> 01:06:13.094
[Steven]   It was just some
sho'nuff soul.

1659
01:06:13.135 --> 01:06:16.472
It became a big signature
record for he and Teena.

1660
01:06:16.514 --> 01:06:21.268
[Nile]   When I first heard him
doing the duet with Teena,

1661
01:06:21.310 --> 01:06:24.021
I mean,
it was, like, off the chart.

1662
01:06:24.063 --> 01:06:26.148
He brought out
something special

1663
01:06:26.190 --> 01:06:28.275
in the people
that were around him.

1664
01:06:28.317 --> 01:06:32.989
He had a certain magic
in his style of production

1665
01:06:33.030 --> 01:06:34.824
that, you know,
all the great producers have--

1666
01:06:34.865 --> 01:06:36.784
the Gamble and Huffs

1667
01:06:36.826 --> 01:06:38.619
and the Princes
and the Quincys.

1668
01:06:38.661 --> 01:06:43.541
All night long

1669
01:06:43.582 --> 01:06:47.211
Long

1670
01:06:47.253 --> 01:06:50.464
Oh, something's got me
so excited

1671
01:06:50.506 --> 01:06:52.550
Baby

1672
01:06:52.591 --> 01:06:57.430
A feeling I've been
holding back so long

1673
01:06:57.471 --> 01:06:59.181
[Rick]   Ever since I had
established myself,

1674
01:06:59.223 --> 01:07:00.850
I had a concept
for some girl singers.

1675
01:07:00.891 --> 01:07:02.476
'Cause I knew
I can write for girls.

1676
01:07:02.518 --> 01:07:05.604
You know, it's easy for me
to write for them, you know.

1677
01:07:05.646 --> 01:07:08.149
I've been such an asshole
to them that, you know,

1678
01:07:08.190 --> 01:07:10.526
I can kind of reverse and know
how they feel, you know?

1679
01:07:10.568 --> 01:07:12.987
[JoJo]   He said, "I'm gonna
start a female group."

1680
01:07:13.029 --> 01:07:14.572
He said, "I want you
to learn these songs,

1681
01:07:14.613 --> 01:07:16.282
'cause these are gonna be
some of the songs

1682
01:07:16.323 --> 01:07:17.742
that I'm gonna use
for the group."

1683
01:07:17.783 --> 01:07:18.909
I really didn't know
what direction

1684
01:07:18.951 --> 01:07:20.244
he wanted to go in
until he said,

1685
01:07:20.286 --> 01:07:22.079
"What kind of music
do you like?

1686
01:07:22.121 --> 01:07:24.749
What would you like
this particular project to be?"

1687
01:07:24.790 --> 01:07:28.127
I said, "Something that they're
gonna play 30 years later."

1688
01:07:28.627 --> 01:07:30.921
Boy, you can just
best believe

1689
01:07:30.963 --> 01:07:33.924
I'm the only girl
in your life

1690
01:07:33.966 --> 01:07:36.927
[upbeat soul music playing]

1691
01:07:36.969 --> 01:07:39.180
I'll be your sugar
in the morning

1692
01:07:39.221 --> 01:07:42.349
And the sweet stuff
you need at night

1693
01:07:42.391 --> 01:07:44.185
[Stan]
Rick takes the Mary Jane Girls

1694
01:07:44.226 --> 01:07:47.438
and really pours his
female side into this group.

1695
01:07:47.480 --> 01:07:49.023
We've got this demo
of "In My House"

1696
01:07:49.065 --> 01:07:50.566
with Rick singing
the dummy lyrics.

1697
01:07:50.608 --> 01:07:53.069
[Rick]    But you can just hide
your key

1698
01:07:53.110 --> 01:07:56.238
[continues singing
indistinctly]

1699
01:07:56.280 --> 01:07:58.074
[Stan]   Could have easily been
a Rick James song.

1700
01:07:58.115 --> 01:07:59.617
But he found a way to make it,

1701
01:07:59.658 --> 01:08:01.869
"No,
I think it's got the girls."

1702
01:08:01.911 --> 01:08:04.497
Maybe there's a falsetto
in his head that he's hearing.

1703
01:08:04.538 --> 01:08:08.084
When you need
a little peace of mind

1704
01:08:08.125 --> 01:08:12.004
Come on over, boy, anytime

1705
01:08:12.046 --> 01:08:16.050
I'll keep you happy
and so satisfied

1706
01:08:16.092 --> 01:08:18.052
In my house

1707
01:08:18.094 --> 01:08:20.096
In my house

1708
01:08:20.137 --> 01:08:23.599
[Stan]   Rick is taking his vibe
and orchestrating this sound.

1709
01:08:23.641 --> 01:08:26.352
[singing indistinctly]

1710
01:08:26.393 --> 01:08:28.354
Come home to every night

1711
01:08:28.395 --> 01:08:31.357
The girl that makes
all your dreams

1712
01:08:31.398 --> 01:08:33.859
And fantasies come true

1713
01:08:33.901 --> 01:08:35.486
[David]   Rick saw himself

1714
01:08:35.528 --> 01:08:38.155
as a businessman
as well as an artist.

1715
01:08:38.197 --> 01:08:40.658
And he wanted to develop
different acts

1716
01:08:40.699 --> 01:08:43.160
and own different acts.
He was entrepreneurial.

1717
01:08:44.203 --> 01:08:46.122
[Jason]   The role of a producer

1718
01:08:46.163 --> 01:08:48.165
is to be able to go
into a recording studio,

1719
01:08:48.207 --> 01:08:50.626
bring musicians together,
record them,

1720
01:08:50.668 --> 01:08:54.088
generate an amazing energy
in that performance,

1721
01:08:54.130 --> 01:08:55.589
and then transfer
that on to record.

1722
01:08:55.631 --> 01:08:57.716
Rick James was amazing
at doing that.

1723
01:08:57.758 --> 01:09:00.886
But he was also really savvy
about creating hits.

1724
01:09:00.928 --> 01:09:03.180
When you're on the top

1725
01:09:03.222 --> 01:09:04.723
There's no place
you can really go

1726
01:09:04.765 --> 01:09:08.144
But down, down, down

1727
01:09:08.185 --> 01:09:09.854
[Steven]   Motown said, "Hey,

1728
01:09:09.895 --> 01:09:11.230
who else you wanna
produce here?"

1729
01:09:11.272 --> 01:09:13.232
So he produced
The Temptations,

1730
01:09:13.274 --> 01:09:15.276
"Standing on the Top."
He got them a hit.

1731
01:09:15.317 --> 01:09:17.611
He worked with Smokey Robinson.
Then he branched out.

1732
01:09:17.653 --> 01:09:19.029
[John]   Eddie Murphy
has been in Buffalo

1733
01:09:19.071 --> 01:09:20.281
for almost a week.

1734
01:09:20.322 --> 01:09:21.657
Most of that time
has been spent

1735
01:09:21.699 --> 01:09:23.993
inside Rick James'
recording studio.

1736
01:09:24.034 --> 01:09:27.121
The pair plan to produce
Murphy's first singing single.

1737
01:09:27.163 --> 01:09:30.583
My girl wants to party
all the time

1738
01:09:30.624 --> 01:09:35.588
Party all the time

1739
01:09:39.675 --> 01:09:41.135
Yeah

1740
01:09:41.177 --> 01:09:42.970



1741
01:09:43.012 --> 01:09:45.347
[Ty]   Daddy was showing him
the ropes like a big brother.

1742
01:09:45.389 --> 01:09:48.184
And Eddie was like a kid
at that time

1743
01:09:48.225 --> 01:09:50.477
and really looked up
to my dad.

1744
01:09:50.519 --> 01:09:53.230
They had a lot of love
and respect for each other.

1745
01:09:53.272 --> 01:09:56.901
Mick Jagger--I had a great
big influence on Mick.

1746
01:09:56.942 --> 01:10:00.905
When I first met Mick,
his lip was small.

1747
01:10:00.946 --> 01:10:03.908
And after meeting me,
he came out with this new look.

1748
01:10:03.949 --> 01:10:07.036
[laughter]

1749
01:10:07.077 --> 01:10:08.329
[Levi]   Being in
a rock and roll band

1750
01:10:08.370 --> 01:10:10.164
is not a lot of free time.

1751
01:10:10.206 --> 01:10:12.166
Rock and roll is hard,
going at it hard.

1752
01:10:12.208 --> 01:10:14.335
Especially funk.
You gotta hit it hard.

1753
01:10:14.376 --> 01:10:16.754
Hit it like you're fighting it.
That's what he did.

1754
01:10:16.795 --> 01:10:19.548
soft jazz music

1755
01:10:19.590 --> 01:10:22.593



1756
01:10:22.635 --> 01:10:25.721
[Ty]   I think my dad
being absent from my life

1757
01:10:25.763 --> 01:10:30.267
was just--there was a void.
There was an emptiness.

1758
01:10:30.309 --> 01:10:32.728
To my knowledge,
I met him for the first time

1759
01:10:32.770 --> 01:10:35.606
when I was 13 years old.

1760
01:10:35.648 --> 01:10:37.066
[producer] But there were
years when he gave you

1761
01:10:37.107 --> 01:10:39.109
absolutely no money, right?

1762
01:10:39.151 --> 01:10:41.904
Correct. He didn't even know
where I was.

1763
01:10:41.946 --> 01:10:44.907
[Ty]   When you have a father
that has millions of dollars,

1764
01:10:44.949 --> 01:10:47.660
like, you think
that you should be riding

1765
01:10:47.701 --> 01:10:51.872
in the Benzes and the Rollses,
and you have all the new bags

1766
01:10:51.914 --> 01:10:54.708
and the Girbaud jeans
that everybody is wearing,

1767
01:10:54.750 --> 01:10:56.460
and the Jordache.

1768
01:10:56.502 --> 01:10:59.088
You know,
and that wasn't the case.

1769
01:10:59.129 --> 01:11:00.965
My brother, Little Rickie,

1770
01:11:01.006 --> 01:11:02.383
he's two years younger
than me.

1771
01:11:02.424 --> 01:11:04.468
And so he would go around,
like,

1772
01:11:04.510 --> 01:11:07.304
bragging about who his dad was.

1773
01:11:07.346 --> 01:11:10.391
And, you know, me being
the older sister, I'm like,

1774
01:11:10.432 --> 01:11:13.477
"Stop telling people that.
Don't tell nobody else that."

1775
01:11:13.519 --> 01:11:15.312
So...
[laughs]

1776
01:11:15.354 --> 01:11:17.982
...one little boy he told,
I guess his dad happened

1777
01:11:18.023 --> 01:11:20.109
to work for my father,
as security,

1778
01:11:20.150 --> 01:11:22.945
and his dad wind up
telling my father,

1779
01:11:22.987 --> 01:11:24.655
and my dad was probably like,

1780
01:11:24.697 --> 01:11:27.658
"Well, where are they at?
Because it probably is."

1781
01:11:27.700 --> 01:11:30.536
A private investigator
knocked on our door,

1782
01:11:30.577 --> 01:11:34.331
and within days we were flown
to Buffalo, New York

1783
01:11:34.373 --> 01:11:35.874
to meet our dad
for the first time.

1784
01:11:35.916 --> 01:11:37.668
When we landed,

1785
01:11:37.710 --> 01:11:40.629
he told us that he went up
to some other kids,

1786
01:11:40.671 --> 01:11:42.631
and it wasn't us,
so it was, like,

1787
01:11:42.673 --> 01:11:45.384
this whole big ordeal about,
you know,

1788
01:11:45.426 --> 01:11:47.803
him not really knowing
who his children were.

1789
01:11:47.845 --> 01:11:50.514
I just welcomed him
with open arms,

1790
01:11:50.556 --> 01:11:53.309
and it was--it was
instant love.

1791
01:11:53.350 --> 01:11:56.353
He's living this
rock-and-roll lifestyle.

1792
01:11:56.395 --> 01:11:59.023
I could see him trying
to tone it down a tiny bit.

1793
01:11:59.064 --> 01:12:01.191
He still has to be RJ.

1794
01:12:01.233 --> 01:12:02.818
And Rick would treat
his little boy

1795
01:12:02.860 --> 01:12:05.279
like he was a grown man.
And I got mad at Rick.

1796
01:12:05.321 --> 01:12:07.781
I said, "Rick, man,
you just met him again.

1797
01:12:07.823 --> 01:12:10.617
Why are you hollering at him?"
"Because he's doing dumb shit."

1798
01:12:10.659 --> 01:12:13.203
"Yeah. That's his job,
to do dumb shit.

1799
01:12:13.245 --> 01:12:14.955
Your job is to make sure
he doesn't do it anymore.

1800
01:12:14.997 --> 01:12:17.166
You took them out
of the projects, man,

1801
01:12:17.207 --> 01:12:18.709
to come out
to this huge mansion.

1802
01:12:18.751 --> 01:12:20.711
They're, like, in awe,
and you gonna holler at him

1803
01:12:20.753 --> 01:12:23.339
because he did some stupid shit
a kid would do?

1804
01:12:23.380 --> 01:12:24.840
Come on, man. Let it go."

1805
01:12:24.882 --> 01:12:28.886
[Ty]   At times, when he would
try to be a father,

1806
01:12:28.927 --> 01:12:32.222
it would be more so, like,
"I'm gonna go out.

1807
01:12:32.264 --> 01:12:34.058
I'm gonna hang out.
I'm gonna go party.

1808
01:12:34.099 --> 01:12:36.560
But when I get back, you better
still--stay in your room.

1809
01:12:36.602 --> 01:12:38.562
Like, don't come out
the rest of the night."

1810
01:12:38.604 --> 01:12:41.523
Like, I'm, like, "Oh my God."
Like, I would almost be scared

1811
01:12:41.565 --> 01:12:44.109
to see what was taking place
outside the doors.

1812
01:12:44.151 --> 01:12:46.403
Walking over naked girls

1813
01:12:46.445 --> 01:12:49.073
at 7:00 a.m. in the morning
was normal to me.

1814
01:12:49.114 --> 01:12:50.741
I'm like, "Oh, excuse me."

1815
01:12:50.783 --> 01:12:52.576
[laughs]

1816
01:12:54.787 --> 01:12:56.955
[Jason]   Rick James
fashioned himself

1817
01:12:56.997 --> 01:12:59.291
into a kind of
unique creation.

1818
01:12:59.333 --> 01:13:01.085
So there was no one else
like Rick James

1819
01:13:01.126 --> 01:13:03.504
at all
that existed in the scene.

1820
01:13:03.545 --> 01:13:05.547
However, there was someone
who would eventually

1821
01:13:05.589 --> 01:13:06.840
become quite close
to Rick James,

1822
01:13:06.882 --> 01:13:08.384
in terms of his image,
and that was Prince.

1823
01:13:08.425 --> 01:13:11.428
upbeat music

1824
01:13:11.470 --> 01:13:14.181



1825
01:13:14.223 --> 01:13:15.766
[Rick]   My manager brought
some tapes over and said,

1826
01:13:15.808 --> 01:13:17.226
"Well, there's this kid
who's got this record.

1827
01:13:17.267 --> 01:13:19.269
'I Want to Be Your Lover.'"
And I loved that record.

1828
01:13:19.311 --> 01:13:20.437
And I saw some videos of him.

1829
01:13:20.479 --> 01:13:21.939
And, you know,
he was cool, you know.

1830
01:13:21.980 --> 01:13:23.899
I mean,
I felt he resembled us a lot.

1831
01:13:23.941 --> 01:13:25.692
I ain't got no money

1832
01:13:25.734 --> 01:13:27.778



1833
01:13:27.820 --> 01:13:31.407
I ain't like those
other guys you hang around

1834
01:13:31.448 --> 01:13:34.118
[Jason]   In the late 1970s,
the music industry

1835
01:13:34.159 --> 01:13:36.578
had its hopes pinned
on Prince.

1836
01:13:36.620 --> 01:13:39.123
Prince, who was trying
to find his legs

1837
01:13:39.164 --> 01:13:40.791
as a musician and as an artist,

1838
01:13:40.833 --> 01:13:42.918
ended up on tour
with Rick James.

1839
01:13:42.960 --> 01:13:44.628
He actually opened
for Rick James.

1840
01:13:44.670 --> 01:13:45.838
Oh, my God.

1841
01:13:45.879 --> 01:13:49.967
Rick had a love-hate
relationship with Prince.

1842
01:13:50.008 --> 01:13:53.804
He loved him because he loved
what Prince was about.

1843
01:13:53.846 --> 01:13:55.681
He loved the swagger.
He loved the music.

1844
01:13:55.722 --> 01:13:58.350
He hated him
because Prince gave him heat.

1845
01:13:58.392 --> 01:14:00.811
Rick definitely had
an attitude with Prince.

1846
01:14:00.853 --> 01:14:03.272
They just was competing
with one another.

1847
01:14:03.313 --> 01:14:06.233
[Levi]   Rick got mad when Prince
would watch us on stage

1848
01:14:06.275 --> 01:14:07.443
and do the same goddamn shit.

1849
01:14:07.484 --> 01:14:10.070
Rick would go, "Ooh, ooh."

1850
01:14:10.112 --> 01:14:12.489
And his audience would go crazy
every time he would do that.

1851
01:14:12.531 --> 01:14:16.118
Prince would start doing
the "Ooh, ooh"...

1852
01:14:16.160 --> 01:14:18.078
[laughs]

1853
01:14:18.120 --> 01:14:19.997
...before Rick would come out.

1854
01:14:20.038 --> 01:14:23.167
And Rick was like,
"Man, you can't do that

1855
01:14:23.208 --> 01:14:25.002
'Ooh, ooh' stuff.
That's what I do."

1856
01:14:25.043 --> 01:14:27.004
And Prince was like, "Dude.

1857
01:14:27.045 --> 01:14:31.175
You don't have a monopoly on
'Ooh, ooh.'

1858
01:14:31.216 --> 01:14:33.177
I can do what the fuck
I want to do."

1859
01:14:33.218 --> 01:14:34.344
[Rick]   I got really pissed off.

1860
01:14:34.386 --> 01:14:36.013
And I went
and told his managers.

1861
01:14:36.054 --> 01:14:37.931
I said, "Look, how can I go up
and do what I gotta do

1862
01:14:37.973 --> 01:14:40.434
if this dude's
gonna be taking my shit?"

1863
01:14:40.476 --> 01:14:41.685
It all straightened
itself out.

1864
01:14:41.727 --> 01:14:42.978
But I mean, you know, Prince

1865
01:14:43.020 --> 01:14:44.521
was giving me
hell on the road.

1866
01:14:44.563 --> 01:14:47.691
I remember being on shows
with Rick and Prince,

1867
01:14:47.733 --> 01:14:50.861
and, you know, they would
pull plugs on each other,

1868
01:14:50.903 --> 01:14:53.739
you know,
and get ready to go to blows.

1869
01:14:53.780 --> 01:14:55.491
I used to always say to Rick,
you know,

1870
01:14:55.532 --> 01:14:58.619
"We all are just doing
our own kind of thing.

1871
01:14:58.660 --> 01:15:01.371
Like, you know,
Prince is Prince, you're you.

1872
01:15:01.413 --> 01:15:03.665
We all have our own identity

1873
01:15:03.707 --> 01:15:05.751
when it comes
to the world of funk."

1874
01:15:05.792 --> 01:15:07.711
[Levi]   Prince was,
like, what, 21, 22?

1875
01:15:07.753 --> 01:15:09.671
We can't do what a 21-
or 22-year-old dude

1876
01:15:09.713 --> 01:15:11.298
can do anymore.
We tried.

1877
01:15:11.340 --> 01:15:12.758
But we had a lot of, you know,

1878
01:15:12.799 --> 01:15:15.427
shots and B12 shots
and shit we'd have to take.

1879
01:15:15.469 --> 01:15:18.680
I think, whenever the master
sees an acolyte

1880
01:15:18.722 --> 01:15:20.724
who might
be younger and hotter,

1881
01:15:20.766 --> 01:15:23.310
the master gets
a little nervous.

1882
01:15:23.352 --> 01:15:25.187
[announcer]
MTV. Music Television.

1883
01:15:25.229 --> 01:15:28.649
Video music, 24 hours a day.
And it's stereo.

1884
01:15:28.690 --> 01:15:30.400
[Steven]   Other than Prince,

1885
01:15:30.442 --> 01:15:32.736
Rick's biggest battle
was with MTV.

1886
01:15:32.778 --> 01:15:34.738
[narrator]   The American
recording industry essentially

1887
01:15:34.780 --> 01:15:37.574
divides rock and roll music
into two basic categories:

1888
01:15:37.616 --> 01:15:40.369
white rock
and Black rhythm and blues.

1889
01:15:40.410 --> 01:15:41.703
We are looking
for a certain sound

1890
01:15:41.745 --> 01:15:43.247
and a certain point of view.

1891
01:15:43.288 --> 01:15:44.748
We are not all things
to all people.

1892
01:15:44.790 --> 01:15:47.209
[Jason]   MTV, as an institution,
thought of itself

1893
01:15:47.251 --> 01:15:50.379
as a platform

1894
01:15:50.420 --> 01:15:53.423
that would play music videos
that would primarily appeal

1895
01:15:53.465 --> 01:15:55.634
to its desired demographic,

1896
01:15:55.676 --> 01:15:57.344
which is young white men
who are into rock music.

1897
01:15:57.386 --> 01:15:59.012
And that meant that
Black artists

1898
01:15:59.054 --> 01:16:02.683
had very little opportunity
to present themselves on MTV.

1899
01:16:02.724 --> 01:16:05.978
In fact, they just didn't play
most Black music videos.

1900
01:16:06.019 --> 01:16:08.021
[reporter]   Consumers of both
Black and pop music

1901
01:16:08.063 --> 01:16:10.023
bought 3 million copies
of Rick James' album

1902
01:16:10.065 --> 01:16:13.193
"Super Freak,"
but MTV would not air it.

1903
01:16:13.235 --> 01:16:14.403
MTV doesn't play Rick James.

1904
01:16:14.444 --> 01:16:15.487
They don't play
Michael Jackson.

1905
01:16:15.529 --> 01:16:16.613
They don't play the Commodores.

1906
01:16:16.655 --> 01:16:17.906
They don't play
Earth, Wind & Fire.

1907
01:16:17.948 --> 01:16:19.700
They don't play Stevie Wonder.
Why is that?

1908
01:16:19.741 --> 01:16:21.535
[Steven]
When Rick tried to get on,

1909
01:16:21.577 --> 01:16:23.287
he didn't have that muscle

1910
01:16:23.328 --> 01:16:27.583
that Warner Brothers
or Columbia Records provided.

1911
01:16:27.624 --> 01:16:29.960
And I just remember him
getting on the phone

1912
01:16:30.002 --> 01:16:33.380
and just screaming at me
and saying,

1913
01:16:33.422 --> 01:16:37.884
"Why did you not stand
your ground

1914
01:16:37.926 --> 01:16:41.471
and make them put

1915
01:16:41.513 --> 01:16:43.765
"Super Freak" on there?

1916
01:16:43.807 --> 01:16:47.811
So what Rick chose to do
was to take his war public.

1917
01:16:47.853 --> 01:16:49.813
We're being sat in the back
of the bus, television-style.

1918
01:16:49.855 --> 01:16:51.064
This isn't   The Wizard of Oz.

1919
01:16:51.106 --> 01:16:52.316
I mean,
there are Black people here.

1920
01:16:52.357 --> 01:16:53.900
And we make music.

1921
01:16:53.942 --> 01:16:55.569
And we spent thousands--
a hundred thousand

1922
01:16:55.611 --> 01:16:57.738
dollars on videos.
I mean, don't we exist?

1923
01:16:57.779 --> 01:16:59.865
In the case of Rick James,

1924
01:16:59.906 --> 01:17:03.327
the determination was made
that it was an R&B song

1925
01:17:03.368 --> 01:17:05.537
and was not
a rock and roll song.

1926
01:17:05.579 --> 01:17:06.830
[Rick]   I was very vocal,

1927
01:17:06.872 --> 01:17:08.457
because I'm very vocal
about injustice.

1928
01:17:08.498 --> 01:17:10.417
I've never been one to bite
my tongue, and I never will.

1929
01:17:10.459 --> 01:17:11.460
If I see something funky
that's going on,

1930
01:17:11.501 --> 01:17:12.628
I'm gonna speak on it.

1931
01:17:12.669 --> 01:17:14.004
[reporter]
In the past few months,

1932
01:17:14.046 --> 01:17:15.172
MTV has increased

1933
01:17:15.213 --> 01:17:17.174
the number of Black videos
it programs

1934
01:17:17.215 --> 01:17:20.302
to include
Michael Jackson and Prince.

1935
01:17:20.344 --> 01:17:24.681
Michael, because of this
whole thing that Rick did,

1936
01:17:24.723 --> 01:17:29.645
was able to be the person
that MTV say,

1937
01:17:29.686 --> 01:17:31.605
"No, we do play Black music

1938
01:17:31.647 --> 01:17:33.982
because we start
playing Michael Jackson."

1939
01:17:34.024 --> 01:17:36.693
Being Black, you see this all
the time with white people.

1940
01:17:36.735 --> 01:17:40.947
They'll pick someone
that is still kind of edgy,

1941
01:17:40.989 --> 01:17:42.199
but not too edgy.

1942
01:17:42.240 --> 01:17:43.867
You look at Michael

1943
01:17:43.909 --> 01:17:46.495
standing next to Rick,
at that point in time,

1944
01:17:46.536 --> 01:17:48.705
they're gonna gravitate
to Michael.

1945
01:17:48.747 --> 01:17:50.040
MTV should give
the opportunity,

1946
01:17:50.082 --> 01:17:51.792
whether they're playing
Rick James or not,

1947
01:17:51.833 --> 01:17:53.168
I think they should play--

1948
01:17:53.210 --> 01:17:54.503
there's a lot of great
Black videos out there,

1949
01:17:54.544 --> 01:17:56.046
and I think
they should be seen.

1950
01:17:56.088 --> 01:17:57.839
In one way,
I'm sad I spoke out.

1951
01:17:57.881 --> 01:17:59.257
In another way,
I'm happy that I spoke out.

1952
01:17:59.299 --> 01:18:00.592
Because it didn't help me.

1953
01:18:00.634 --> 01:18:02.219
I mean, it didn't get me
any videos played.

1954
01:18:02.260 --> 01:18:04.805
I had met with one
of the MTV executives,

1955
01:18:04.846 --> 01:18:06.890
and we got drunk together
in New York at a club.

1956
01:18:06.932 --> 01:18:08.058
And he had told me--he said,
"Rick, you know,

1957
01:18:08.100 --> 01:18:09.768
they just got a hard-on
for you, man."

1958
01:18:09.810 --> 01:18:11.687
And that's one of the things
that really hurt me.

1959
01:18:11.728 --> 01:18:13.563
[Nancy]
He's not trusting Motown.

1960
01:18:13.605 --> 01:18:16.149
And I probably perpetuated
that as well.

1961
01:18:16.191 --> 01:18:19.486
"You're not helping us out
at Motown."

1962
01:18:19.528 --> 01:18:21.571
No one liked him after that,
you know?

1963
01:18:21.613 --> 01:18:23.824
It was too much.

1964
01:18:23.865 --> 01:18:26.576
[Kerry]   Rick pretty much knew
that he was responsible

1965
01:18:26.618 --> 01:18:28.704
for his demise at Motown.

1966
01:18:28.745 --> 01:18:31.623
After the "Throwin' Down"
record,

1967
01:18:31.665 --> 01:18:33.250
he had come off of tour.

1968
01:18:33.291 --> 01:18:36.670
On the   Super Freak   tour,
we made 40 million bucks.

1969
01:18:36.712 --> 01:18:40.382
On the   Throwin' Down   tour,
he only made 13 million bucks

1970
01:18:40.424 --> 01:18:43.051
because the record didn't do
as well as   Street Songs.

1971
01:18:43.093 --> 01:18:46.221
When he was delivering
his record to Motown,

1972
01:18:46.263 --> 01:18:47.764
I was with him,

1973
01:18:47.806 --> 01:18:51.893
and we went
into Jay Lasker's office.

1974
01:18:51.935 --> 01:18:54.896
Now, Jay Lasker was
the president of Motown.

1975
01:18:54.938 --> 01:18:57.607
The way that it was is that
he would turn in a tape

1976
01:18:57.649 --> 01:18:59.443
and he would get a check
for a million dollars.

1977
01:18:59.484 --> 01:19:01.570
He says, "Here's your tapes."

1978
01:19:01.611 --> 01:19:03.905
And then Jay
was like--with a cigar--

1979
01:19:03.947 --> 01:19:05.741
"Okay, yeah.

1980
01:19:05.782 --> 01:19:07.951
Well, give him
his million dollars," right?

1981
01:19:07.993 --> 01:19:11.163
So as he gets
his million dollars,

1982
01:19:11.204 --> 01:19:14.082
he grabs the million dollars
and said, "You know what,

1983
01:19:14.124 --> 01:19:15.459
I don't give a fuck
about a million dollars."

1984
01:19:15.500 --> 01:19:17.669
He said,
"Sell my goddamn record!"

1985
01:19:17.711 --> 01:19:19.129
And Jay was like, "Dude."

1986
01:19:19.171 --> 01:19:21.381
He said, "No! You sell
my motherfucking record!

1987
01:19:21.423 --> 01:19:22.799
Because the fact
of the matter is

1988
01:19:22.841 --> 01:19:25.635
I made $40 million on tour
with 'Street Songs,'

1989
01:19:25.677 --> 01:19:27.095
and I only made $13 million.

1990
01:19:27.137 --> 01:19:28.722
I don't give a fuck
about this million dollars!

1991
01:19:28.764 --> 01:19:30.056
Sell my motherfucking record

1992
01:19:30.098 --> 01:19:31.516
so I can make
some motherfucking money!"

1993
01:19:31.558 --> 01:19:34.102
And then Rick
pulls out cocaine,

1994
01:19:34.144 --> 01:19:36.480
puts it on the desk,
chops it up,

1995
01:19:36.521 --> 01:19:39.024
snorts it
in front of Jay Lasker.

1996
01:19:39.065 --> 01:19:40.400
And Jay Lasker's
sitting back there.

1997
01:19:40.442 --> 01:19:41.735
I'm sitting next to Rick.

1998
01:19:41.777 --> 01:19:43.653
And I'm like,
"Oh, shit," right?

1999
01:19:43.695 --> 01:19:45.989
And then Rick snorts it,

2000
01:19:46.031 --> 01:19:48.116
jumps on Jay Lasker's desk,

2001
01:19:48.158 --> 01:19:49.826
puts his dick in front
of Jay Lasker's face,

2002
01:19:49.868 --> 01:19:52.412
and says,
"Sell my goddamn record!"

2003
01:19:52.454 --> 01:19:53.997
He takes the check

2004
01:19:54.039 --> 01:19:55.999
and he walks out
of Jay Lasker's office.

2005
01:19:56.041 --> 01:19:59.169
And then Jay Lasker says to me,

2006
01:19:59.211 --> 01:20:00.504
"Lionel Richie."

2007
01:20:00.545 --> 01:20:01.505
Hello

2008
01:20:01.546 --> 01:20:04.007



2009
01:20:04.049 --> 01:20:07.427
Is it me
you're looking for?

2010
01:20:07.469 --> 01:20:09.179
[Kerry]   And that was it.

2011
01:20:09.221 --> 01:20:10.847
He was done with Rick.

2012
01:20:10.889 --> 01:20:13.975
And his focus went
on Lionel Richie.

2013
01:20:14.017 --> 01:20:15.936
And that's the reason
that Lionel Richie

2014
01:20:15.977 --> 01:20:20.690
got all of this incredible,
amazing push.

2015
01:20:20.732 --> 01:20:23.026
[David]   I think he suffered

2016
01:20:23.068 --> 01:20:26.029
from all the usual ailments

2017
01:20:26.071 --> 01:20:29.241
that assault
show business people.

2018
01:20:29.282 --> 01:20:32.035
Too much adulation
is not healthy.

2019
01:20:32.077 --> 01:20:36.832
Gets you high.
He suffered from entitlement.

2020
01:20:36.873 --> 01:20:38.333
"I've worked so hard.

2021
01:20:38.375 --> 01:20:40.210
I might as well get
whatever I want--

2022
01:20:40.252 --> 01:20:42.254
whatever woman,
whatever drug."

2023
01:20:42.295 --> 01:20:45.215
Show business, if you're not
emotionally well-grounded,

2024
01:20:45.257 --> 01:20:46.925
will chew you up
and spit you out.

2025
01:20:46.967 --> 01:20:49.344
You could almost think

2026
01:20:49.386 --> 01:20:52.889
that Rick had
multiple personalities

2027
01:20:52.931 --> 01:20:55.809
because you could talk
to any number of people

2028
01:20:55.851 --> 01:20:57.227
they would say,
"Oh, he's very generous."

2029
01:20:57.269 --> 01:21:01.022
But now, if there was
another situation,

2030
01:21:01.064 --> 01:21:04.401
"Rick, how about putting
our names--not my name,

2031
01:21:04.442 --> 01:21:06.653
our names--on this record?"

2032
01:21:06.695 --> 01:21:09.239
He wouldn't say no.

2033
01:21:09.281 --> 01:21:10.907
But it never happened.

2034
01:21:10.949 --> 01:21:12.200
We didn't get shit from Rick.

2035
01:21:12.242 --> 01:21:14.369
The idea was,
"I'm gonna get you guys."

2036
01:21:14.411 --> 01:21:16.746
You know, very charismatically
saying,

2037
01:21:16.788 --> 01:21:18.540
"I'm gonna pay you guys off,
man.

2038
01:21:18.582 --> 01:21:20.375
You've been beautiful.
You've been wonderful,"

2039
01:21:20.417 --> 01:21:22.836
and all this shit.
Man, where's the money?

2040
01:21:22.878 --> 01:21:24.963
Fuck the fame.
I want the fortune, bro.

2041
01:21:25.005 --> 01:21:27.090
The guys in other bands
that I knew

2042
01:21:27.132 --> 01:21:29.217
were buying houses
in Miami and shit,

2043
01:21:29.259 --> 01:21:30.594
and in Panama.

2044
01:21:30.635 --> 01:21:32.137
These motherfuckers with us,
man--

2045
01:21:32.178 --> 01:21:33.889
just enough
rent fucking money.

2046
01:21:33.930 --> 01:21:36.725
mellow music

2047
01:21:36.766 --> 01:21:37.976
[Jason]   I think
it had become clear

2048
01:21:38.018 --> 01:21:39.644
that Rick James' behavior

2049
01:21:39.686 --> 01:21:41.229
was erratic, was excessive.

2050
01:21:41.271 --> 01:21:44.399
Drugs were a source
of the reason why

2051
01:21:44.441 --> 01:21:46.651
his career stalled
in the 1980s.

2052
01:21:46.693 --> 01:21:47.986
Drugs incapacitated him.

2053
01:21:48.028 --> 01:21:49.446
[Levi]   I did
a whole bunch of shit,

2054
01:21:49.487 --> 01:21:51.573
but I had one thing
that Rick didn't have.

2055
01:21:51.615 --> 01:21:53.283
I knew it came to a time,

2056
01:21:53.325 --> 01:21:54.951
"I can't be doing
this shit no more."

2057
01:21:54.993 --> 01:21:56.620
The worst thing God ever did

2058
01:21:56.661 --> 01:21:58.705
was put cocaine in a form
where you could smoke it.

2059
01:21:58.747 --> 01:21:59.956
You don't quit.

2060
01:21:59.998 --> 01:22:01.124
When they was
smoking that shit,

2061
01:22:01.166 --> 01:22:02.792
they did it all day
and all night.

2062
01:22:02.834 --> 01:22:04.878
[JoJo]   I started to see him
as a person

2063
01:22:04.920 --> 01:22:07.380
who had an addiction.

2064
01:22:07.422 --> 01:22:10.800
When someone has an addiction,
they're not rationale.

2065
01:22:10.842 --> 01:22:13.053
They're not thinking
rationally.

2066
01:22:13.094 --> 01:22:14.721
[Oscar]   Rick was the only one

2067
01:22:14.763 --> 01:22:17.432
that really allowed that drug

2068
01:22:17.474 --> 01:22:20.226
to take over and change
who you really are.

2069
01:22:20.268 --> 01:22:23.104
And over time, as, primarily,

2070
01:22:23.146 --> 01:22:26.483
band members saw that,
they began to peel off.

2071
01:22:26.524 --> 01:22:29.069
It kind of fell apart
gradually, you know.

2072
01:22:29.110 --> 01:22:31.321
Things started
to kind of unravel.

2073
01:22:31.363 --> 01:22:32.989
I was the first person
to leave.

2074
01:22:33.031 --> 01:22:35.283
It just wasn't feeling
right for me.

2075
01:22:35.325 --> 01:22:36.952
I left before all that--
the shit

2076
01:22:36.993 --> 01:22:38.286
started getting
really out of pocket,

2077
01:22:38.328 --> 01:22:41.456
'cause it got to a point
where Rick was Rick now.

2078
01:22:41.498 --> 01:22:43.792
There's no more
James Johnson, Jr.

2079
01:22:43.833 --> 01:22:45.794
That dude gone.

2080
01:22:45.835 --> 01:22:48.380
Got to the point to where

2081
01:22:48.421 --> 01:22:51.675
Rick's primary circle

2082
01:22:51.716 --> 01:22:54.135
wasn't the band anymore.

2083
01:22:54.177 --> 01:22:57.013
Everybody want to be around.
They know you get high.

2084
01:22:57.055 --> 01:22:58.890
They want to bring it to you.

2085
01:22:58.932 --> 01:23:00.475
They don't want
the best for you.

2086
01:23:00.517 --> 01:23:02.435
And a lot of times,
Rick used to tell me

2087
01:23:02.477 --> 01:23:04.145
he felt he was a tool.

2088
01:23:04.187 --> 01:23:07.148
Everyone wanted to come to him
to get this and get that.

2089
01:23:07.190 --> 01:23:09.859
[Rick]   I wish that
there was somebody

2090
01:23:09.901 --> 01:23:11.695
who would go up on stage
and be Rick James.

2091
01:23:11.736 --> 01:23:12.988
I wish that there was somebody

2092
01:23:13.029 --> 01:23:14.280
who could have lived
my lifestyle,

2093
01:23:14.322 --> 01:23:15.657
when I was living
all through my pain.

2094
01:23:15.699 --> 01:23:18.368
[chuckles] I would have loved
to have that.

2095
01:23:18.410 --> 01:23:20.286
It would have taken
a lot of pressure off me.

2096
01:23:20.328 --> 01:23:22.831
One day, I had him crying.
I was mad at him, man.

2097
01:23:22.872 --> 01:23:25.458
I was so mad--
"That white bitch got you"--

2098
01:23:25.500 --> 01:23:26.960
that's what we called cocaine--
"That white bitch

2099
01:23:27.002 --> 01:23:29.212
got you fucked up, man."

2100
01:23:29.254 --> 01:23:31.047
And he would say, "Like, man,
I just can't stop."

2101
01:23:31.089 --> 01:23:33.008
I said, "Goddamn it,
you're weak.

2102
01:23:33.049 --> 01:23:35.218
You're a weak
motherfucker, man.

2103
01:23:35.260 --> 01:23:37.721
You can't keep doing this shit.
It's gonna kill you."

2104
01:23:37.762 --> 01:23:40.056
[Rick]   I was in a lawsuit
with Motown Records

2105
01:23:40.098 --> 01:23:41.349
for about five or six years

2106
01:23:41.391 --> 01:23:43.351
where I couldn't make
an album.

2107
01:23:43.393 --> 01:23:45.395
And that whole period of time,

2108
01:23:45.437 --> 01:23:47.856
my drug addiction
really just escalated.

2109
01:23:47.897 --> 01:23:50.734
I was spending six, seven--
seven, eight thousand dollars

2110
01:23:50.775 --> 01:23:54.571
a week on drugs--cocaine.
This went on for years.

2111
01:23:54.612 --> 01:23:56.239
'Cause I pretty much
just stopped touring.

2112
01:23:56.281 --> 01:23:59.284
And I was basically
just isolating myself.

2113
01:23:59.325 --> 01:24:03.621
I never experienced him
smoking cocaine.

2114
01:24:03.663 --> 01:24:06.249
Like, I never saw him high.

2115
01:24:06.291 --> 01:24:09.711
So I think he wanted me
to believe

2116
01:24:09.753 --> 01:24:11.171
that that wasn't taking place.

2117
01:24:11.212 --> 01:24:13.506
But, I mean, of course, I knew.

2118
01:24:13.548 --> 01:24:17.010
[Jason]   The moment that really
marks a change in the way

2119
01:24:17.052 --> 01:24:19.888
that we think
about Rick James is 1990.

2120
01:24:19.929 --> 01:24:22.015
MC Hammer's
"U Can't Touch This"

2121
01:24:22.057 --> 01:24:23.266
Can't touch this

2122
01:24:23.308 --> 01:24:24.601
[Rick]    I've only met
MC Hammer

2123
01:24:24.642 --> 01:24:26.019
one time in my life,

2124
01:24:26.061 --> 01:24:27.562
and he was a nice guy.
I mean, he was okay.

2125
01:24:27.604 --> 01:24:29.522
But at the time,
a lot of rap was going on

2126
01:24:29.564 --> 01:24:31.900
that was really kind of
off-beat,

2127
01:24:31.941 --> 01:24:33.401
very derogative
towards women.

2128
01:24:33.443 --> 01:24:34.944
Listen up, baby,
you look real pretty

2129
01:24:34.986 --> 01:24:36.446
Let me pull off your shirt
and suck yo titties

2130
01:24:36.488 --> 01:24:38.073
[Rick]   And I really got
pissed off,

2131
01:24:38.114 --> 01:24:39.616
because I certainly
didn't need the money.

2132
01:24:39.657 --> 01:24:41.367
And I told my accountants
and lawyers, "No more rappers

2133
01:24:41.409 --> 01:24:43.119
are allowed to use
any of my stuff. Nothing."

2134
01:24:43.161 --> 01:24:44.662
[Dr. Boyd]   Rick was not
a big fan of hip hop,

2135
01:24:44.704 --> 01:24:47.791
and a lot of older
Black artists at the time

2136
01:24:47.832 --> 01:24:50.794
were not fans of hip hop
when it emerged.

2137
01:24:50.835 --> 01:24:52.295
Matter of fact,
they were hating.

2138
01:24:52.337 --> 01:24:54.005
But I think, if you look
at the history of music,

2139
01:24:54.047 --> 01:24:57.342
whenever there's a new form,
old heads often don't like it.

2140
01:24:57.383 --> 01:24:59.969
Louis Armstrong didn't like
what Charlie Parker

2141
01:25:00.011 --> 01:25:02.097
and Dizzy Gillespie was doing.

2142
01:25:04.724 --> 01:25:06.476
[Rick]   I was driving in LA,
and I heard the DJ

2143
01:25:06.518 --> 01:25:08.520
say something
about Rick James.

2144
01:25:08.561 --> 01:25:10.355
And then he said,
this is number five

2145
01:25:10.396 --> 01:25:11.815
in the country pop record
or something.

2146
01:25:11.856 --> 01:25:13.691
And he played it on--
Nah, nah, nah, nah

2147
01:25:13.733 --> 01:25:15.235
Nah-nah, nah-nah

2148
01:25:15.276 --> 01:25:16.778
And I said, "Oh, great."
You know, "I'm back."

2149
01:25:16.820 --> 01:25:18.154
And then the record stopped
and the guy says,

2150
01:25:18.196 --> 01:25:19.823
"Can't Touch This."
What?

2151
01:25:19.864 --> 01:25:21.241
And then
he really pissed me off.

2152
01:25:21.282 --> 01:25:23.827
-He says this line...
- My-my-my-my

2153
01:25:23.868 --> 01:25:25.995
Music hits me so hard

2154
01:25:26.037 --> 01:25:27.580
[Rick]
And I really got enflamed.

2155
01:25:27.622 --> 01:25:29.332
"His music"?
And I remember calling up

2156
01:25:29.374 --> 01:25:30.917
my accountants and lawyers
and said,

2157
01:25:30.959 --> 01:25:32.293
"I really thought
I told you guys

2158
01:25:32.335 --> 01:25:33.837
not to let any more rappers
use my stuff."

2159
01:25:33.878 --> 01:25:35.338
I was yelling--[grumbling]

2160
01:25:35.380 --> 01:25:36.840
Then they said, you know,
"You're gonna be making

2161
01:25:36.881 --> 01:25:38.925
so many million dollars."
I said, "Okay, never mind."

2162
01:25:38.967 --> 01:25:41.010
Rick James is very,
very, very happy.

2163
01:25:41.052 --> 01:25:44.639
And because of my using

2164
01:25:44.681 --> 01:25:46.683
his music,

2165
01:25:46.724 --> 01:25:48.268
it has made him enough money

2166
01:25:48.309 --> 01:25:50.353
to buy a new Rolls-Royce
and a new house.

2167
01:25:50.395 --> 01:25:53.022
I told you, homeboy,
you can't touch this

2168
01:25:53.064 --> 01:25:55.024
[Dr. Boyd]   Hip hop gave
a second life

2169
01:25:55.066 --> 01:25:56.568
to a lot of Black artists.

2170
01:25:56.609 --> 01:25:59.362
MC Hammer is
the most popular example.

2171
01:25:59.404 --> 01:26:01.156
It's corny as hell.
But it was huge.

2172
01:26:01.197 --> 01:26:03.032
Hammer beat everybody
to the punch.

2173
01:26:03.074 --> 01:26:05.493
To this day, if you put it on,

2174
01:26:05.535 --> 01:26:07.495
it'll get it
cracking up in here.

2175
01:26:07.537 --> 01:26:11.749
The irony is that he probably
made more money

2176
01:26:11.791 --> 01:26:13.835
from "U Can't Touch This"

2177
01:26:13.877 --> 01:26:17.672
than, you know, he made
on the original version

2178
01:26:17.714 --> 01:26:19.424
of "Super Freak."

2179
01:26:19.465 --> 01:26:21.259
[Rick]   I decided I wanted
to do another record.

2180
01:26:21.301 --> 01:26:23.094
So I signed
with Warner Brothers.

2181
01:26:23.136 --> 01:26:24.721
I did an album called
"Wonderful."

2182
01:26:24.762 --> 01:26:27.056
It had a number one
R&B single, "Loosey's Rap."

2183
01:26:27.098 --> 01:26:29.559
I know a chick,
her name is Loosey

2184
01:26:29.601 --> 01:26:31.728



2185
01:26:31.769 --> 01:26:33.688
She's a freaky thang

2186
01:26:33.730 --> 01:26:35.732
I was on the label
on Warner Brothers.

2187
01:26:35.773 --> 01:26:38.359
I'm Shanté,
and the rhyme today

2188
01:26:38.401 --> 01:26:41.070
Just rap so fresh
till I get out of breath

2189
01:26:41.112 --> 01:26:42.405
They were like,
"Okay, well look, you need

2190
01:26:42.447 --> 01:26:44.532
to go and stay
with Rick for a little while,

2191
01:26:44.574 --> 01:26:46.910
and you guys are gonna
and work on a single together."

2192
01:26:46.951 --> 01:26:48.077
And I'm straight out
the group home.

2193
01:26:48.119 --> 01:26:49.579
I already have a baby.

2194
01:26:49.621 --> 01:26:51.998
I'm spending
so much time on tour,

2195
01:26:52.040 --> 01:26:53.583
I didn't even have
a home address.

2196
01:26:53.625 --> 01:26:56.085
So I'll go to Rick James'
house and stay.

2197
01:26:56.127 --> 01:26:58.213
A lady was also staying there,
and I take it

2198
01:26:58.254 --> 01:27:00.298
that she was Rick's wife,

2199
01:27:00.340 --> 01:27:02.884
girlfriend, live-in girlfriend,
or whatever.

2200
01:27:02.926 --> 01:27:04.719
And it's so sad,
because I was thinking

2201
01:27:04.761 --> 01:27:07.013
about this recently--like,
I never knew her name,

2202
01:27:07.055 --> 01:27:08.431
and I was there
for almost three months.

2203
01:27:08.473 --> 01:27:09.641
'Cause her called her "bitch."

2204
01:27:09.682 --> 01:27:11.267
"Bitch, get something
from the store."

2205
01:27:11.309 --> 01:27:12.727
"Bitch, go get them
something to eat."

2206
01:27:12.769 --> 01:27:14.145
"Bitch, such such such."

2207
01:27:14.187 --> 01:27:15.897
And, you know,
she just, "Okay.

2208
01:27:15.939 --> 01:27:17.899
Okay, Rick.
Okay."

2209
01:27:17.941 --> 01:27:21.444
You know, and I knew
I didn't want to be that bitch.

2210
01:27:23.905 --> 01:27:25.907
[Ty]
Daddy had numerous girls.

2211
01:27:25.949 --> 01:27:28.826
There was always somebody
flying in and out.

2212
01:27:28.868 --> 01:27:32.455
You know, we'd go
to the local pizza shop,

2213
01:27:32.497 --> 01:27:34.624
and girls would be
coming back.

2214
01:27:34.666 --> 01:27:36.584
I remember Tanya

2215
01:27:36.626 --> 01:27:38.878
coming to the house
for the first time.

2216
01:27:38.920 --> 01:27:42.090
She was 17.
She was the same age as me.

2217
01:27:42.131 --> 01:27:43.299
He comes in the house.

2218
01:27:43.341 --> 01:27:45.134
They're pratting in
from the airport.

2219
01:27:45.176 --> 01:27:46.594
I pulled him to the side.
"How old is she?"

2220
01:27:46.636 --> 01:27:47.887
"She's 21!"

2221
01:27:47.929 --> 01:27:50.556
I'm like, "Hmm. Okay."

2222
01:27:50.598 --> 01:27:53.810
[Tanya]   When I met him,
I didn't feel like he was

2223
01:27:53.851 --> 01:27:55.603
so much older than me.

2224
01:27:55.645 --> 01:27:59.190
He definitely did not have
the spirit of a 39-year-old.

2225
01:27:59.232 --> 01:28:01.067
He didn't look like
a 39-year-old.

2226
01:28:01.109 --> 01:28:02.485
You know Black don't crack.

2227
01:28:02.527 --> 01:28:05.780
So he was 30, maybe.

2228
01:28:05.822 --> 01:28:09.117
And I was a precious 17, so.

2229
01:28:09.158 --> 01:28:12.453
If I would have been hip
to who he was,

2230
01:28:12.495 --> 01:28:13.871
we would not have connected.

2231
01:28:13.913 --> 01:28:15.748
[Levi]   Rick fell in love
with a young girl.

2232
01:28:15.790 --> 01:28:18.376
They just had a lot of sex
and shit--

2233
01:28:18.418 --> 01:28:21.045
people, whatnot,
parties with everybody naked.

2234
01:28:21.087 --> 01:28:22.672
She was too young
for me to be around.

2235
01:28:22.714 --> 01:28:24.465
I mean,
she was like a baby to me.

2236
01:28:24.507 --> 01:28:27.885
They both met
under the influence.

2237
01:28:27.927 --> 01:28:30.972
They proceeded to get together
under that same thing.

2238
01:28:31.014 --> 01:28:33.433
So I didn't think much of it.

2239
01:28:33.474 --> 01:28:35.101
[Tanya]   I came damaged,

2240
01:28:35.143 --> 01:28:38.313
and Rick saw that damage in me
because he was damaged.

2241
01:28:38.354 --> 01:28:41.524
The reason we connected so well
was because, in a safe space,

2242
01:28:41.566 --> 01:28:43.026
we could be
vulnerable together,

2243
01:28:43.067 --> 01:28:44.610
and both of our damage
connected,

2244
01:28:44.652 --> 01:28:48.197
because he had such
a fucking, like, image

2245
01:28:48.239 --> 01:28:50.033
that he couldn't even escape.

2246
01:28:50.074 --> 01:28:51.534
Like, he couldn't
escape that image.

2247
01:28:51.576 --> 01:28:53.745
He could escape it with me.

2248
01:28:55.580 --> 01:28:56.622
[Rick]   I bought this house.

2249
01:28:56.664 --> 01:28:58.458
It was at the top
of Mulholland.

2250
01:28:58.499 --> 01:29:00.251
Gorgeous home.
And really, all it was for me

2251
01:29:00.293 --> 01:29:02.628
was just a place to get high.

2252
01:29:05.673 --> 01:29:09.093
I'd go out, and come home
with 20, 30 people,

2253
01:29:09.135 --> 01:29:12.305
19 of them I never met before,
and they'd stay for days.

2254
01:29:12.347 --> 01:29:13.890
And my life was pretty dark
at that time.

2255
01:29:13.931 --> 01:29:16.100
The house had really
turned into a crack haven.

2256
01:29:16.142 --> 01:29:18.936
A person who sniffs coke
and does things on a certain,

2257
01:29:18.978 --> 01:29:20.313
more expensive level,

2258
01:29:20.355 --> 01:29:22.357
won't have certain
people around them.

2259
01:29:22.398 --> 01:29:24.233
But a person who will
smoke crack is liable

2260
01:29:24.275 --> 01:29:25.943
to have anybody around them

2261
01:29:25.985 --> 01:29:27.862
because it becomes
an anybody drug.

2262
01:29:28.613 --> 01:29:30.031
[sighs]

2263
01:29:30.073 --> 01:29:33.242
It was a time that I was

2264
01:29:33.284 --> 01:29:35.870
trying to intercede a binge.

2265
01:29:35.912 --> 01:29:39.374
And my dad was on, like,
maybe--it was three

2266
01:29:39.415 --> 01:29:42.960
or four days
that we hadn't saw his face.

2267
01:29:43.002 --> 01:29:46.089
I called Val, and I was like,
"I'm going in the room."

2268
01:29:46.130 --> 01:29:48.007
I got there to the house.

2269
01:29:48.049 --> 01:29:50.760
We got a butter knife

2270
01:29:50.802 --> 01:29:54.514
out of the kitchen drawer,
and went in there.

2271
01:29:54.555 --> 01:29:56.432
We went looking around,

2272
01:29:56.474 --> 01:30:01.020
with women hiding
in the closet or in the shower.

2273
01:30:01.062 --> 01:30:02.438
I was like, "You gotta go.

2274
01:30:02.480 --> 01:30:04.273
It's time to go.
It's check-out time."

2275
01:30:04.315 --> 01:30:06.859
Right?
So he's still asleep.

2276
01:30:06.901 --> 01:30:10.029
And he woke up and just--

2277
01:30:10.071 --> 01:30:13.908
it was--it was pretty bad.

2278
01:30:13.950 --> 01:30:15.284
He started throwing things.

2279
01:30:15.326 --> 01:30:16.911
Then he threw at book at me.

2280
01:30:16.953 --> 01:30:19.414
I picked the book up
and threw it right back at him.

2281
01:30:19.455 --> 01:30:21.499
He was ducking.

2282
01:30:21.541 --> 01:30:24.127
He threw, like, a candlestick
or something,

2283
01:30:24.168 --> 01:30:25.586
and it cut my foot open.

2284
01:30:25.628 --> 01:30:29.173
I had to have stitches.

2285
01:30:29.215 --> 01:30:31.467
I wound up in the hospital.

2286
01:30:31.509 --> 01:30:33.511
I didn't talk to my dad
for eight months.

2287
01:30:33.553 --> 01:30:36.681
That was the demon.
That was the devil.

2288
01:30:36.722 --> 01:30:39.892
That was
drug-possessed James Johnson.

2289
01:30:42.061 --> 01:30:44.647
Pop singer Rick James
is being accused of

2290
01:30:44.689 --> 01:30:46.023
all kinds of terrible things,

2291
01:30:46.065 --> 01:30:48.192
and authorities are taking it
very seriously.

2292
01:30:48.234 --> 01:30:51.237
[reporter]   James is accused of
assault with a deadly weapon,

2293
01:30:51.279 --> 01:30:55.658
aggravated mayhem, torture,
and forceable oral copulation.

2294
01:30:55.700 --> 01:30:58.995
Arrested for assault
with great bodily injury

2295
01:30:59.036 --> 01:31:01.247
was Tanya Hijazi,

2296
01:31:01.289 --> 01:31:04.417
21 years of age,
and Rick James.

2297
01:31:04.459 --> 01:31:06.169
[Robert]   The day that Rick
got arrested,

2298
01:31:06.210 --> 01:31:07.962
I was called on that case.

2299
01:31:08.004 --> 01:31:11.924
Rick was accused of torturing
a girl with a crackpipe.

2300
01:31:14.552 --> 01:31:16.137
Hi, all these cameras.

2301
01:31:16.179 --> 01:31:17.847
[JoJo]   I was shocked.

2302
01:31:17.889 --> 01:31:21.350
That broke my heart
when I saw the report on that.

2303
01:31:21.392 --> 01:31:23.311
He looked like he was scared.

2304
01:31:23.352 --> 01:31:26.355
Well, you know, I just hope
that phrase--

2305
01:31:26.397 --> 01:31:27.899
innocent till proven guilty--
is true.

2306
01:31:27.940 --> 01:31:29.525
I've kind of found,
since I've been in here,

2307
01:31:29.567 --> 01:31:32.862
it's like guilty
till proven innocent.

2308
01:31:32.904 --> 01:31:34.864
I've always been guilty
of things till proven innocent.

2309
01:31:34.906 --> 01:31:37.366
[Ty]   He was accused
of sexual assault,

2310
01:31:37.408 --> 01:31:42.163
and the girl was
pretty much partying

2311
01:31:42.205 --> 01:31:44.040
with them the whole time.

2312
01:31:44.081 --> 01:31:48.085
And I guess, you know,
when it was over,

2313
01:31:48.127 --> 01:31:50.505
she had a couple of burns.

2314
01:31:50.546 --> 01:31:52.590
Like, Tanya had some burns too.

2315
01:31:52.632 --> 01:31:56.385
This is something
that was condoned.

2316
01:31:56.427 --> 01:32:00.306
[Joseph]   Frances Alley told us
about having been a visitor

2317
01:32:00.348 --> 01:32:01.891
at Rick James' home.

2318
01:32:01.933 --> 01:32:05.520
Everything got out of control
when he suspected her

2319
01:32:05.561 --> 01:32:09.732
of stealing
some kind of--some cocaine.

2320
01:32:09.774 --> 01:32:13.152
He tied her up to a chair
while she was nude,

2321
01:32:13.194 --> 01:32:17.907
and she said that he burned her
with a crack cocaine pipe,

2322
01:32:17.949 --> 01:32:20.576
and brought out a big butcher
knife from the kitchen,

2323
01:32:20.618 --> 01:32:22.995
after his girlfriend
warmed it up,

2324
01:32:23.037 --> 01:32:24.747
and put it against her leg.

2325
01:32:24.789 --> 01:32:26.916
[reporter] Why would someone
make these stories up?

2326
01:32:26.958 --> 01:32:28.584
-Well, we--
-We'll take care of that.

2327
01:32:28.626 --> 01:32:30.378
We--Mr. James is gonna fight

2328
01:32:30.419 --> 01:32:31.921
this thing in court,
and we can't wait

2329
01:32:31.963 --> 01:32:33.631
for the truth to come out.
The truth will come out.

2330
01:32:33.673 --> 01:32:35.633
[Rick]   You don't force anyone
to do crack.

2331
01:32:35.675 --> 01:32:37.468
You don't force them.
People that I know,

2332
01:32:37.510 --> 01:32:39.095
that smoke crack,
they'll go out

2333
01:32:39.136 --> 01:32:41.430
and sell their babies
for a hit of crack.

2334
01:32:41.472 --> 01:32:42.723
And she said I forced her
to have sex.

2335
01:32:42.765 --> 01:32:44.100
I never forced her
to have sex.

2336
01:32:44.141 --> 01:32:45.935
I never forced a woman
in my life to have sex.

2337
01:32:45.977 --> 01:32:48.104
If anything, I gotta force
them not to have sex.

2338
01:32:48.145 --> 01:32:50.481
[Tanya]   What sprang out
of that adversity

2339
01:32:50.523 --> 01:32:53.317
was our connection.

2340
01:32:53.359 --> 01:32:55.570
"The witch hunt
that is happening

2341
01:32:55.611 --> 01:32:57.154
right now is serious,

2342
01:32:57.196 --> 01:33:00.283
and we need to stick together,

2343
01:33:00.324 --> 01:33:02.994
and I need to protect
this man,

2344
01:33:03.035 --> 01:33:05.246
and he needs to protect me,

2345
01:33:05.288 --> 01:33:07.707
because this is
some foul shit."

2346
01:33:07.748 --> 01:33:09.792
[Carmen]   I hated to see him
catch that case,

2347
01:33:09.834 --> 01:33:12.878
because he didn't need that.
But was he capable of that?

2348
01:33:12.920 --> 01:33:15.464
Any addict
is capable of anything.

2349
01:33:15.506 --> 01:33:18.301
You can do some subhuman stuff,
and that's just the way it is.

2350
01:33:18.342 --> 01:33:21.804
[Nile]   That didn't seem like
the person I knew at all.

2351
01:33:21.846 --> 01:33:24.599
We did our fair share
of partying, that's for sure.

2352
01:33:24.640 --> 01:33:27.393
But nothing, I mean,
nothing of that sort.

2353
01:33:27.435 --> 01:33:28.644
[Betty]   I just worry about it.

2354
01:33:28.686 --> 01:33:30.896
That's the only thing
I can tell you.

2355
01:33:30.938 --> 01:33:33.274
And I think I'll never give up
praying about it--

2356
01:33:33.316 --> 01:33:35.067
that he will stop,

2357
01:33:35.109 --> 01:33:37.695
or if he not doing,
don't do it anymore.

2358
01:33:37.737 --> 01:33:39.363
[Carmen]
When my mother was dying,

2359
01:33:39.405 --> 01:33:40.948
and me and my brother Roy

2360
01:33:40.990 --> 01:33:43.951
was calling him to come,
he was in California,

2361
01:33:43.993 --> 01:33:45.703
and we was calling him--
we was threatening him

2362
01:33:45.745 --> 01:33:47.288
we'd come and get him,

2363
01:33:47.330 --> 01:33:49.540
because she was that
tied to him.

2364
01:33:49.582 --> 01:33:52.376
And he was out there
getting high.

2365
01:33:52.418 --> 01:33:53.794
And we called him and told him,

2366
01:33:53.836 --> 01:33:55.338
"Hey, we gotta come
and get your ass.

2367
01:33:55.379 --> 01:33:56.589
We're gonna come
and get you, man."

2368
01:33:56.631 --> 01:33:58.215
And then he came on back,
and he was fucked up

2369
01:33:58.257 --> 01:34:00.343
when he came.
Excuse my French.

2370
01:34:01.969 --> 01:34:03.679
[Rick]   When I went to Buffalo
to see her,

2371
01:34:03.721 --> 01:34:05.598
she was already dying.
She was just hanging on.

2372
01:34:05.640 --> 01:34:08.476
She was in a coma
for like three or four days.

2373
01:34:08.517 --> 01:34:09.769
She really didn't
want to leave, you know.

2374
01:34:09.810 --> 01:34:11.020
She didn't want to let go
till, like,

2375
01:34:11.062 --> 01:34:13.356
she saw all her kids,
you know.

2376
01:34:13.397 --> 01:34:15.149
And I was, like,
the loneliest,

2377
01:34:15.191 --> 01:34:17.026
empty person in the world.

2378
01:34:17.068 --> 01:34:19.445
[Tanya]   That was the beginning
of the downfall.

2379
01:34:19.487 --> 01:34:21.197
And the depression
was a constant

2380
01:34:21.238 --> 01:34:22.782
within, you know, that.

2381
01:34:22.823 --> 01:34:24.700
[Robert]   Even though they had
all these headlines

2382
01:34:24.742 --> 01:34:27.036
about Rick was facing
life imprisonment,

2383
01:34:27.078 --> 01:34:30.456
they agreed to drop
all the serious felony charges,

2384
01:34:30.498 --> 01:34:34.710
and Rick was able to get a year
in drug rehab as his sentence.

2385
01:34:34.752 --> 01:34:37.713
While we were still
wrapping up our case,

2386
01:34:37.755 --> 01:34:40.466
Rick picked up another case,
Mary Sauger.

2387
01:34:40.508 --> 01:34:42.635
[Mary]   He basically slammed me
against the wall,

2388
01:34:42.677 --> 01:34:45.262
started strangling me, and...

2389
01:34:45.304 --> 01:34:47.890
the fists, the--everything.

2390
01:34:47.932 --> 01:34:50.017
It just went on repeatedly
for hours and hours.

2391
01:34:50.059 --> 01:34:52.019
And then at one point,
I was knocked unconscious.

2392
01:34:52.061 --> 01:34:54.772
[Rick]   I went to a hotel room
to get away for a while.

2393
01:34:54.814 --> 01:34:57.108
And Tanya joined me there.
This girl came over.

2394
01:34:57.149 --> 01:34:58.651
And two days went by,

2395
01:34:58.693 --> 01:34:59.944
and we were all pretty drunk,
pretty high.

2396
01:34:59.985 --> 01:35:01.529
Her and Tanya got
into a fight.

2397
01:35:01.570 --> 01:35:03.239
She smacked Tanya.
Tanya smacked her.

2398
01:35:03.280 --> 01:35:04.740
And she kicked Tanya.

2399
01:35:04.782 --> 01:35:06.117
Well, when the girl tried
to kick Tanya,

2400
01:35:06.158 --> 01:35:08.536
that ticked me off.
I went into the girl.

2401
01:35:08.577 --> 01:35:10.579
Yeah,
I laid hands on this girl.

2402
01:35:10.621 --> 01:35:12.123
[Robert]
The codefendant, Tanya,

2403
01:35:12.164 --> 01:35:13.666
has pled guilty today,

2404
01:35:13.708 --> 01:35:15.835
and she's serving four years
in state prison

2405
01:35:15.876 --> 01:35:18.087
when she surrenders, and
that's gonna be in a month.

2406
01:35:18.129 --> 01:35:19.880
And he's facing
two torture charges

2407
01:35:19.922 --> 01:35:22.258
and one charge
of aggravated mayhem.

2408
01:35:22.299 --> 01:35:25.261
Those three counts alone
are life sentences.

2409
01:35:25.302 --> 01:35:27.763
[Tanya]   There was so much shit
that hit the fan,

2410
01:35:27.805 --> 01:35:30.015
all immediately,
all at one time.

2411
01:35:30.057 --> 01:35:32.435
And there was no time
to think.

2412
01:35:32.476 --> 01:35:34.395
You just acted on judgment.

2413
01:35:34.437 --> 01:35:37.440
And my judgment
was to go all-in with this man

2414
01:35:37.481 --> 01:35:41.610
because I knew that he didn't
deserve what was going on.

2415
01:35:41.652 --> 01:35:43.112
[Rick]   You know, I was in,
like, a dream.

2416
01:35:43.154 --> 01:35:44.613
I couldn't believe it.
You know, I was getting high

2417
01:35:44.655 --> 01:35:46.031
every night before the trial,

2418
01:35:46.073 --> 01:35:48.576
falling asleep at court.
I'm snoring.

2419
01:35:48.617 --> 01:35:51.954
Because I was just in a daze
that this was happening.

2420
01:35:51.996 --> 01:35:53.247
[Carmen]
When I was watching him,

2421
01:35:53.289 --> 01:35:54.582
when he was in court,

2422
01:35:54.623 --> 01:35:56.250
and he was nodding
and carrying on,

2423
01:35:56.292 --> 01:35:57.752
that said a lot, basically.

2424
01:35:57.793 --> 01:36:00.463
[Steven]   That was just too much

2425
01:36:00.504 --> 01:36:02.089
for anyone to deal with.

2426
01:36:02.131 --> 01:36:04.341
And then times
were changing too.

2427
01:36:04.383 --> 01:36:06.761
It was like, "Rick, ain't
nobody doing this shit no more.

2428
01:36:06.802 --> 01:36:08.763
Everybody grows up
at some point.

2429
01:36:08.804 --> 01:36:11.390
I mean,
you still doing this stuff?"

2430
01:36:11.432 --> 01:36:13.726
[Kerry]   I think it was totally
taken out of context.

2431
01:36:13.768 --> 01:36:15.895
But it was what it was.

2432
01:36:15.936 --> 01:36:17.897
What matters is that
he's in court.

2433
01:36:17.938 --> 01:36:19.982
He's got to fight it,
and if he loses,

2434
01:36:20.024 --> 01:36:21.609
he could be in jail
for the rest of his life.

2435
01:36:21.650 --> 01:36:23.986
We, the jury, in the above
entitled action,

2436
01:36:24.028 --> 01:36:26.489
find the defendant Rick James

2437
01:36:26.530 --> 01:36:28.824
guilty of the crime of sale...

2438
01:36:28.866 --> 01:36:31.619
[Rick]   They ended up giving
five years, four months.

2439
01:36:31.660 --> 01:36:33.496
That's when I went
to Folsom Prison.

2440
01:36:34.079 --> 01:36:36.791
This was a serious,
strange transition.

2441
01:36:36.832 --> 01:36:39.335
As much as I thought it was
a curse and a terrible thing,

2442
01:36:39.376 --> 01:36:41.295
it turned out to be
a beautiful blessing.

2443
01:36:41.337 --> 01:36:43.672
I'm thankful to God to let me
have prison as an alternative,

2444
01:36:43.714 --> 01:36:45.007
as opposed to the grave,

2445
01:36:45.049 --> 01:36:47.009
'cause I was headed
to the grave.

2446
01:36:47.051 --> 01:36:48.761
[Tanya]
He chose to be Muslim

2447
01:36:48.803 --> 01:36:50.596
when he was in prison.

2448
01:36:50.638 --> 01:36:52.097
It didn't last long.

2449
01:36:52.139 --> 01:36:55.601
But a lot of that
was understand himself.

2450
01:36:55.643 --> 01:36:59.104
He felt, too, like
the Rick James persona--like,

2451
01:36:59.146 --> 01:37:01.190
he's not Rick James.
He's James Ambrose Johnson.

2452
01:37:01.232 --> 01:37:02.900
[Rick]   When Tanya was
in prison,

2453
01:37:02.942 --> 01:37:04.819
we used to write letters
to each other a lot.

2454
01:37:04.860 --> 01:37:07.279
We needed to stop doing drugs
for our son.

2455
01:37:07.321 --> 01:37:09.615
[Tanya]   Even though we were up
against all this bullshit,

2456
01:37:09.657 --> 01:37:12.117
we were bringing life
into the world,

2457
01:37:12.159 --> 01:37:14.078
and it was a very special time
for us.

2458
01:37:14.119 --> 01:37:15.746
Literally, like,

2459
01:37:15.788 --> 01:37:18.958
the rose that grew
through the concrete,

2460
01:37:18.999 --> 01:37:21.252
'cause we were facing
some really heavy shit,

2461
01:37:21.293 --> 01:37:25.464
but we were giving birth
to a magnificent spirit.

2462
01:37:25.506 --> 01:37:28.175
[Ty]   Tazman grounded him a lot.

2463
01:37:28.217 --> 01:37:32.555
He got a second chance
at being a father.

2464
01:37:32.596 --> 01:37:35.015
Funk musician Rick James
is a free man

2465
01:37:35.057 --> 01:37:37.351
after spending
three years in prison.

2466
01:37:37.393 --> 01:37:39.228
The first thing James did
when he was released

2467
01:37:39.270 --> 01:37:42.147
was to hug
his four-year-old son.

2468
01:37:42.189 --> 01:37:45.025
He says his prison time
was well-spent, though.

2469
01:37:45.067 --> 01:37:48.070
He got off drugs
and wrote 400 songs.

2470
01:37:48.112 --> 01:37:49.697
[Rick]   There was so much pain
inside of me.

2471
01:37:49.738 --> 01:37:52.074
And there was so many things
that I wanted to say.

2472
01:37:52.116 --> 01:37:53.868
It's like when I started,
you know?

2473
01:37:53.909 --> 01:37:56.078
I had that hunger again.

2474
01:37:56.120 --> 01:37:57.621
Plus I was going broke,
and I needed to--

2475
01:37:57.663 --> 01:37:58.831
[laughter]

2476
01:37:58.873 --> 01:38:00.040
I had a hard time,
you know,

2477
01:38:00.082 --> 01:38:01.250
'cause a lot
of record companies

2478
01:38:01.292 --> 01:38:03.085
didn't want to take
a chance on me.

2479
01:38:03.127 --> 01:38:05.421
So I just said, "Fuck it.
I'm gonna make my own album."

2480
01:38:05.462 --> 01:38:08.132
I just wanted to go back to
the roots of what I was about.

2481
01:38:08.173 --> 01:38:11.927
Once he got out of prison,
he called me, and he said,

2482
01:38:11.969 --> 01:38:14.430
"I want to get
the original Stone City Band

2483
01:38:14.471 --> 01:38:16.557
back together.
Come on over."

2484
01:38:16.599 --> 01:38:18.058
And I'm just like,
"Wait a minute.

2485
01:38:18.100 --> 01:38:20.227
I have a job, you know."
He said, "No, no, no.

2486
01:38:20.269 --> 01:38:22.271
You've got to get down here
right now."

2487
01:38:22.313 --> 01:38:23.314
And he just did that.

2488
01:38:23.355 --> 01:38:25.232
So when he says that,
you do that.

2489
01:38:25.274 --> 01:38:26.901
Everything was business
as usual.

2490
01:38:26.942 --> 01:38:28.986
He was normal.
He wasn't high.

2491
01:38:29.028 --> 01:38:31.155
I thought it was a great album.
We went on tour.

2492
01:38:31.196 --> 01:38:34.575
[band plays
"Give It To Me Baby"]

2493
01:38:34.617 --> 01:38:37.119
Give it to me baby,
give it to me baby

2494
01:38:37.161 --> 01:38:39.538
[Kerry]   As soon as
he got out of jail,

2495
01:38:39.580 --> 01:38:43.250
my job was to make sure
he didn't get high.

2496
01:38:43.292 --> 01:38:45.461
I put him on a few shows,
and he would go on there,

2497
01:38:45.502 --> 01:38:48.047
and people would say,
"Oh, my gosh. Rick is clean.

2498
01:38:48.088 --> 01:38:50.549
He's smart. He's intelligent.
And he was clear."

2499
01:38:50.591 --> 01:38:52.760
But during this time period,

2500
01:38:52.801 --> 01:38:56.221
my phone stopped ringing
as a manager,

2501
01:38:56.263 --> 01:38:59.141
because people didn't want
to see a clean Rick James.

2502
01:38:59.183 --> 01:39:01.894
They wanted to see
a Super Freak.

2503
01:39:01.936 --> 01:39:03.520
-Hey, man.
-[both laugh]

2504
01:39:03.562 --> 01:39:04.855
Hey. What's up?

2505
01:39:04.897 --> 01:39:05.981
[record scratches]

2506
01:39:06.023 --> 01:39:08.859
Nice girls dude

2507
01:39:08.901 --> 01:39:11.195
This man lost a serious
guitar of minute.

2508
01:39:11.236 --> 01:39:12.821
That's not the issue
with you.

2509
01:39:12.863 --> 01:39:14.114
Okay? And that is the issue
that I'm dealing with.

2510
01:39:14.156 --> 01:39:15.366
That's not what you
bringing up.

2511
01:39:15.407 --> 01:39:16.992
You bringing up
a character reference.

2512
01:39:17.034 --> 01:39:19.411
-Well, are you not gay?
-Hold on. Hold on.

2513
01:39:19.453 --> 01:39:20.704
That's got nothing
to do with nothing.

2514
01:39:20.746 --> 01:39:22.456
You don't ask me
my personal business.

2515
01:39:22.498 --> 01:39:24.041
But, at the same time,

2516
01:39:24.083 --> 01:39:26.460
he turned back
into that lifestyle.

2517
01:39:28.212 --> 01:39:31.048
[Tanya]   Rick was always
the champion of the underdogs

2518
01:39:31.090 --> 01:39:33.342
but never of himself.

2519
01:39:33.384 --> 01:39:36.220
He would stay sober

2520
01:39:36.261 --> 01:39:38.973
for very short,
sporadic times,

2521
01:39:39.014 --> 01:39:41.809
but it was until
he could not bear

2522
01:39:41.850 --> 01:39:44.228
the depression anymore.

2523
01:39:44.269 --> 01:39:47.648
He would stay sober for a month
to three months, at the most.

2524
01:39:47.690 --> 01:39:50.859
I've never seen Rick sober
for more than three months.

2525
01:39:50.901 --> 01:39:53.195
Rick went to over 30 rehabs.

2526
01:39:53.237 --> 01:39:55.781
Rick was constantly
trying to get clean.

2527
01:39:55.823 --> 01:39:58.701
He wanted to be his potential.

2528
01:39:58.742 --> 01:40:01.870
His addiction was the bane
of his existence.

2529
01:40:01.912 --> 01:40:04.623
He was a tortured soul.

2530
01:40:04.665 --> 01:40:08.043
Most of our marriage was spent
at Cedars-Sinai Hospital,

2531
01:40:08.085 --> 01:40:09.545
dealing with
his health problems.

2532
01:40:09.586 --> 01:40:10.838
My husband asked me

2533
01:40:10.879 --> 01:40:12.548
to come out here
and talk to you guys.

2534
01:40:12.589 --> 01:40:14.299
He suffered a stroke.

2535
01:40:14.341 --> 01:40:16.468
[Ty]   He had a pacemaker
installed.

2536
01:40:16.510 --> 01:40:19.221
His doctor told him,
"You gotta stop doing drugs."

2537
01:40:19.263 --> 01:40:22.224
And he just lived the way
he wanted to live,

2538
01:40:22.266 --> 01:40:24.226
till the wheels fell off.

2539
01:40:24.268 --> 01:40:27.229
[Tanya]   His dopamine,
his adrenaline was gone,

2540
01:40:27.271 --> 01:40:30.357
and the only way it would be
brought back up again

2541
01:40:30.399 --> 01:40:31.734
was with cocaine.

2542
01:40:31.775 --> 01:40:34.069
Cocaine had stolen

2543
01:40:34.111 --> 01:40:37.698
all of his pleasure centers
in his brain.

2544
01:40:37.740 --> 01:40:39.366
Cocaine is a hell of a drug.

2545
01:40:39.408 --> 01:40:41.618
[laughter]

2546
01:40:41.660 --> 01:40:43.370
[Jason]   In the early 2000s,

2547
01:40:43.412 --> 01:40:46.081
Rick James is not
really thought of a lot.

2548
01:40:46.123 --> 01:40:49.084
In 2004,
on the Dave Chappelle show,

2549
01:40:49.126 --> 01:40:51.086
there's a skit
about Rick James.

2550
01:40:51.128 --> 01:40:53.130
Ladies and gentlemen,
make some noise--

2551
01:40:53.172 --> 01:40:55.257
"Charlie Murphy's
True Hollywood Stories."

2552
01:40:55.299 --> 01:40:57.259
I was a huge Rick James fan.

2553
01:40:57.301 --> 01:40:59.261
That's the first person
that I would say,

2554
01:40:59.303 --> 01:41:01.513
out of all the celebrities
that I met,

2555
01:41:01.555 --> 01:41:03.098
that I was-I was starstruck.

2556
01:41:03.140 --> 01:41:04.183
Come on, babe.
Just show me your titties.

2557
01:41:04.224 --> 01:41:06.101
I'm Rick James.
Do something.

2558
01:41:06.143 --> 01:41:08.729
Mm. Mm.

2559
01:41:08.771 --> 01:41:10.439
I wish I had more hands,

2560
01:41:10.481 --> 01:41:13.525
so I could give those titties
four thumbs down.

2561
01:41:13.567 --> 01:41:16.111
What Dave Chappelle did
with the Rick James character--

2562
01:41:16.153 --> 01:41:18.781
you know, it really showed you,
like,

2563
01:41:18.822 --> 01:41:20.616
what Rick James'
personality was.

2564
01:41:20.657 --> 01:41:24.119
Rick James didn't give a fuck.

2565
01:41:24.161 --> 01:41:26.288
And Dave Chappelle
embodied that.

2566
01:41:26.330 --> 01:41:27.414
-[Dave as Rick] Charlie!
-What's up, man?

2567
01:41:27.456 --> 01:41:28.749
There's a new joke
going around.

2568
01:41:28.791 --> 01:41:31.001
Have you heard it?
[laughing]

2569
01:41:31.043 --> 01:41:33.670
What did the five fingers
say to the face?

2570
01:41:33.712 --> 01:41:35.005
[laughing]

2571
01:41:35.047 --> 01:41:36.965
-What?
-Slap!

2572
01:41:37.007 --> 01:41:38.842
[audience laughter, applause]

2573
01:41:38.884 --> 01:41:40.135
I'm Rick James, bitch.

2574
01:41:40.177 --> 01:41:41.261
[Donnell]   In that moment,

2575
01:41:41.303 --> 01:41:42.805
being in the studio,
I was like,

2576
01:41:42.846 --> 01:41:46.266
"This is a sketch that people
are gonna be talking about

2577
01:41:46.308 --> 01:41:48.143
and remembering
for the rest of their lives."

2578
01:41:48.185 --> 01:41:50.145
That sketch was so powerful,

2579
01:41:50.187 --> 01:41:52.481
it had grade school kids
getting suspended.

2580
01:41:52.523 --> 01:41:54.983
They was going to school,
lunchroom, cafeteria,

2581
01:41:55.025 --> 01:41:57.111
any chance they had--
"I'm Rick James, bitch."

2582
01:41:57.152 --> 01:41:59.488
I must be losing my mind.

2583
01:41:59.530 --> 01:42:02.491
Reminiscing about Charlie
Murphy jump kicking my ass.

2584
01:42:03.700 --> 01:42:05.119
Ain't that a B.

2585
01:42:05.160 --> 01:42:06.620
"I'm Rick James, bitch"
wasn't funny to me,

2586
01:42:06.662 --> 01:42:08.580
'cause all it made him
was a caricature,

2587
01:42:08.622 --> 01:42:11.250
as far as I was concerned.
They made him out of a toy,

2588
01:42:11.291 --> 01:42:13.585
as opposed to a real live man,
human being.

2589
01:42:13.627 --> 01:42:15.587
A lot of that was true.

2590
01:42:15.629 --> 01:42:19.675
Rick would actually do
that--come in and talk shit.

2591
01:42:19.716 --> 01:42:21.510
That was Rick, all the way.

2592
01:42:21.552 --> 01:42:23.762
In the beginning,
his attitude was,

2593
01:42:23.804 --> 01:42:25.264
"Oh, well that's kind of cute.

2594
01:42:25.305 --> 01:42:26.598
It doesn't matter. It's TV.
It's comedy."

2595
01:42:26.640 --> 01:42:28.350
But then it got to be
a whole thing.

2596
01:42:28.392 --> 01:42:30.811
He might have imagined
that he was being mocked.

2597
01:42:30.853 --> 01:42:33.564
And yet, at the same time,
he was so interested

2598
01:42:33.605 --> 01:42:37.151
in maintaining
his own forward momentum,

2599
01:42:37.192 --> 01:42:39.653
that he took advantage
of that mockery

2600
01:42:39.695 --> 01:42:41.363
and turned it into something
that would work for him.

2601
01:42:41.405 --> 01:42:43.031
Never mind who you thought
I was.

2602
01:42:43.073 --> 01:42:45.075
I'm Rick James, bitch.

2603
01:42:45.117 --> 01:42:46.535
[cheers and applause]

2604
01:42:46.577 --> 01:42:48.370
[Jason]   He uses
the very catchphrase

2605
01:42:48.412 --> 01:42:50.164
that could have been used
against him

2606
01:42:50.205 --> 01:42:52.583
to help brand him
in a different way.

2607
01:42:52.624 --> 01:42:55.043
That was really the source of
Rick James' renewed popularity

2608
01:42:55.085 --> 01:42:56.545
in the early 2000s.

2609
01:42:56.587 --> 01:42:58.797
Love

2610
01:42:58.839 --> 01:43:01.675
[Teena]    Whoo

2611
01:43:01.717 --> 01:43:04.136
[cheers and applause]

2612
01:43:04.178 --> 01:43:08.348
Them and leave them

2613
01:43:08.390 --> 01:43:10.142
Yes!

2614
01:43:10.184 --> 01:43:12.561
That's what I used to do

2615
01:43:12.603 --> 01:43:14.354
Sing the song

2616
01:43:14.396 --> 01:43:18.859
I used to use
and abuse them, baby

2617
01:43:18.901 --> 01:43:20.068
[Carmen]
That music awards thing

2618
01:43:20.110 --> 01:43:21.403
he was on--he was nothing.

2619
01:43:21.445 --> 01:43:24.239
The voice was gone.
Everything was gone.

2620
01:43:24.281 --> 01:43:25.908
He was nothing
but a shell there.

2621
01:43:25.949 --> 01:43:27.743
That hurt. That hurt.

2622
01:43:27.784 --> 01:43:29.912
[interviewer] But most people
saw that as a great,

2623
01:43:29.953 --> 01:43:31.038
big moment.

2624
01:43:31.079 --> 01:43:33.248
Yeah, well...

2625
01:43:33.290 --> 01:43:36.043
I saw it as, like,
the bitter end.

2626
01:43:36.084 --> 01:43:38.086
I knew something
was gonna happen.

2627
01:43:38.128 --> 01:43:42.216
bass chords

2628
01:43:42.257 --> 01:43:44.426
[Steven]   I think that
by that time,

2629
01:43:44.468 --> 01:43:47.638
he was bored
with the whole thing.

2630
01:43:47.679 --> 01:43:51.600
It's kind of like anyone who
gets money or stuff or a woman.

2631
01:43:51.642 --> 01:43:53.977
You think it's going
to change things,

2632
01:43:54.019 --> 01:43:56.438
and the change begins within.

2633
01:43:56.480 --> 01:43:58.857
And I don't think Rick
really knew that.

2634
01:43:58.899 --> 01:44:03.654
He kept looking outward
for some salvation.

2635
01:44:03.695 --> 01:44:06.114
And he just never found it.

2636
01:44:06.156 --> 01:44:07.991
[David]   The times I saw Rick,
after jail,

2637
01:44:08.033 --> 01:44:09.618
I left with a broken heart.

2638
01:44:09.660 --> 01:44:12.579
I felt as though I don't know
if he can live a lot longer.

2639
01:44:14.498 --> 01:44:16.583
[reporter]   Grammy Award-winning
singer Rick James

2640
01:44:16.625 --> 01:44:19.920
found dead in his home.
Rick James was 56 years old.

2641
01:44:19.962 --> 01:44:21.296
[Levi]   My father
called me first

2642
01:44:21.338 --> 01:44:22.798
and told me Rick was gone.

2643
01:44:22.839 --> 01:44:24.383
And man, we cried.

2644
01:44:24.424 --> 01:44:27.970
God damn,
we cried over that phone, man.

2645
01:44:28.011 --> 01:44:29.805
And it still fucks with me.

2646
01:44:29.846 --> 01:44:32.891
I was in Florida,
and I was coming off the plane.

2647
01:44:32.933 --> 01:44:35.269
I looked up on the news screen,

2648
01:44:35.310 --> 01:44:38.313
coming from the airport, CNN,

2649
01:44:38.355 --> 01:44:41.316
and it had "Rick James dead."
They was taking his body.

2650
01:44:41.358 --> 01:44:43.402
[reporter]   He had nine drugs
in his system.

2651
01:44:43.443 --> 01:44:46.446
Nine.
Among them, Xanax,

2652
01:44:46.488 --> 01:44:49.783
Valium, Vicodin,
crystal meth, and cocaine.

2653
01:44:49.825 --> 01:44:52.035
[Tanya]   I went right
the fuck there.

2654
01:44:52.077 --> 01:44:54.496
Like, immediately,
I was on it.

2655
01:44:54.538 --> 01:44:57.249
Security at the place
that he was at

2656
01:44:57.291 --> 01:45:00.210
were not letting us in.
So I hopped the gate.

2657
01:45:00.252 --> 01:45:03.297
I'm running, because the place
that he was at

2658
01:45:03.338 --> 01:45:06.174
was a little bit further in
from the security gate.

2659
01:45:06.216 --> 01:45:08.760
And security is, like,
"Stop! Stop!"

2660
01:45:08.802 --> 01:45:11.346
And I was like,
"If you want to talk to me,

2661
01:45:11.388 --> 01:45:13.473
you better start running,
because I'm not stopping."

2662
01:45:13.515 --> 01:45:17.769
I got there, and he was dead.

2663
01:45:17.811 --> 01:45:22.691
[Ty]   I just remember
going in the room,

2664
01:45:22.733 --> 01:45:27.195
and he was still in the bed,
where he passed.

2665
01:45:27.237 --> 01:45:30.365
And I just wanted
to be next to him.

2666
01:45:30.407 --> 01:45:34.036
And I laid there
for about an hour,

2667
01:45:34.077 --> 01:45:35.537
just holding his hand,

2668
01:45:35.579 --> 01:45:39.499
before they came
to pick him up.

2669
01:45:39.541 --> 01:45:43.045
And everything was chaotic

2670
01:45:43.086 --> 01:45:45.380
outside of us, and I just said,

2671
01:45:45.422 --> 01:45:48.717
"Close the door.
I don't want anybody in here."

2672
01:45:48.759 --> 01:45:50.635
I don't think he tried
to OD, man.

2673
01:45:50.677 --> 01:45:52.763
He loved being alive.
We had things to do.

2674
01:45:52.804 --> 01:45:54.389
We were ready to go back
on the road.

2675
01:45:54.431 --> 01:45:56.350
That means we going back
in the studio.

2676
01:45:56.391 --> 01:45:57.851
Come over for some fresh shit.

2677
01:45:57.893 --> 01:46:00.604
Man, we--oh, we would have
killed them the next time out.

2678
01:46:00.645 --> 01:46:03.106
We never got there.
Almost.

2679
01:46:04.691 --> 01:46:06.360
[Stevie Wonder]   I love you,
Rick, for the time

2680
01:46:06.401 --> 01:46:08.987
that you stood
with my brother Calvin,

2681
01:46:09.029 --> 01:46:11.156
and the fun that y'all had
and the fun we had,

2682
01:46:11.198 --> 01:46:13.283
and the songs that you heard
of mine, that you said,

2683
01:46:13.325 --> 01:46:14.826
"Nah, I don't think
that's good enough.

2684
01:46:14.868 --> 01:46:15.994
You gotta do
something else with that."

2685
01:46:16.036 --> 01:46:17.287
[laughter]

2686
01:46:17.329 --> 01:46:19.706
[Teena]   I will forever
be linked

2687
01:46:19.748 --> 01:46:21.500
in the archives

2688
01:46:21.541 --> 01:46:26.004
of R&B history with this man.

2689
01:46:26.046 --> 01:46:28.507
[Tanya]    I love that people
came out to honor him

2690
01:46:28.548 --> 01:46:30.258
at the day of his death.

2691
01:46:30.300 --> 01:46:33.261
My contention is, though, with
all these powerful friends,

2692
01:46:33.303 --> 01:46:36.014
compadres, and connections--

2693
01:46:36.056 --> 01:46:38.433
when he was needing help,

2694
01:46:38.475 --> 01:46:40.769
when he was having trouble,

2695
01:46:40.811 --> 01:46:42.354
where were these people?

2696
01:46:42.396 --> 01:46:44.564
[Carmen]   Wasn't Mr. Perfect,
by far.

2697
01:46:44.606 --> 01:46:46.024
You know, he had
all the fallacies.

2698
01:46:46.066 --> 01:46:47.943
But he was a good guy,

2699
01:46:47.984 --> 01:46:50.028
and a very talented guy.

2700
01:46:50.070 --> 01:46:52.572
And I think that
if he would have been able

2701
01:46:52.614 --> 01:46:55.450
to shake that demon,
would still be strong today.

2702
01:46:55.492 --> 01:46:57.869
[JoJo]   Even in the adversity,

2703
01:46:57.911 --> 01:46:59.121
I learned a lot from him,

2704
01:46:59.162 --> 01:47:01.206
and I'm grateful.
I'm still--I mean,

2705
01:47:01.248 --> 01:47:04.918
I'm older now.
We mature--excuse me.

2706
01:47:07.129 --> 01:47:10.173
I told JoJo,
"If Rick were here,

2707
01:47:10.215 --> 01:47:12.926
and he asked me tomorrow,

2708
01:47:12.968 --> 01:47:14.344
'Why don't you come back?

2709
01:47:14.386 --> 01:47:16.513
We're taking the band
back out,' I'd go."

2710
01:47:16.555 --> 01:47:19.433
thoughtful bass music

2711
01:47:19.474 --> 01:47:24.771



2712
01:47:29.109 --> 01:47:31.194
[indistinct chatter]

2713
01:47:31.236 --> 01:47:32.779
[Oscar]   It took a lot of work,

2714
01:47:32.821 --> 01:47:34.614
because we were
all over the place.

2715
01:47:34.656 --> 01:47:36.825
I think because
we really realized

2716
01:47:36.867 --> 01:47:39.244
we're getting to the point
to where people

2717
01:47:39.286 --> 01:47:43.748
are asking for Rick's music
in a genuine sense again.

2718
01:47:43.790 --> 01:47:45.667
So we got together and said,
"Hey. Let's do it."

2719
01:47:45.709 --> 01:47:48.753
It feels great.
I love to play.

2720
01:47:48.795 --> 01:47:51.006
You know, that's
what we're are. We're players.

2721
01:47:51.047 --> 01:47:52.841
[host]   So without further ado,
I need everybody

2722
01:47:52.883 --> 01:47:54.009
to stand to your feet,

2723
01:47:54.050 --> 01:47:56.136
so we can bring them out
the Buffalo way.

2724
01:47:56.178 --> 01:47:58.180
Make some noise for my boys,

2725
01:47:58.221 --> 01:48:03.268
the Stone City Band!

2726
01:48:03.310 --> 01:48:05.979
[band playing
upbeat funky music]

2727
01:48:06.021 --> 01:48:11.401



2728
01:48:21.620 --> 01:48:23.872
Buffalo, are you in the house?

2729
01:48:23.914 --> 01:48:26.875
Guess who's back up in here
this evening.

2730
01:48:26.917 --> 01:48:28.668
We got the original boys.

2731
01:48:28.710 --> 01:48:30.045
Stone City Band.

2732
01:48:30.086 --> 01:48:31.505
Whoo.

2733
01:48:40.347 --> 01:48:41.389
[singers vocalizing]

2734
01:48:41.431 --> 01:48:43.391
What y'all smoking?

2735
01:48:44.184 --> 01:48:46.061
Oh, yeah

2736
01:48:46.102 --> 01:48:48.688
I'm in love with Mary Jane

2737
01:48:48.730 --> 01:48:51.399
She's my main thing

2738
01:48:51.441 --> 01:48:54.069
She makes me feel alright

2739
01:48:54.110 --> 01:48:56.655
She makes my heart sing

2740
01:48:56.696 --> 01:48:59.074
And when I'm feeling low

2741
01:48:59.115 --> 01:49:02.035
She comes as no surprise

2742
01:49:02.077 --> 01:49:04.454
Turns me on with her love

2743
01:49:04.496 --> 01:49:09.668
Takes me to paradise

2744
01:49:11.169 --> 01:49:14.256
Do you love me Mary Jane?

2745
01:49:14.297 --> 01:49:16.716
[interviewer]   Had you become
the Rick James character?

2746
01:49:16.758 --> 01:49:18.260
[Rick]   Yeah.
I think that was the problem,

2747
01:49:18.301 --> 01:49:20.804
was I was trying to live out
the Rick James character.

2748
01:49:20.845 --> 01:49:22.514
And if you try to hang out with
Rick James, you're in trouble.

2749
01:49:22.556 --> 01:49:24.474
Mary Jane

2750
01:49:24.516 --> 01:49:27.852
Don't you play no games

2751
01:49:27.894 --> 01:49:29.187
Whoo

2752
01:49:29.229 --> 01:49:31.815
Mary Jane

2753
01:49:31.856 --> 01:49:34.859
I love her just the same

2754
01:49:34.901 --> 01:49:36.486
Mary Jane

2755
01:49:36.528 --> 01:49:40.156
dramatic hip hop music

2756
01:49:40.198 --> 01:49:42.367
[Taz]   I was at a party.

2757
01:49:42.409 --> 01:49:45.870
I think I might
have been, like, 14.

2758
01:49:45.912 --> 01:49:49.624
And everybody was rapping.
And I started rapping.

2759
01:49:49.666 --> 01:49:54.421
And the whole crowd
of people spun around,

2760
01:49:54.462 --> 01:49:56.381
and all of a sudden
I was just, like,

2761
01:49:56.423 --> 01:49:58.049
in the middle of this crowd,

2762
01:49:58.091 --> 01:50:00.427
and they're all, like,
so mesmerized.

2763
01:50:00.468 --> 01:50:01.636
That was the first time I was,
like "Whoa.

2764
01:50:01.678 --> 01:50:03.471
Maybe I can do this shit."

2765
01:50:03.513 --> 01:50:05.056
'Cause I saw my dad do it
for so long.

2766
01:50:05.098 --> 01:50:07.475
No matter what you say
about how he lived,

2767
01:50:07.517 --> 01:50:09.728
you know, drug-wise,
sex-wise, whatever,

2768
01:50:09.769 --> 01:50:11.813
but he's a fucking legend.

2769
01:50:11.855 --> 01:50:14.149
If my dad was here today,

2770
01:50:14.190 --> 01:50:15.900
I'm sure he would,
you know what I'm saying,

2771
01:50:15.942 --> 01:50:18.862
have a million things to say:
"Do what feels right.

2772
01:50:18.903 --> 01:50:21.448
Don't correct yourself
for whoever you are.

2773
01:50:21.489 --> 01:50:23.199
Just do what feels
right to you.

2774
01:50:23.241 --> 01:50:24.826
Do what's natural."

2775
01:50:29.372 --> 01:50:32.042
upbeat funky music

2776
01:50:32.083 --> 01:50:37.505



2777
01:51:40.151 --> 01:51:42.404
What's your favorite
Rick James record?

2778
01:51:42.445 --> 01:51:44.030
"You and I."

2779
01:51:44.072 --> 01:51:46.574
[laughter]

2780
01:51:46.616 --> 01:51:48.201
Why "You and I"?

2781
01:51:48.243 --> 01:51:51.246
Why is "You and I" your
favorite Rick James record?

2782
01:51:51.287 --> 01:51:53.540
I just like the sound of it,

2783
01:51:53.581 --> 01:51:56.042
the melody, the rhythm.

2784
01:51:56.084 --> 01:51:57.627
-It makes me move.
-It makes you feel good?

2785
01:51:57.669 --> 01:52:00.422
-It makes me feel good.
-[laughter]

2786
01:52:00.463 --> 01:52:02.090
What's your favorite
Rick James record?

2787
01:52:02.132 --> 01:52:03.925
Oh, my favorite is

2788
01:52:03.967 --> 01:52:06.845
-Cold--mm-do-do--Blooded.
-Do it again.

2789
01:52:06.886 --> 01:52:08.722
-[Charisma]   Do it again.
-[laughter]

2790
01:52:08.763 --> 01:52:10.515
-[Ty]    Do-do-doo
-[Jasmine]    Blooded

2791
01:52:10.557 --> 01:52:12.225
Oh, it's the best.

2792
01:52:12.267 --> 01:52:13.435
-[Ty]   Oh, my God.
-[Jasmine]   I love that song.

2793
01:52:13.476 --> 01:52:15.270
It just has--oh, my gosh.

2794
01:52:15.311 --> 01:52:19.857
The beat to it. Yeah.