The late singer’s daughter Deanna tells PEOPLE her dad is the “most sampled artist”
James Brown may be known as the “Godfather of Soul,” but those who knew him as “Daddy” are making sure his influence continues to be recognized.
Speaking exclusively to PEOPLE ahead of A&E’s four-part docuseries, James Brown: Say it loudtwo of his daughters, Deanna Brown and Dr. Yamma Brown, say music wouldn’t be where it is today if it weren’t for their father.
“There would be no hip-hop. There would be no rapping because he’s the artist with the most samples,” says Deanna, 55. “There would be no Michael [Jackson]there would be no Usher, there would be no Chris Brown — all these people who were taking from him.”
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Usher; Michael Jackson — Super Bowl halftime performers.
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“I mean, where would that be? You can ask a lot of these musicians, they’ll tell you the same thing. It would probably be zero. I think that LL [Cool J] she says that in the documentary the trajectory of the music would be — she can’t even imagine where it would be without James Brown,” she continues.
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James Brown, September 2004.
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Referring to the “Around the Way Girl” rapper, Yamma, 52, also adds, “And I think that’s the key thing that you take from what LL Cool J said, it would have been very different. Who knows what would have happened? ”
She notes that her late father started his career “so long ago.”
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Yamma tells PEOPLE she’s “grateful” that her father — who died on Christmas Day 2006 at age 73 — “created” funk and influenced other genres, “hip-hop definitely being one of them.”
Yamma Brown, Adrienne Rodriguez, James Brown and Deanna Brown Thomas; February 1992.
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But she said that while many musicians were influenced by his craft, his influence extended far beyond the entertainment industry.
Yamma said: “Someone sitting at home might be watching this and thinking, ‘His story is not so different from mine and look what he’s done.’ And if you can inspire someone to be the greatest that they can be, that’s amazing.”
She added: “I just wish he was still here to see some of this. He wouldn’t believe it. He wouldn’t believe it.”
‘James Brown Say It Loud’.
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James Brown: Say it loud will air on A&E on Monday, February 19, and Tuesday, February 20 at 8:00 PM EST.
In it, both Yamma and Deanna fondly reminisce about their childhood with their parents.
“I could hear him, how he talked to different people, how he wanted his business to be run. I learned a lot putting those rollers in his hair,” Deanna says of the “life lessons” she learned from her father while on the way.
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Source: HIS Education