Entertainment
Deborah Riley Draper on the Making of Say It Loud: A Deep Dive into the Legacy of James Brown

Deborah Riley Draper directed “James Brown: Say It Loud,” a four-part documentary series produced by QuestLove and Mick Jagger. Courtesy
Deborah Riley Draper is a pioneering filmmaker with a talent for unearthing compelling narratives that bring cultural history to life. With roots in promoting and a passion for storytelling, Draper has carved out a distinct segment for herself in the documentary world, highlighting the wealthy and sometimes ignored features of African American heritage. Characterized by in-depth research and vivid storytelling, her work has gained critical acclaim and established her as a robust voice in historical documents.
In her recognized documental series Draper dives into the electrifying life of the legendary James Brown. The film takes viewers on an exciting journey through the ups and downs of Brown’s storied profession, from his humble beginnings to his meteoric rise as the “Godfather of Soul.” Draper combines archival footage, insightful interviews and expert commentary to create a narrative that not only celebrates Brown’s spirit and musical genius, but in addition highlights his pivotal role in Civil Rights Movement. Through her lens, Brown emerges not only as an entertainment icon, but in addition as a life force for social change, as his music and activism intertwine into the tapestry of American history.
Draper’s portrayal of Brown is each intimate and expansive, offering a multi-layered exploration of the man behind the music. The documentary highlights Brown’s dynamic performances, his constant motivation and his lasting impact on music and culture. By placing Brown’s story in the broader sociopolitical context of his time, Draper presents a nuanced and comprehensive portrait that goes beyond his stage persona to disclose the complexity of his legacy.
Ahead of the Emmy Awards, Draper shared with Essence details of the meticulous research and inventive decisions behind the craft, offering a behind-the-scenes have a look at the making of the documentary. She shared anecdotes from interviews with those that knew Brown best, discussed the challenges of portraying such a various figure, and explained how she managed to reconcile the musical and sociopolitical features of his life. This conversation shed light on Draper’s commitment to preserving and honoring African American history through her insightful storytelling, and her insights undoubtedly deepen our appreciation of each her work and the legacy of James Brown.

ESSENCE: What inspired you to delve into the life and legacy of James Brown for this docuseries?
Riley-Draper: James Brown played a pivotal role for the Black community on and off stage during critical moments of the Civil Rights Movement and in conveying the message of the Black Power Movement and hip-hop. When I believe of James Brown, I believe of my father, who was born in rural South Carolina and raised in Georgia. I believe of my uncles and cousins who held James Brown in high esteem not only as a singer but in addition as a black man who, despite seemingly insurmountable odds, was capable of achieve global fame. He is an incredible example of the lived experience of Black America; is a masterclass in work ethic and self-determination, and that alone is value exploring.
How did you come to work with executive producers QuestLove and Mick Jagger and what unique perspectives did they create to the project?
Questlove and Mick Jagger were already executive producers after I joined the project as director. They each have a deep knowledge of music history, especially James Brown. So it was my responsibility to seek out recent features of James Brown’s life and present them in recent and exciting ways. I loved reaching back to Questlove and Mick Jagger’s early exposure to James Brown’s music and the way it impacted their trajectory and position as artists and entrepreneurs as an instance its generational and global impact.
What challenges did you face in attempting to capture the essence of James Brown’s story in a four-part series?
James Brown definitely has enough life to fill an eight-part series. The challenge was to decide on which storylines to focus on with a view to give the audience as much as possible in 4 episodes, while maintaining energy and a coherent story and creating episodic cliffhangers. Because James Brown’s journey is so intertwined with the Black experience and a few of the most transformative moments in American history, I needed to create space for historical context in order that viewers could understand his decisions, actions, and reactions.
Can you highlight any particularly surprising or lesser-known features of James Brown’s life and profession that viewers can expect to see on Say It Loud?
I used to be surprised to learn that in the late Nineteen Sixties, James Brown created the Black and Brown trade stamps in collaboration with Oakland Raider Art Powell and Donald Warden, who were co-founders of the African American Association, the most fundamental institution of the Black Power movement. Members included Huey P. Newton, Bobby Seale and the parents of U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris. The front of the stamps featured James Brown’s face and encouraged support for black businesses. In its first yr, the enterprise grew to incorporate 1,000 dealers throughout California, generating over $1 million in sales.
How do you think that James Brown’s influence extends beyond the realm of music and into broader cultural and social landscapes?
From his hairstyle to his impeccable fashion sense, James Brown created a design that inspired his fans to emulate for generations. He was the first African American to own a non-public jet. He expanded what the American Dream can mean for marginalized communities. Dozens of entrepreneurs from James Brown’s restaurant owners, restaurants and record labels. Additionally, James Brown ought to be a Harvard Business School case study in marketing and branding. He understood the power of using his name and image in packaging, merchandise, and the musical performances he produced.
What archival materials or interviews were crucial in piecing together the narrative of James Brown’s life, and the way did you ensure the accuracy and authenticity of your portrayal?
I’m a researcher. I start with primary source material. I reviewed a whole lot of hours of interviews, listened to studio conversations, read a long time of newspaper accounts, and studied photos. The interviews were useful because I used to be capable of hear from James Brown and turn out to be accustomed to his body language, inflection and word alternative. It was very eloquent and informative. That’s why I selected James Brown as director to take us through each episode. James Brown brings his story to life. Our stories too often fall victim to reductive and reactive storytelling. Through archival footage, we witness James Brown say what he feels and “Say it loud.”

As a filmmaker, what do you hope audiences take away from Say It Loud in terms of understanding James Brown’s impact on music, activism and popular culture?
In November 1969, the cover of Look magazine asked the query: Is James Brown the most vital black man in America? I need viewers to know that James Brown was one of the most vital black men of the twentieth century. His music liberated our community and transformed us from Negro to Black people. This transformation was significant after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, King, when our community had to know what the future might hold. The anthem “Say it Loud” is timeless and a staple in each the late Nineteen Sixties and today. During the summer of 2020, the lyrics and meaning of the song were chanted repeatedly. Without James Brown, would Janelle Monae, Usher and Bruno Mars exist as we all know them? Would hip-hop exist without James Brown, especially considering how foundational “Funky Drummer” is? James Brown had over 15,000 samples taken – that speaks for itself.
How did you approach balancing the celebration of James Brown’s achievements with a nuanced exploration of his personal struggles and controversies?
James Brown’s life began with trauma – he was stillborn. He struggled with internal and external challenges to get his life together. Like most human beings, his life is a road map full of right turns and just a few mistaken ones. The essence is to make use of your good and bad decisions as a lifelong curriculum. His life experience teaches us about ambition, trauma, fame, anger, blackness, anti-blackness, and work ethic. We have to see and understand what went mistaken in the same way we see what went right – that is how we unpack life.
What importance do you see in telling James Brown’s story now, especially in today’s sociopolitical climate?
When “Say it Loud” was written in 1968, the African-American community was in mourning and needed something tangible to positively mobilize. The Black community feared that civil rights gains could be rolled back. Then and now. The tenets of James Brown’s activism focused on education, pride in all things black, self-empowerment, and constructing systems and institutions that serve the needs of the black community. He believed that those that experienced celebrity owed their fans and viewers examples and paths for constructing community and thriving through educational and ownership opportunities.
How do you think that James Brown’s legacy continues to resonate with audiences each old and recent, and what does it mean for future generations?
James Brown’s work ethic, commitment and commitment to community are master class. Excellence in craftsmanship and exertions never gets old. He is the original of one.
Entertainment
Original quiet storm – and scape

When Robert Fllack took part within the Supergows within the early seventies, she was a sort of anomalies. A classically trained pianist, vocalist and talented song stylist didn’t fit easily in a rough decade of probably the artistic tip of the rhythm, blues and funk. And yet Flack, who died on February 25 At the age of 88 After a brief fight with ALS, she achieved probably the most recognized runs within the history of music on her own delicate, intraosphere.
In 1972, the previous teacher won her first hit No. 1, her two -year haunting version “I saw your face for the primary time. “The song received a brand new life after the actor-director Clint Eastwood presented him in his film from 1971. This song would win the Grammy Award for the yr of the yr in 1973.
Flack won the second record of the yr the next yr for her painful global SMASH “Killing me quietly together with his songMaking her the one solo act that won the celebrated category. Just a number of years earlier, Flack cut out his teeth as a performer of the Night Club in Washington in meetings equivalent to Mr. Henry. Her voice was as lavish as sensitive. Entertainment didn’t see her how she was coming.
“I did not try to be a singer Soul, a jazz singer, blues singer – Uncategorized,” she said in an interview in 2020. “My music is my expression of what I feel and believe in a moment.”
Dedicated Flack’s subtlety and a serious conviction as a song translator within the tradition of Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra and Nina Simone sometimes prompted musical critics to perceive her as an old skool strangeness in Eia R&B R&B Arehga Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Sly Stone, Curtis Mayfield and Gladys. However, it was Flack’s musical dexterity that allowed her to develop within the industry willing to attract artists.
Sam on the Flack keyboard was hypnotic, master of space and stimulation. She could again imagine all the arrangement of famous songs and make her her own. Vernon Reid, guitarist award -winning Grammy and leader of the Black Hard Rock Band Living Color, He talked about Flack’s boundless artistic trail. “In a better world? Robert’s flack would be considered a pioneer in the field of environment music, as well as jazz, folk and soul, “he wrote in social media.
When Flack joined forces with the singer, songwriter and arranger Donny Hathaway, the couple created magic. The duo would sell over one million copies of its recognized album (1972), supported by hit No. 5 Billboard Hot 100 “Where is love“, Which raised one other Grammy to Flack to get one of the best pop performance of a duo or group with vocals.

Gab/Redferns archive
Flack and Hathaway shared a deep friendship (they each attended Howard University), which went beyond studio cooperation. However, the duo also turned out to be greater than romanticists in times of law-civil rights, driving together strengthening “Al Black for me“With Charles Mann.
Then there have been other classic duets: “The closer I’m approaching you“” “Together again“And”You are my heaven– Hathaway’s last song would record before her premature death on January 13, 1979. “We were deeply connected creatively,” said Flack in 2022. “He could play everything, sing everything. Our musical synergy was different than (whatever) that I had earlier or since then. “
Before her profession, Robert Flack was the famous POP-R & B icon. The plan consisted in passing classical music, she remembered in an interview in 2022. “My true ambition was to grow to be a concert pianist … and playing in Schumann, Bach and Chopin – romantics. They were my guys – she said.
However, Flack was pushed by teachers in order to not proceed his profession in a largely classic white scene as a black woman. After survival, Flack was discovered through the concert live by the jazz pianist Les McCann, who brought her to Atlantic Records. It was signed in 1968.
Flack was also one in all the early voices of the developing quiet sound of the storm. Her charmingly sensual, co -produced single from 1974 “Feel love“He became one other hit No. 1 Hot 100, ultimately moving to a beloved jazz standard covered by various artists, including Isaac Hayes, Roy Ayers, Gladys Knight & The Pips, George Benson and D’Angelo.
In the eighties, Flack settled in a simple -to -help balladra because of its twenty -thematic song for the film Making Love (1982) and a marriage hit with Peobo Bryson “Tonight, and Celebrate My Love”. Meanwhile, children of the hip-hop age were the resignation of the wealthy Flack catalog. BD Markie tried “Back Together” for his camp song “Spring Again”. Fugees, from Lauryn Hill on the primary vocals, enjoyed an enormous world hit No. 1 with the Grammy obtained by the duvet from Bompo-Bap from 1996 “Killing me quietly together with his song. ”
When Flack appeared unexpected with L Boogie, Wykelef and the press on the stage 1996 MTV Movie AwardsThe audience broke out.
Even when most Flack’s artists can be completely happy with having fun with the fruit of their childbirth, she was still an interesting stylist. Her fifteenth and last studio album, 2012, saw how she modified the classics of the Beatles. It is sweet that the artist who received tribute On the opposite side of the musical spectrum Definitely categories.
In total, Flack has collected six gold albums, one platinum, a double set of platinum and a string of unpunished hits. But industrial success is simply a part of its influence.
“For me it is not only singing a song well, it means every word personally”, Flack opened in an interview in 2022. “My goal is to share my sensitive history and encourage the audience to feel my own stories when they are moved when they listen to my music.”
Mission achieved, Mrs. Flack.
Entertainment
Cardi B wins the settlement for a million dollars in a defamation case against YouTuber

Cardi B finally sees a certain closure in his long -term legal battle with the blogger Gossip Tasha K. Three years after winning a verdict price $ 4 million, the rapper secured the contract for almost $ 1.2 million payments in the next five years. The judge approved on Monday the reorganization plan of chapter 11, which implies a significant step in the pursuit of Cardi, Rolling Stone reports.
Pursuant to the Tasha K – whose real name is Latasha Kebe – pays monthly Cardi installments, ranging from 176 532 USD in the first 12 months and can increase to $ 318 653 to the fifth 12 months. The plan is placed by Cardi, whose real name is Belcalis Almánzar, in a priority position just like IRS, while other creditors receive annual payments.
But the settlement just isn’t only money. Tasha K also agreed to stop “deceptive, discrediting or defamatory” comments about card or her family. This limitation covers all its platforms, including its YouTube channels “Uncevithtashak” “Podcast in the basement with wines “ AND “Tasha K live”.
This agreement takes place after the bitter legal saga, which began in 2019, when Cardi filed a defamation against Tash K, accusing her of disseminating harmful lies, including claims that Cardi had herpes, used cocaine and worked as a prostitute. In court, Cardi testified that slanderous statements led to anxiety, depression and problems in her personal relationships. She told the jury: “Every day I had suicidal thoughts, to the extent that I felt that I was a burden for my family.”
Despite the payment plan, Cardi doesn’t leave the full judgment price $ 4 million. After the end of the five -year contract, he maintains the right to perform the remaining balance. If Tasha K doesn’t make a payment, Cardi can potentially decorate her wages and even press the next bankruptcy case.
The lawyer Cardi, Lisa Moore, celebrated the result, saying: “Today it means the end of the long -term chapter of lies, fraud and fraudulent transport from Tasha K, her husband and their entities. This protective plan ensures that Cardi gets what is guilty. “
Meanwhile, the lawyer Tasha K, Chad Van Horn, called the settlement a “milestone” and emphasized that he allowed his client to “focus on her work, while paying back creditors in an organized”. Billboard.

(Tagstranslate) cardi b
Entertainment
Paris – Care: Devanna Bonner and Alyssa Thomas – Essence

Photography Ariel Cobbert
If there may be love and basketball 2, let or not it’s based on the love story of Alyssa Thomas and Dewanna Bonner. WNBA Supergisters who play within the Connecticut Suns band have been together for 4 years-I even have been involved since WNBA All-Star Weekend in 2023.
So how did they meet for the primary time? “Of course, I knew her from basketball – playing with each other in WNBA,” explains Dewanna, between Giggles, on the phone. “She swore that I had persecuted her social media.” But it wasn’t. Dewanna innocently checked out the stories of Alyssa – like everyone else. “I didn’t even know that people see how you watched their story,” he says.
After Dewanna told her friend that Alyssa crushed, a friend spilled, “and it happened from there,” explains Dewanna. But for a very long time they remained “only friends”. Then in 2020 Dewanna signed the signing of the sun. “We had nothing but to meet ourselves,” he says. “And this led this current path.”
Not only have they found true love within the last 4 years, but skilled athletes are grateful that they will do what they like to work. “Playing basketball as your work – what better work is?” Alyssa exclaims. “I was lucky to travel around the world and play in countries that I probably never imagined visiting. Basketball took me on a journey. ” Dewanna resembles these feelings. “I also love that my two daughters can watch how I play and do something I love,” he adds. “Hope is that they will play one day. And you don’t have to enter the office every day, it’s also nice. ”
Because two, mainly, colleagues have to know that maintaining their relationship in health lies in balance, with an emphasis on caring for themselves and a pair. “It is difficult to balance your relationship and work,” says Alyssa. “We always play. We are always in the game mode. But when we leave the gym, we try to disconnect from basketball, do other things together and not think about it so much. ”
On the opposite side he says: “It is also important to know when we need time alone. It’s about doing what we can to be the best versions of ourselves so that we can have the best relationship. ” Here, the dream team describes intimately the practices of biological renewal that keep their relationship in freshness after they juggle skilled basketball, parenting and more.

Their favorite memory of care
Dewanna: When we were abroad for her thirtieth birthday, she was in the course of a reasonably intense season. In 4 seasons we decided to make a stand to have a good time her birthday and rest. We checked in there, we got a pleasant view – and we reserved a SPA visit. It was very relaxing. I just broke away from my mind and made us feel at home. We stopped there for 2 or three days, simply ordered the room service and we were a bit visible.
Their individual self -care routine
Dewanna: I’m a lady with nails. I’ll at all times be beautiful and I really like spending time just relaxing. But I do not really have much downtime, especially when I’m out of season. Almost my children are on a regular basis. But after I toss them in school, I’m or …
Alyssa: – In bed.
Dewanna: Or, as today – I’m going to search out a nail shop. I also love walking across the goal and be a mother. Honestly, I’m looking forward to the day after I retire, and then I generally is a mother remaining at home.
Alyssa: In order to self -care, I wish to describe our cars intimately. It is a way for me to easily hyperfocus on something and take off my mind every thing that happens in basketball or on the planet. In addition, at any time when I even have the chance to take a seat outside and hearken to music, I do it. I’m big in listening to music.
Their common routine
Alyssa: He spends loads of time sitting outside, relaxing, going to the movie. Everything we are able to do to disconnect from basketball.
Dewanna: We are Queen of SPA. If there may be a spa somewhere, we’re definitely going. We also attempt to disconnect from basketball and have dating nights and go to our favourite restaurants and similar things. I believe it’s about one another – understanding what he needs in a relationship to attain success. How can I be the perfect version of myself and ensure that we’re still developing?
Self -care lessons they learned from one another
Dewanna: It helps me with my anxiety, especially within the season. I’m an individual with high stress-not only within the season, but generally. I don’t love unknown things. I believe it calms me down and jogs my memory that every thing will work out. And at all times like that.
Alyssa: I at all times say it’s my conscience. In the basketball season I’m quite intense and I would like to win. He at all times talks to me to think much more concerning the things I said or did, which I probably would not think twice.
Cosmetic products they presented to themselves
Dewanna: Alyssa definitely improved my skincare routine. At first I wasn’t big on it. I felt like I had naturally good skin, so I just washed my face anything and placed on a moisturizing cream. She told me: “You need it and you need it. It is for this and it is for it. “I believed,” Oh, God. ” Now he just orders all skincare, and I just use it. I do not know much about this stuff, but she is on thicket and loves it. He finds all this information there. But I refuse to get a tiktok because I don’t desire to get hooked on it.
-
Press Release11 months ago
CEO of 360WiSE Launches Mentorship Program in Overtown Miami FL
-
Press Release11 months ago
U.S.-Africa Chamber of Commerce Appoints Robert Alexander of 360WiseMedia as Board Director
-
Business and Finance9 months ago
The Importance of Owning Your Distribution Media Platform
-
Business and Finance11 months ago
360Wise Media and McDonald’s NY Tri-State Owner Operators Celebrate Success of “Faces of Black History” Campaign with Over 2 Million Event Visits
-
Ben Crump11 months ago
Another lawsuit accuses Google of bias against Black minority employees
-
Theater11 months ago
Telling the story of the Apollo Theater
-
Ben Crump11 months ago
Henrietta Lacks’ family members reach an agreement after her cells undergo advanced medical tests
-
Ben Crump11 months ago
The families of George Floyd and Daunte Wright hold an emotional press conference in Minneapolis
-
Theater11 months ago
Applications open for the 2020-2021 Soul Producing National Black Theater residency – Black Theater Matters
-
Theater9 months ago
Cultural icon Apollo Theater sets new goals on the occasion of its 85th anniversary