There It Is
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Album Summary
James Brown laid down 'There It Is' during one of the most combustible creative runs in soul music history — a stretch in the early 1970s when the Godfather was releasing albums like a man on a mission, moving with full creative authority under Polydor Records after leaving his long tenure at King. Recorded in 1972 and produced by Brown himself, as was his uncompromising custom, the album showcased his relentless grip on every element of the music — the arrangements, the energy, the vision. His legendary touring band the J.B.'s served as the rhythmic engine driving these sessions, locking into the kind of deep, rolling funk architecture that only Brown could command. At a time when he stood as one of the most commercially vital Black artists in America, this album arrived as further proof that James Brown was not slowing down for anybody.
Reception
- The title track performed well on the R&B charts upon its single release, consistent with Brown's commanding dominance of Black radio throughout the early 1970s — a run that few artists before or since have matched.
- Critics of the era acknowledged the album as a strong entry in Brown's catalog, though the sheer velocity of his release schedule made it challenging for any one record to be elevated above the rest as a singular landmark.
- Brown's commercial momentum in 1972 remained formidable, with his ability to consistently deliver charting R&B material keeping him a towering presence on Black radio even as mainstream rock criticism largely passed his work by.
Significance
- The album stands as a vital chapter in Brown's ongoing codification of funk as a fully realized genre — built on interlocking rhythmic parts, stripped-down harmonic movement, and a percussive low end that would shape the sound of the entire decade and beyond.
- Released during a powerful moment of Black cultural assertiveness in America, the album's raw, self-produced character placed Brown squarely in alignment with the spirit of Black artistic and economic self-determination that defined the era.
- 'There It Is' represents the continued evolution of Brown's role not just as a performer but as an architect — a man who understood that the groove itself was the statement, and that no outside hand was needed to shape his artistic truth.
Samples
- There It Is (Part 1) — one of the most heavily sampled grooves in hip-hop history, with its drum patterns, vocal exclamations, and rhythmic foundation appearing across countless rap and R&B recordings from the 1980s onward
- There It Is (Part 2) — sampled across numerous hip-hop productions, contributing its raw funk energy to the breakbeat tradition that defined early and golden age rap music
Tracklist
-
A There It Is (Part 1) —
3:05
-
B There It Is (Part 2) —
2:47
Artist Details
James Brown, the self-proclaimed Godfather of Soul, rose up out of Barnwell, South Carolina, and by the early 1960s had set the whole world on fire with a raw, sweat-drenched blend of gospel fervor, rhythm and blues grit, and a rhythmic intensity that would eventually birth the very foundation of funk itself. His band was so tight, so deeply locked in the groove, that Brown virtually invented a new musical language — one built on syncopated rhythm, punishing horn stabs, and a vocal ferocity that no human being had any right to possess — and that language went on to shape soul, funk, hip-hop, and beyond. James Brown wasn't just a musician; he was a cultural earthquake, a symbol of Black pride and power whose anthem "Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud" landed in 1968 like a thunderclap across a nation in the thick of the Civil Rights Movement, cementing his place not just in music history, but in the very story of America itself.
