More than two decades after the release of his last single, listeners will be able to hear a new James Brown song. Titled “We Got To Change,” the song is a lost track by the musical pioneer, recorded in Miami at Criteria Studios on August 16, 1970. UMe will debut “We Got To Change” on February 16, 2024 in unison with A&E’s James Brown: Say it Loud, a 4-episode documentary, premiering February 19 and 20, 2024.
The track was recorded with the core original J.B.’s, Brown’s band from the 70s and 80s, including Bootsy Collins, his brother Catfish, and Clyde “Give the Drummer Some” Stubblefield, a.k.a. The Funky Drummer. Looking at its place in Brown’s musical history, the song was recorded in-between early 1970 tracks “Sex Machine” and “Super Bad” and late 1970-early 1971 tracks “Talkin’ Loud and Sayin’ Nothing,” “Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved” and “Soul Power.” “We Got To Change” is available to pre-save now.
James Brown: Say It Loud is a two-night documentary event tracing the trajectory of Brown’s life and career from his beginnings as a 7th-grade drop-out in the Jim Crow-era South to becoming an entertainment legend with a unique impact on history and culture. The new documentary features never-before-seen archival interviews and performances, plus interviews with friends, family, musicians, and proteges including The Rolling Stones’ legendary frontman Mick Jagger, Questlove, Bootsy Collins, LL Cool J, The Rev. Al Sharpton, Public Enemy’s Chuck D, Dallas Austin, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, his children Deanna, Yamma and Larry Brown, and many more.
James Brown: Say It Loud was directed by Deborah Riley Draper (The Legacy of Black Wall Street, Versailles ’73: American Runway Revolution) and executive produced by Mick Jagger, Academy Award winner Ahmir ‘Questlove’ Thompson, Tariq ‘Black Thought’ Trotter, Peter Afterman, David Blackman, Victoria Pearman, Bruce Resnikoff, Shawn Gee, Zarah Zohlman, Charlie Cohen, and Mari Keiko Gonzalez.
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