E-mail a friendOscar Brown, Jr.
airdate February 18, 2005
Singer, composer, actor, playwright, director - Oscar Brown, Jr. "did his thing" in the entertainment industry for more than half a century. At age 15, the Chicago native made his debut in a national network radio series. At 21, while broadcasting news about "America's largest minority" on his Negro Newsfront radio program, Brown started composing songs as a hobby. He also began taking part in amateur theater productions as a singer, actor and director. He composed hundreds of songs and numerous full-length features.
Oscar Brown, Jr.
Tavis: It's a pleasure to welcome legendary R&B and jazz musician Oscar Brown, Jr. to this program. Tonight, here in Los Angeles, he's being honored with the 2005 Pan African Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award. Oscar Brown, Jr. is also the subject of the documentary 'Music is My Life, Politics My Mistress.' You gotta love that title. His latest CD is called 'We're Live,' and in just a few minutes, he will perform live for us. But first, a short conversation with our friend, Oscar Brown, Jr.
Oscar Brown, Jr.: Thank you, Tavis.
Tavis: Nice to have you here.
Brown: A pleasure to be here.
Tavis: That's, like, the coolest name ever--Oscar Brown, Jr.
Brown: Well, thank you.
Tavis: Congratulations on this lifetime achievement award.
Brown: Thank you very much.
Tavis: Yeah. Why you?
Brown: I don't know.
Tavis: Ha ha! Nobody asked me.
Brown: Longevity has a lot to do with it. Hangin' around.
Tavis: Yeah, yeah. Um...your music is powerful. I can't wait to hear this performance that you're gonna share with us here momentarily. Because lyrical content for you seems terribly important.
Brown: Mm-hmm. That's--I'm lyric driven. It started when I was a kid. I used to write heartbroken songs when a girl would break my heart.
Tavis: Yeah.
Brown: The kids would listen to me, and that's how I just got kinda started in that. By the time I got to college, I flunked everything but English composition.
Tavis: Mm.
Brown: But I could write a poem when they wanted 100-word theme. So I found I had a talent for doing that, and I pursued it.
Tavis: Yeah. What do you think that young people today do not understand about the value, the worth of words?
Brown: Well, it's getting better, to tell you the truth, Tavis. Well, when I started, they would say, "Oscar, you know, these kids, you got nice lyrics. But these kids aren't listenin' to words. They're only listening to the beat."
Tavis: Mm-hmm.
Brown: Well, since rap came along, I haven't heard that. Because words have become important to young people, and I'm gonna be on the 'Def Poetry Jam' for the third time, you know, next week or so. So there seems to be a renewed interest in words.
Tavis: Right.
Brown: I think it's gotta go much further, of course.
Tavis: Right. There are a lot of folk who see you as the father of rap. You were doin' this thing long before 'Def Poetry Jam' came around.
Brown: Well, that's--I've been told that. I don't know that that's the case. I am just one in the line. I mean, they were rappin' when I got here. 'Signifying Monkey,' I was credited with having written that. But I took that from folklore that had been around a long time. So the same with a lot of these songs.
Tavis: Mm-hmm. Tell me about HIP, the human improvement potential.
Brown: Oh, well, that's just a phrase I coined. I think the problem right now seems to be that we are being led by squares...
Tavis: Mm-hmm.
Brown: And what we need is some hip people. Heh heh. HIP as human improvement potential--if what you're doing has improvement potential, then it's HIP.
Tavis: Yeah.
Brown: If it doesn't, obviously, it's not.
Tavis: It's not, yeah. Ha ha ha! And how does one judge that?
Brown: Well, I think that by their results, by their fruits, by what you're doing.
Tavis: Yeah.
Brown: If you're tryin' to help people, if you're tryin' to improve the situation, then, of course, that's gonna show. That's gonna tell in your acts and what you actually accomplished.
Tavis: Your fans have to love you. You, like, not long ago, put all your stuff out on the Internet for free, basically.
Brown: Well, that's comin' up. It hasn't happened yet. My children are giving me a little resistance.
Tavis: Oh, yeah. But you were going to. Your kids slowed you down.
Brown: Well, a trifle. But no. I'm still determined to do that.
Tavis: Why do that?
Brown: Well, I'm interested in the music being heard.
Tavis: Yeah.
Brown: I'm interested in it being performed.
Tavis: Right.
Brown: The music industry didn't pay me to do this. I did this pretty much on my own sorta in spite of them in a way. So now I own all this stuff, and I can do with it as I please.
Tavis: Right, I got you. He does own it, and he writes it and performs it, and we are delighted that Oscar Brown, Jr. is here and will perform for us in just a moment. Never enough time to talk with this guy. It just means you gotta come back again. So we can talk more. But I had to leave some time to hear him perform one of his classic songs. Stay with us.
As we say good night, here is Oscar Brown, Jr., accompanied on the piano by Dapole Tory Mireaux, performing 'People of Soul.' Enjoy. Good night from Los Angeles, and keep the faith.
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