Rick James came from the ghetto in a Rust Belt whose best years were gone by the time he was born. He used his appreciation for soul, blues, disco and rock to create his own style of funk. He was good, but he had a taste for drugs and was willing to pay any price to stay high. Drugs ruined his life, the lives of the women who got close to him, and hurt his kids.
This documentary does, as many of the reviewers have said, show the best of him while ignoring his many instances of violence against women. However, James was a lot more than a violent man, and the women whom he attacked were there for sex and drugs. He didn't lure them to his house. Drugs, drugs and more drugs caused those women to be hurt and they killed Rick James. He was just lucky enough to make it past the 27 Club,
Also, he was absolutely right about MTV destroying the exposure of his music to white Americans. Before the corporatization of music in the 1980s, the same radio station would play everything from jazz to blues to Motown to country. It was easier to hear black artists on popular stations. MTV virtually destroyed his ability to grow in popularity by refusing to play his music. (So too did it destroy many other funk and jazz artists),
However, at the end of the day, the person who destroyed Rick James was Rick James. And, along the way, he took a lot of other people down the road of pain paved by cocaine.
This documentary does, as many of the reviewers have said, show the best of him while ignoring his many instances of violence against women. However, James was a lot more than a violent man, and the women whom he attacked were there for sex and drugs. He didn't lure them to his house. Drugs, drugs and more drugs caused those women to be hurt and they killed Rick James. He was just lucky enough to make it past the 27 Club,
Also, he was absolutely right about MTV destroying the exposure of his music to white Americans. Before the corporatization of music in the 1980s, the same radio station would play everything from jazz to blues to Motown to country. It was easier to hear black artists on popular stations. MTV virtually destroyed his ability to grow in popularity by refusing to play his music. (So too did it destroy many other funk and jazz artists),
However, at the end of the day, the person who destroyed Rick James was Rick James. And, along the way, he took a lot of other people down the road of pain paved by cocaine.