えんそうか。

Legendary funk musician James Brown died on December 25. He was recently interviewed by Ramesh Ponnuru.

Ramesh Ponnuru: Good morning.
James Brown: Bitch.
RP: Excuse me?
JB: I called you a bitch, bitch. Why you hating?
RP: Is this about my book?
JB: Bet your ass it's about your book.
RP: Okay, when I titled it Music of Satan, what I meant was that the music had–
[crosstalk]
JB: Just whatever, man
RP: Now, I appreciate how good it is for your image when you claim to be the hardest working man in show business, but can you really back that up? Is there some sort of quantifiable–
JB: I work hard for my money.
RP: Yes, but in any verifiable way? That we can compare to other men in show business?
JB: Talking to you is hard work.
RP: Yes. [laughs] I appreciate that. That wordplay there. It was funny. But you are making a claim, and I have an obligation to verify it. Like calling yourself "soul brother number one." Isn't it possible that there were other black men who could credibly, realistically, claim that they were soul brothers before you were a soul brother?
JB: No.
RP: But what if you're soul brother number two? Or number four, or five?
JB: Bitch.
RP: You shilled for Nixon.
JB: Elvis shilled for Nixon!
RP: Hold on. Okay, hold on. Now, hold on. I don't think that's valid because, logically, okay: let's say you stole the idea to shill for Nixon from Elvis. Everyone knows Elvis stole all his ideas from well, put it bluntly, black music. Most of what he stole his ideas from could be called soul. And you are the godfather of soul, so doesn't that mean you a parental–or at least god-parental–responsibility for the entire idea of schilling for Nixon?
JB: This is a bad trip, man.
RP: Now that you mention drugs.
JB: Oh, hell no.
RP: It's a valid subject for debate. And naturally you say you're against young people abusing drugs, and most musicians say that. I'm not saying you're going out there explicitly advocating fourteen-year-olds shoot heroin. You're not. But I don't think you've thought through the consequences of your beliefs. Let me give you an example. You're song "I Got You (I Feel Good)" is about feeling good, right?
JB: Sure.
RP: Well, the lyrics are all about feeling good. That's the idea.
JB: Okay.
RP: I don't oppose pleasure. Some conservatives do, though not as many as the media reports, and I am not one of them. But if you're lyrics don't explain how pleasure can become self-destructive, or even become addiction, you're creating a paradigm that doesn't include responsible restraint. And that set of basic principles, when applied to drugs like cocaine can easily result in addiction–
JB: Crack is whack! I said crack is whack!
RP: Of course. No one is questioning the whackness of crack. That's a given. But you're lyrics don't enforce the principles that help people avoid addictions. Maybe you sell more records that way. I'm not saying you have a financial incentive to encourage drug abuse. You don't have–
JB: That's right, I don't. If someone spends their money on drugs, they can't give it to me.
RP: For you to spend on drugs.
JB: Right. I mean no! I mean fuck you.
RP: My point is that–
JB: No, really, I mean it.
RP: Oh, right. I'll go. One last question first. Real quick.
JB: Fine.
RP: How can you be black and proud?
JB: I'm James Brown, bitch.