The trailer for director Sacha Jenkins' upcoming Showtime documentary teases a portrait of a singular artist with a complicated legacy. The first look at the film from the WuEmmy nominee and hip-hop journalist is slated to premiere on Sept. 3 and promises to focus on James' iconic funky sound and legendarily brash public persona, while also hinting at the"demon" of drug use that dogged his personal life.
James, who died in 2004 of cardiac failure at age 56, was best known for such indelible funk jams as"Super Freak" and"Give It To Me Baby," as well as for his fecund run as a songwriter and producer for everyone from Eddie Murphy to the Mary Jane Girls, Teena Marie and Smokey Robinson. "There are black people here. And we make music. I mean, don't we exist?" James asks in voiceover at the top of the nearly two-minute trailer that quick-cuts footage of the singer/bassist railing against the stereotyping of black artists in a narrow doo-wop/R&B lane and insisting that he wants to be able to write about and wear whatever he feels like amid a montage of some of his legendarily sparkly, outrageous stage get-ups.
There is also a UCP limited series in the works focusing on James' 1990 trial that derailed his attempted comeback.
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