Born in Barnwell, South Carolina, James Brown had to hustle his way up and out from extreme poverty. Partly raised by a mostly-absent mother and abusive father-husband, young Brown bore the brunt of a rough, tough childhood, shining shoes for less than a dime, and living with one of his aunts in a brothel; his…
A 12-year-old kid is at a local Woolworthโs store on Ashland Avenue on the South Side of Chicago. Itโs the early โ70s, and heโs spending his few allowance dollars on cheap โcut-outโ vinyl albums, shelved at the front end of the checkout counter, neatly tiered, four rows high and ten albums deep. That twelve-year-old was…