In honour of the Godfather of Soul’s recent birthday, The Roots’ Black Thought teamed up with J. Period on the ones and twos to put together a completely live mixtape sampling exclusively from the catalogue of Mr. James Brown. While J. Period keeps the funky beats coming for a straight 34 minutes, the vocal leader of Jimmy Fallon’s house band spits endlessly and impressively over the top.

Considering that this entire thing has been done in one single take, it’s further proof that Black Thought is one of the more underrated rappers in the game, and demonstrates a strong desire to live up to Brown’s reputation as the hardest working man in show business. Listen to the tape in the gallery above.

Dan Pardalis

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