National Geographic Music (National Geographic)

National Geographic has been a fixture in Washington, D.C. since 1888; but we've got nothing on Chuck Brown, who's been presiding over D.C. dancefloors as the Godfather of Go-Go music for decades. Sure we're a national institution, but Chuck is a D.C. icon.

If you grew up outside of The Beltway, you may not be familiar with Go-Go - the hyper-percussive homegrown funk that Chuck and his band the Soul Searchers pioneered back in the early '70s. But if you're from the District, then chances are that you - and maybe even your parents and grandparents - grew up dancing to Go-Go.

A kissing cousin of hip-hop, Go-Go had a brief moment in the spotlight in the late '80s when bands like Trouble Funk, Experience Unlimited and Rare Essence all enjoyed some popularity. But none of them ever matched Chuck's own chart success a decade earlier, when his song "Bustin' Loose" went to number one on the Billboard R&B chart. So while hip-hop outgrew its New York roots to blow up internationally, Go-Go stayed strictly local - with new generations of bands and fans getting their party on in bars, clubs, backyards and street parties from Anacostia to Prince George's County.

And at the age of 74, Chuck Brown continues to reign over it all like a benevolent sovereign - better known in some parts of the District than most local politicians. In fact, when both the Washington Post and The D.C. Lottery commission was looking for an iconic D,C, face for their local ad campaigns a while back, they didn't turn to any ballplayer or actor or politician, they turned to Chuck.

Earlier this year we took the opportunity of the release of his latest album, We Got This, to catch up with Mr. Brown - only to discover that one doesn't really interview Chuck; one just makes sure the tape is rolling and gets out of the way as the man narrates his way through forty years of making music in Washington, D.C.

Nat Geo Music: I feel like this is like one D.C. institution paying respects to another...

Chuck Brown: Thank you... you know I love National Geographic. I used to take my kids there, over to the museum on 18th Street. They used to love that. The grandkids, too...

Three generations together - that sounds like one of your shows.

Oh yeah, I've got whole families comin' up on my music. The other day a young lady that I know said to me that she got in trouble with her parents sneaking out to see my show. I told her not to worry, because I knew her mother back when she used to sneak out and come see my shows. [laughs]

Do you think that kind of multigenerational appeal is the secret to Go-Go's longevity?

Most definitely. Go-Go is a community, it's part of the way of life here. You know people say that I created this and invented that, and that's true to a point - but Go-Go is the people's music and I was always just playing what the people wanted to hear. And as long as the people want to hear it, I'll keep playing it. You know, I could play jazz or R&B or rock and roll or gospel tomorrow if I wanted to, but Go-Go is still what gets people to come out. Even in 2010, people still want Go-Go, because it's what they grew up with.

Tell me a little bit about where Go-Go came from...

Back in the day I used to play in a lot of different bands, rock and roll bands, soul bands, all kinds of things... and I was playing in this band called Los Latinos. We played down at the Bohemian Caverns on U Street. We were playing all the Latin stuff, you know - and I loved how that conga drum really got things rocking and the way the dancers responded to that. I liked that because it was a real African, percussive thing, you know.

But the Go-Go beat itself - that came from Church music. It was another kind of African thing, but it came from a different place. So when I was looking to come up with my own sound - because all the big guys then like James Brown and Curtis [Mayfield] and Sly Stone and Issac Hayes all had their own sound - I put those two things together and that's where the Go-Go sound comes from. And the name comes from all those Go-Go dancers they used to have back then. I liked that name, because it was so active, you know? But there was no such thing as a go-go music to go with the dancing. And I thought, "okay, I'm going to call this Go-Go music and give those dancers something to dance to". [laughs]

And what about the vocals?

That's another thing that came directly from Church. All the call-and-response? You could find that in any black Church here when I was growing up. Those choirmasters knew their stuff! It just came naturally from that experience. I just changed it up enough so that I was calling out to people in the audience that I knew instead of testifying. [laughs]

Go-Go came up at the same time as hip-hop and shares a lot of the same roots - why do you think nip-hop blew up the way it did, and Go-Go stayed a D.C. thing?

You know that's a good question. I've met with a lot of rappers over the years. A lot of them are fans - Nelly, Queen Latifah - and some of them tell me that they love what I do, but it's too expensive. And I understand that. Rap music, hip-hop - it's easier to make if you don't have a lot of money. Where we come from, we didn't have a lot of money, either, but we had enough to find instruments and good musicians who could play. But we have a culture of musicians here, that comes from the churches, you know. Now I think it's harder for young people to get those opportunities to learn to play an instrument. So if all you know is how to play on your computer or your video games, then it's just natural that you're gonna make rap music or sampled music, because that's what you know.

How did you learn to play music?

Just naturally. I was always around music when I grew up. I lived near U Street coming up, and back then everybody played U Street, so there were musicians, actors, singers, everywhere. When I was a young man I shined the shoes of Louis Armstrong and Louis Jordan! Music was just everywhere like that. And in my family, everyone could play something, and if they couldn't play, they could sing. My first instrument was the piano, I played in the church, and before that I sang in church. I didn't learn the guitar until I was 24 years old. I learned to play in Lorton [Penitentiary] when I was a young man. I used to perform in the mess hall there, so I know about tough crowds. [laughs] I also got my G.E.D. there, so I am one of the only people that you'll ever meet who will tell you he was grateful to go to Lorton. [laughs]

You've played a lot of prisons over the years, too...

That's right. The older inmates at Lorton used to tell me that they didn't want to see me coming back - because they wanted me to make it, you know. But I told them I would come back, and that I would come back to play for them one day. And I did. 15 years later I came back and played a concert there. And lots of other prisons since then, too. All over the country. I think maybe I played more prisons than Johnny Cash. [laughs]

Tell me a little bit about the new album...

I love this record, I really do. It was such a pleasure to record, and I had so many friends come join me on it. Ledisi, Jill Scott, Marcus Miller... I felt truly blessed.

I understand it's a studio CD and a live concert DVD?

That's right... there's a new recording we did in the studio, with [producer] Chucky Thompson and a live concert CD and a live DVD. Those were recorded at the 9.30 [club] here. It's a three-for-one sale. [laughs]

Why the live material?

Go-Go is live music. First, last and always it's about the party; and I wanted to make this record to bring the party to all my fans. I wanted to include all the people who can't come out - who live all around the world - I wanted to invite them to the party, too.

I heard you had a street named after you in the district?

That's right. Down by 7th and T Street. But I can't drive down there anymore because too many people know what my car looks like and they all want me to stop and say hello. [laughs]

But I've seen you after shows - you talk to everybody that wants to come say hi!

I can't lie - I love talking to the people at my shows. I'm so grateful to all my fans. I couldn't do it for this long without them. So if they want to come past to say hi and whatnot, then it's part of my job to talk to them - and you know, it might be the best part of my job, too.