Bootsy Collins talks James Brown, P-Funk and Touring | Red Bull Music Academy

He may not be the Godfather, but Bootsy Collins sits at the centre of funk’s engine room. First with James Brown, then with Parliament-Funkadelic, his were the basslines that fueled the grooves that have kept modern music bumping. From Cincinnati to stages worldwide, Collins embraced the potential of the music he was a part of and in the process became one of funk’s best-known and loved representatives. In this lecture at the 2011 Red Bull Music Academy, he retraces his early steps, recalls the JB’s military discipline, the liberation of P-funk and explains why Jimi Hendrix was the inspiration for it all.