More than 20 years after his hitmaking heyday, Rick James became a household name to a whole new generation in 2004 when Dave Chappelle mocked his brash personality with the catchphrase “I’m Rick James, bitch!”
The singer was still around and trying to catch a break after drug binges, prison and record company indifference had sidelined his career. when this all happened. So James played into the lampoon when he appeared on the 2004 BET Awards with what was supposed to be a comeback performance, declaring the catchphrase anew as if to make it his own. He’d be dead two months later.
The phrase repeats in the title of the compelling new documentary on the musician’s career, “Bitchin’: The Sound and Fury of Rick James” (Showtime, 9 p.m.).
It’s surprising that there hasn’t previously been a full film documenting the singer’s remarkable life of ups and down. Director Sacha Jenkins, who previously directed “Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics and Men,” takes on the task with a verve that reflects the artist at hand.
Taking from old interviews and rare live performances, as well as interviews with ex-wives and lovers, his kids and members of his Stone City Band, it tells a full tale of what was anything but an overnight success story.
Born in Buffalo, James began playing in bands as a teenager. A member of the U.S. Naval Reserves, he fled to Canada when he got called up, falling into a burgeoning Toronto music scene that eventually had him in a band with Neil Young and Bruce Palmer, before they went off to form Buffalo Springfield.
Signed to Motown as a rare rock band, we hear the Mynah Birds single (and it’s pretty good) but James was caught for desertion and the band stalled.