Black Music History “Giving Them Roses” – Day 1: Little Richard

After reviewing the list of artists receiving roses this month… Richard Wayne Penniman warranted the honor of being 1st… Aside from the fact, I was going to use the design above with the initial of launch on.us.tees… (Worried that not too many would understand why “Be 1st” is included in the image, I pulled the idea…) Little Richard was here before them all… and I mean ALL… Mick Jagger’s strut… Richard did it first. Elton John’s style…. Richard did it first. Rick James’ orgies… Richard did it first. Prince’s, uhm… Prince-ness… Richard did it first. Who taught Jimi… that’s right… Richard. Oh, and as for the music… see: Elvis Presley and Pat Boone thieving asses. Each time he dropped a hit from “Tutti Frutti”, “Long Tall Sally” to “Rip It Up”… They ran to the studio and recorded their version… Shipped out the imitation and received all the acclaim… This practice of redoing “race” music didn’t stop Little Richard from churning out hits… It was the Lord that did that… In the time since his heydey… Richard battled aligning the word of God with the lust of Man… In his former years it appears he’s struck a balance with the two… One battle he doesn’t have to fight is his legacy of being the self-proclaim “King & Queen or Rock N’ Roll”…