Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

Rick James recorded Street Songs between December 1980 and January 1981, splitting sessions between the Record Plant in Sausalito and Motown’s studios in Hollywood. He produced, arranged and composed the music and played bass, drums, guitar and horns, plus timbales and timpani. The concept album set out to portray life on the street, fusing funk with synth-funk by playing the Moog percussively. Released in April 1981 on Gordy Records, it reached number 3 on the Billboard 200 and spent 20 weeks at number one on the R&B albums chart.

Give It to Me Baby topped the R&B chart for five weeks, and Super Freak reached number 16 on the Hot 100, pushing the album to platinum by July 1981 and nearly 4 million copies worldwide by 1983. Super Freak earned a 1982 Grammy nomination for best male rock vocal performance. James filled the record with guests, and its bass line later underpinned MC Hammer’s U Can’t Touch This and Nicki Minaj’s Super Freaky Girl.

• Stevie Wonder played the harmonica solo on Mr. Policeman, a song about police brutality.
• Dennis Edwards, Melvin Franklin, Glenn Leonard, Richard Street and Otis Williams of the Temptations sang on Super Freak and Ghetto Life.
• Fire and Desire, a seven-minute duet with Teena Marie, was never a single but became a radio staple anyway.
• James and Teena Marie performed it at the 2004 BET Awards, five weeks before he died.
• A 2001 deluxe edition added live tracks from a July 1981 concert in Long Beach.