It inspired the title of a VH1 television special and box set, Say It Loud! A Celebration of Black Music in America. In 2004 it was ranked number 305 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame included "Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud" in their 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. The song's opening exhortation, "With your bad self", is an example of linguistic reappropriation, and added a new entry to Brown's long list of nicknames: "His Bad Self." Recognitions Several other Brown singles from the same era as "Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud", notably " I Don't Want Nobody to Give Me Nothing (Open Up the Door, I'll Get It Myself)", explored similar themes of Black empowerment and self-reliance. The lyrics "We've been 'buked and we've been scorned/ We've been treated bad, talked about as sure as you're born" in the first verse of the song paraphrase the spiritual I've Been 'Buked. He proclaims that "we demands a chance to do things for ourself" and that "we're tired of beating our head against the wall and workin' for someone else." The song's call and response chorus is performed by a group of young children, who respond to Brown's command of "Say it loud" with "I'm black and I'm proud!" The song was recorded in a Los Angeles area suburb with about 30 young people from the Watts and Compton neighborhoods. In the song, Brown addresses racism against Black Americans, and the need for Black empowerment.