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That they still have currency today is confirmed by YouTube stats: 94 million views to date for “Super Freak” (recently upgraded to HD quality) and 31 million for “Give It To Me Baby.” Nothing captured James’ devil-may-care image and attitude – not to mention his lasciviousness – more than the promotional videoclips for the Street Songs singles. And the Buffalo cowboy did so with his look as much as his music – a creative asset which Motown understood and had shrewdly exploited with its earlier stars. Perhaps more than money, James’ success was a morale-booster for all at Motown: evidence that it could adapt and prosper in a new decade, amid a music industry quite different to the one it had conquered and reshaped 15 years earlier. Not only was Street Songs certified platinum for one million copies moved within three months of release, but also its biggest hit single, “Super Freak,” sold some 900,000 units domestically, despite not cracking the Top 10 of the pop charts.
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The income helped to offset the firm’s financial deficit from the late 1970s, which was Jay Lasker’s challenge as its new president. With his album Street Songs, the punk-funk star generated around $10 million for the company in 1981 – which may have been as much as 20 percent of its U.S. ‘STREET SONGS’ CONTINUES TO BE SEEN AND HEARDįorty years ago, Motown Records needed what Rick James delivered.