In every sense of the pharse, "get down", james brown epitomized the essence of what it meant to "get down" with the music, the feeling, the emotion, and even "get down" in a sense of worldly consciousness. With is hands directly on the pulse of a generation, james brown created a sound that would come to serve as a soundtrack to an era of cultural injustices and the hope, pride and spirit that remained throughout strife, despair, disillusion and disenfranchisement.
To move up, you've got to literally "get down". In short, you're either playing the game, watching or creating it.