The 1973 James Brown funk standard that begins with the shouted “Fred!” count-in is “The Payback.”
“The Payback” was the title track of Brown’s 1973 album and was built around a notably sparse, open funk arrangement. Compared with some of Brown’s denser recordings, it leaves considerable space for the bass, drums, wah-wah guitar, horns, and vocal declarations to interact. The song’s theme is revenge against someone who has betrayed the narrator.
The track was originally recorded for the blaxploitation film Hell Up in Harlem, but the film’s producers rejected Brown’s version as sounding too much like his earlier work. Brown released the material independently instead. The single appeared in 1974 as a two-part release, with a radio-announcer introduction on the first part.
The song became one of Brown’s most influential recordings and has been sampled extensively in hip-hop and R&B. It is easy to confuse it with Brown’s earlier standards “Cold Sweat,” “I Got You,” or “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag,” but those are separate songs from different periods.