Among artists who are not, strictly speaking, hip-hop performers, only George Clinton's contribution to rap music equals that of the late James Brown. Brown's influence over what would become hip-hop began at least a full decade before the Sugar Hill Gang recorded the groundbreaking "Rapper's Delight", and possibly earlier. For this and many other reasons, Brown casts an enormous shadow not merely over hip-hop but over all popular music of the past fifty years.
James Brown's use of hypnotic, repetitive beats leaden with bass, drums and horns anticipated the rhyming over samples style employed by many rappers in the 1980s and beyond. "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag" provides a memorable example of this vein. His music also featured call-and-response choruses, as in "Say It Loud (I'm Black and I'm Proud)" and "Sex Machine". By the early 1970s, Brown, along with Clinton and Sly Stone, among others, had pioneered a genre of music often referred to as funk. (Note: The boundaries between funk, R & B, soul, and rock-indeed, the boundaries that separate nearly all categories of music-are, and always have been, blurry and subjective). Though hip-hop represents a blend of many styles, funk probably counts as its more critical forebearer.
Brown's vocal panache included a variety of catch phrases, incantations, declarations of self-confidence, and a tendency to occasionally talk rather than sing. Each of the first three attributes has been exhibited by rap MCs and can be heard in the best-known hip-hop performances of the last thirty years and the last one has, of course, become the trademark of the music itself. The key instrument of rhyming is, not surprisingly, the human voice.
As a live performer, Brown's prowess is no less substantial. His legendary stage presence represented the envy of nearly everyone who came after him; Mick Jagger has often confessed to observing and emulating JB's moves. He also used what could be described as an early version of a "hype man", someone to shout Brown's name and throw a regal robe around his body during the show. Brown's dancing did not merely inspire Jagger and Michael Jackson, it also served as a demonstrable influence on the break dancing craze of the 1980s.
James Brown's mark on hip-hop is both obvious and undeniable. Some of his most frequently borrowed tracks appear in the brief list below.
"Funky Drummer", sampled by LL Cool J for "The Boomin' System", among many others
"The Payback", sampled by En Vogue, Ice Cube, Tupac Shakur, among others
"Think (About It)", credited to Lyn Collins w/ James Brown's band and featuring JB on backing vocals, sampled by Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock for "It Takes Two"
"Papa Don't Take No Mess", sampled by Biz Markie for "Vapors"
"Super Bad", sampled by Kool Moe Dee for "I Go To Work"