ATLANTA -- Trombonist Fred Wesley helped create the blueprint for funk music. His precise, catchy brass riffs and solo performances were core elements on songs by some of funk's most prominent ...

Many believe icons should be given their flowers while they can still smell them. Unfortunately, for a lot of the world's greatest legends, like funk musician James Brown, recognition is often given ...

In 1973, James Brown formed an unlikely friendship with the Rev. Al Sharpton, who he met when Sharpton was a young civil ...

(ThyBlackMan.com) When we talk about the DNA of hip-hop, three words always come up: James Brown. Breakbeats. From the moment DJs like Kool Herc and Grandmaster Flash first looped those funk grooves ...

I t’s impossible to overstate Bootsy Collins’ influence. Since joining James Brown’s band 55 years ago this month, Collins has made sturdy, buoyant bass lines, which stretch out all over the place ...

(ThyBlackMan.com) When I first wrote about James Brown, I thought I’d covered enough ground with the big hits—the songs everyone knows and loves. But not long after that article went live, I started ...

If you don’t know who Charles Bradley is, you may have actually seen or heard him before. When he was alive, Bradley was an obscure soul and funk singer who often performed as a James Brown ...