As the 70's settled in James Brown defined the future of music, the future of groove and the future direction of black music with one single, solitary song of brilliance.

If you are looking for a definition of funk Get Up, I feel Like being a Sex Machine is the quintessential anthem. With a groove so infectious you had to swing it set the standard for danceability, rhythmic groove, lyrical content and artistic delivery for generations to come.

But the song that has struck the most fame is a little ad-lib number called out and conducted on the fly by James Brown that song is the legendary Funky Drummer. This song was the quintessential Brown number from the middle of the deconstructionist funk play book. It was live, infectious and well, shall we say, very funky.

The break in the middle of the song where James gives the drummer some [Clyde Stubblefield] is so great a superlative that it literally launched the hip-hop genre when the samplist of the 1980’s got hold of it. Sadly Clyde Stubblefield has not reaped the financial rewards that morally, if not legally, are due to him.

The Funky Drummer is the most sampled beat in history, making Clyde the most sampled drummer of all time. Unfortunately, this does not translate into enough dollars to afford him health insurance when he needed treatment for bladder cancer diagnosed in 2003. With almost $100,000 in medical bills, Clyde had to partly rely on the support of friends and fans to cover the costs of his medical bills.

Clyde is still active on the live music circuit in his hometown of Madison Wisconsin where his funk and blues bands can be heard weekly at the city's King Club.