Saturday, August 07, 2004

The Demise of the Superfreak

First of all sorry about the late posting on this, but needs must, Musician, songwriter and producer Rick James died on Friday. For most people under the age of 35, Rick was the artist whose work was sampled my MC Hammer to provide the backing track to his smash hit U Can't Touch this. Rick was one of a wave of artists like Cameo who were influenced by the likes of James Brown and George Clinton. His style of music discussing sex and drugs in a funky way influenced the rap community.

Classic cuts include the Mary Jane Girls - All Night Long and his own Mary Jane (see the connection here), Superfreak and Give it to me baby. Newswire coverage of his demise can be found here.