Over the weekend one of modern music's most unsung heroes died. The influential soul/funk percussionist Clyde Stubblefield passed on February 18th at age 73 from a kidney failure. Stubblefield's death 
followed a decade long illness according to his wife who confirmed the musician's passing on Saturday. As the drummer with James Brown's ensemble during the godfather of funk's highly important decades of the sixties and seventies Stubblefield was responsible for creating and recording numerous highly recognizable funky drumming JB parts including what would become one of the most widely sampled drum breaks in hip-hop history: the short but instantly recognizable drum solo on James Brown's 1970 "Funky Drummer." The Chattanooga, Tennessee- born percussionist was a member of Brown's band during some of the most exciting years and, as such, he was responsible for the drumming on such classics as "Cold Sweat," "Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud," "There Was A Time," "I Got The Feelin'," "Mother Popcorn," and "Ain't It Funky Now." But it was Stubblefield's simple but short [only 20 seconds] funky and hypnotic drum pattern on the James Brown track "Funky Drummer" that would become the artist's gre
atest legacy, even though he didn't initially get the full credit for it: both on paper (artist credits) or in paper (money/royalties).
Stubblefied's drumming recording of the song, which would go on to become the most sampled tracks in hip-hop music, is estimated to have been sampled approximately a thousand times!followed a decade long illness according to his wife who confirmed the musician's passing on Saturday. As the drummer with James Brown's ensemble during the godfather of funk's highly important decades of the sixties and seventies Stubblefield was responsible for creating and recording numerous highly recognizable funky drumming JB parts including what would become one of the most widely sampled drum breaks in hip-hop history: the short but instantly recognizable drum solo on James Brown's 1970 "Funky Drummer." The Chattanooga, Tennessee- born percussionist was a member of Brown's band during some of the most exciting years and, as such, he was responsible for the drumming on such classics as "Cold Sweat," "Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud," "There Was A Time," "I Got The Feelin'," "Mother Popcorn," and "Ain't It Funky Now." But it was Stubblefield's simple but short [only 20 seconds] funky and hypnotic drum pattern on the James Brown track "Funky Drummer" that would become the artist's greatest legacy, even though he didn't initially get the full credit for it: both on paper (artist credits) or in paper (money/royalties).
In 2015, Ronson released 
