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It is no secret that funk music wouldn’t exist as we know it without James Brown. The exact same can be said for Hip-Hop culture in its entirety.

The Godfather of Soul is one of the most sampled artist of all-time and he easily holds the top rank when it comes to rap music. It’s not a coincidence, either. His eternally funky drum loops and heavy brass orchestras equated to the perfect BPM translations for rappers of yesteryear to actually spit weighty lyrics over.

Additionally, legendary producers such as Dr. Dre and Pete Rock grew up in households heavily populated with the late genius’ music, so their influence carried over to the very same genre they were making history with.

Ice Cube releasing attested to the same in an interview with HipHopDX, simply stating ““We wouldn’t have rap music without James Brown. What we started doing in the ‘80s, he was doing that 30, 40, 50 years ago.”

As Hollywood prepares to give a history lesson to the masses on the Godfather’s life in the new film, Get On Up, we decided to honor the legend in our own special way.

Here are 25 classic James Brown Hip-Hop samples from his bottomless discography that birthed rap staples.

Go see Get On Up tomorrow, August 1st and read our review of the film as well.

Photo: Universal

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