Artist Dâm-Funk

If James Brown heavily influenced the birth of hip-hop, it's a little surprising that history hasn't yielded more funk singers who have dabbled in DJing and rhyming over a produced beat. California's Dâm-Funk came howling out of the gate last year with Toeachizown, a double-disc set culled from his previously released five-volume series of 40-minute LPs. The tracks flit between genres like a hummingbird pilfering pollen, whizzing from Chicago house and '70s influences to Prince-like concoctions. The uniting factor in the surprisingly indefatigable set, though, is always a funky beat, which Funk doesn't always rap over. That's fine, because it allows his more interesting compositions to breathe and take center stage.

Updated 06/29/2010