Rick James' brash, pioneering funk left a cosmic blueprint for future generations of artists to study. Echoes of his outrageous freakouts can be heard in the frantic drums of Janelle Monáe's wild pop workout “Cold War.” His effortlessly cool ballads also became sensual sacred texts for smooth-talking R&B lotharios like Ginuwine, who channels James on the slithering seduction jam “In Those Jeans.”