Rick James' brash, pioneering funk left a cosmic blueprint for future generations of artists to study. Echoes of his outrageous freak-outs 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.”