I think the Tom Tom Club said it best

when they said "James Brown... James Brown... James Brown... James Brown..."

Along with Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan and a handful of others, Brown was one of the major musical influences of the past 50 years. At least one generation idolized him, and sometimes openly copied him. His rapid-footed dancing inspired Mick Jagger and Michael Jackson among others. Songs such as David Bowie's ''Fame,'' Prince's ''Kiss,'' George Clinton's ''Atomic Dog'' and Sly and the Family Stone's ''Sing a Simple Song'' were clearly based on Brown's rhythms and vocal style.

''He was an innovator, he was an emancipator, he was an originator. Rap music, all that stuff came from James Brown,'' entertainer Little Richard, a longtime friend of Brown's, told MSNBC. ''A great treasure is gone.''

If Brown's claim to the invention of soul can be challenged by fans of Ray Charles and Sam Cooke, then his rights to the genres of rap, disco and funk are beyond question. He was to rhythm and dance music what Dylan was to lyrics: the unchallenged popular innovator.

''James presented obviously the best grooves,'' rapper Chuck D of Public Enemy once told The Associated Press. ''To this day, there has been no one near as funky. No one's coming even close.''

His hit singles include such classics as ''Out of Sight,'' ''(Get Up I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine,'' ''I Got You (I Feel Good)'' and ''Say It Loud -- I'm Black and I'm Proud,'' a landmark 1968 statement of racial pride.

''I clearly remember we were calling ourselves colored, and after the song, we were calling ourselves black,'' Brown said in a 2003 Associated Press interview. ''The song showed even people to that day that lyrics and music and a song can change society.''

He won a Grammy award for lifetime achievement in 1992, as well as Grammys in 1965 for ''Papa's Got a Brand New Bag'' (best R&B recording) and for ''Living In America'' in 1987 (best R&B vocal performance, male.) He was one of the initial artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, along with Presley, Chuck Berry and other founding fathers.

While Brown's influence in hip hop is obvious to anyone who's ever listened to any hip-hop record released between 1980 and 1991ish, I'm a little wary of the AP's claim that he somehow has a proprietary 'right' to the genre - that belongs as much to the Jamaican deejay and dub traditions Kool Herc brought with him to the Bronx, to the Last Poets, to theSugar Hill gang and every anonymous MC who ever rapped over a DJ at a NY block party from the late '70s onward. It also minimizes the amount of work and artistry involved in the sampling and manipulation of recorded music and the creation of beats. But then Brown himself influenced Reggae (as did much American soul music, from Smokey Robinson to Curtis Mayfield,) and anyway, I don't see why we have to claim Brown as the originator of everything contemporary in order to celebrate the fact that his music was fucking great.

EDIT: Jon Pareles's obit now up on the Times site is better than the AP piece which I linked to above.