If George Clinton IS funk’s intergalactic architect, and Prince its crossover musical prodigy, then Rick James, who died Aug. 6 of heart failure in his L.A. home at age 56, was the genre’s ...

After years of trying to funk his way to stardom, Rick James finally broke through in 1978 on the back of a pair of dynamite singles: “You and I,” an eight-minute dance-floor workout that ...