Look at that crowd. Look at the size and the energy of it. That kind of crowd doesn’t come out for just anyone, but it did come out for the funk brought by Daytonian Roger Troutman and it did year after year.
If that crowd can’t tell you how awesome Roger Troutman was, and you’re not impressed by the fact that he was in Parliament-Funkadelic*, consider his legacy and influence on West Coast hip-hop. He inspired damn near everyone from Eazy-E to Tupac to Snoop Dogg to Dr. Dre to Kool Keith to Ice Cube, and even East Coasters like Notorious B.I.G. That’s right. Tupac and Biggie.
If these names are a little too oldschool for you, consider this: T-Pain wouldn’t even exist if his autotune hadn’t been directly inspired by Troutman’s use of the talkbox. We’ll give T-Pain credit, because he does give Roger a shout out in his song “Karaoke”.
Let’s have one more video, because the talkbox wasn’t enough for Roger, he had to go and pull out the only example of funk harmonica I’ve ever seen and it’s fucking awesome.
*If you’re not impressed by Parliament-Funkadelic, check your pulse. It may be too late for you.
