DeMareon Gipson, published author and Berkeley Public Library employee, holds up a copy of Sly and the Family Stone’s ‘There’s A Riot Goin’ On’ album flanked by Berkeley Public Library’s large record ...

The foundations of funk were laid down in the mid-1960s, when James Brown began to emphasize the first beat of each measure in his stage-tested and frenzy-inducing R&B songs. Before the decade’s end, ...