Bob James is a world renowned jazz keyboardist and producer who had a direct impact on the growth of jazz music in the 1970′s. Unintentionally, he also had a profound impact on the growth of hip hop, having produced some of the most sampled songs in hip hop history. The opening bars of “Take Me To The Mardi Gras” are instantly recognizable, being that it is one of hip hop’s fundamental breakbeats. It is most well known for its use in Run DMC’s “Peter Piper”, LL Cool J’s “Rock the Bells”, and Missy Elliot’s “Work It” (to name only a few). This dude is basically a complete bad-ass, not to mention the fact that his first three albums of the 70′s were called One, Two, and Three.