• Even in death, James Brown is single-handedly keeping the DNA-testing industry alive. [RWS]

• The Roots were live on The Late Show last night with Wale and Chrisette Michele. [NR]

• Guess which one is directly related to Biggie Smalls? [CL]

• Russell Simmons says he doesn't have a small penis. Just so you know. [Bossip]

• En Vogue returns! [TGJ]

It was Christmas day just one year ago that James Brown, Godfather of Soul, slid and slithered his way out of this world. He is gone, but not forgotten — if the paternity fights and money squabbles among his ever-growing pool of descendants are indication. And while we have tons of performance footage by which to remember Mr. Brown, how many instructional dance videos do we have from him? Just one, as far as I can tell. Although he seems to be more interested in demonstrating and showing-off than actually teaching the viewer anything, it's still a gem.

James Browns' first wife, who made headlines last week when she announced that she had never officially divorced the Godfather of Soul when they separated in the 60s, just got her memory jogged by the New York Times. Not only are Velma and James divorced, she filed the papers herself in 1969.

In a twist that shouldn't be surprising, considering who we're talking about here, the child, Lisa Brown, listed in the divorce papers is not part of Brown's public history. So what's the kid count now — 108, 109?

Spike Lee is working on a James Brown movie, and at this point I think he might want to halt the process until every single wife and unclaimed child comes forward. You can't keep adding family members into the script once it's written.

Brown's 73-year-old first wife has come forward, saying that she and James Brown never divorced after their 1953 marriage. According to Velma Warren Brown, they had three kids together and lived together for 17 years. If this is true, and, knowing the way James Brown handled his personal life, it surely is, some of his subsequent "wives" are going to be very unhappy.

Is it better to be rich and dead or poor and alive? Although, ideally, I'd prefer being both wealthy and living, I'll take the penny-pinching, heart-beating state of being any day. I suppose if you have to be dead, it's nice to still be making money. Forbes just released it's list of the 13 Top-Earning Dead Celebs, and while Elvis Presley obviously tops the list at No. 1, Tupac comes in at No. 8 with $9 million earned over the past year — more than Marilyn Monroe but less than Dr. Seuss and Albert Einstein — and Bob Marley came it at No. 12.

James Brown is at No. 11 with $5 million. To be fair, the guy's only been dead since Christmas. And most of his money is probably going to his exponentially-growing list of off-spring.

[Forbes]

Not to speak ill of the dead, of course, but when a guy's finances and family life are in a complete and total shambles nearly a year after his death, you've got to come to the conclusion that James Brown left this earth with many, many unresolved issues. And unclaimed children, but that's a different story for a different time.

Special administrators appointed to look into the handling of James Brown's estate have told a judge that a former trustee may have misappropriated up to $7 million of the late soul singer's money.

The judge agreed that Brown's heirs could pursue those claims and ordered the ex-trustee to pay $370,000 back to the estate, on top of $350,000 the man repaid last month.

At that rate, the trustee is going to be paying back that $7 million he took for quite a while. And with look-a-like children coming out of the woodwork, they're going to need every penny of that trust for the mass payout.

[SP]

• I ddin't feel like this woman didn't deserved her own post, but she's clearly gotten what she wanted all across the blogosphere. Check out Adrianne Curry, aka the first winner of America's Next Top Model, rage against Black History Month. [YBF]

• They really thought a DNA test was necessary to verify James Brown is this woman's daddy? [Bossip]

• Of course, Jim Jones had to wait until the cameras were rolling and his reality show producers were trying to talks business before he decided to count his money 25 times. [SOHH]

• Lil Wayne does his best Gollum impression on the cover of the November Vibe. [C&D]

• O.J. Simpson's armed robbery accuser is clearly not an asset to the prosecution. [TSG]

• Yes, we get it. Lauryn Hill is crazy. Can Wyclef and Pras stop talking about it, please? [DL]

• Chico DeBarge apparently has not learned his lesson yet. Hey, maybe we'll get another album out of this. [C&D]

• At some point, every single man in the entertainment industry will have to field gay rumors. It's part of the business, obviously. [SR]

• A match made in heaven? Was that in poor taste? [TAN]

• If you live in NYC, I expect to see you and your friends at Katra tomorrow night, because who doesn't want to party with Stereohyped, The Fashion Bomb, and The B-Life? [FT]

The Godfather of Soul (and Al Sharpton) is also, incidentally, the father of every black child born in the past 40 years.

Yet another woman has proven, through DNA evidence, that she is James Brown's daughter. Although his will only lists six children, three people have been scientifically proven to be his offspring since his death, and there are several more tests pending. By the time this is over, each of his children will legally be eligible for about $5 from his estate.

And we think K-Fed is fertile.

[AP]

Al Sharpton's permed and slicked back tresses might be misguided, outdated, and just, really, really bad, but he's never going to change his 'do, no matter how many times David Banner calls him a "permed-out pimp." Why? Because it's a style he cultivated in order to emulate his pretend dad, James Brown.

Sharpton, who looks like more of a slightly younger brother of James Brown than his son, could be at age 53 young enough to be the Godfather of Soul's offspring, since he's only a youthful 53. For those of you shocked by the fact that Al Sharpton is, relatively speaking, a spring chicken, you aren't the only ones.

James Brown has had a Tupac-like ability to remain in the news despite no longer being alive, and this weekend he managed to gain a couple kids he never claimed while he was alive.

One of the late soul singer's advisers said that nearly a dozen people who claim Brown is their father have taken DNA tests. Those tests show at least 2 people are telling the truth.

One of them is identified as LaRhonda Petitt, a 45-year-old retired flight attendant and teacher in Houston.

Petitt told the Augusta Chronicle newspaper in George that her mother became Brown's girlfriend in the early 1960s.

She's angry Brown never acknowledged her as his daughter, telling the paper she "could have had a better life."

I'm with you LaRhonda Petitt. I'd be pissed too, financially speaking, but having a dad with noted substance abuse and domestic violence issues probably isn't a walk in the park.

[NBCSD]