The bizarre Sly Stone tribute at the Grammys in February raised an abundance of head-scratchers, most of them revolving around Sly himself, his monstrous blonde Mohawk, his silver lamé suit, and his terribly brief appearance.

But of the bevy of people (Steven Tyler? Maroon 5?) on stage that night, none could be called a direct musical descendant of the funk icon.

Except one.

That artist--emerging funkster Van Hunt--played a sparkling set at the Independent in San Francisco last night, channeling Sly, Prince, Curtis Mayfield, and even a bit of Iggy Pop. The son of a one-time pimp in Ohio, Hunt's brand of soul-drenched funk owes much to those aforementioned legends, but his songwriting and chops are truly original.

Backed by a tight sextet, Van opened the set on guitar, leading the band into a blazing track themed around the title of his latest album, On the Jungle Floor, but not included on it. The short-but-scorching song served as a great opener, with the chorus setting the scene: "oh it's so sweet/chasing love through the trees/it's a thousand degrees/on the jungle floor."

The band then churned into the guitar-driven "If I Take You Home," the standout track on Jungle Floor, before segueing into "Highlights" off his eponymous 2004 debut. Hunt doesn't reject comparisons to his forefathers, leading his troupe through a few bars of Sly's famous "I Want to Take You Higher" in the middle of "Highlights."

The mark of a soul man is the ability to find new and creative ways to tackle the tried and true subject of love, R. Kelly's 37 volumes of "Trapped in the Closet" notwithstanding. Hunt does just that on the remarkable "Down Here in Hell," on which he croons about the treasures of a turbulent relationship: "Ooo I love it when we fight/standing on the verge of breaking up or making love."

Hunt also exhibited plenty of charm and stage presence, playfully admonishing some gabbers in the crowd with the line, "If you ain't talkin' about how dope this s*** is, you need to shut the f*** up." And it wasn't all soul and funk, as Hunt spread his rock wings a bit on a cover of Iggy Pop's "No Sense of Crime" and his own "Ride, Ride, Ride."

Despite playing to relatively sparse crowd in a small venue, Hunt seemed genuinely excited at the turnout, saying that he was looking to build a fan base the "right way," i.e., organically and outside of the hit-driven system that dominates urban music. He jokingly pointed out that his first show in San Francisco a few years ago drew "about 15 people."

You might not have heard of Hunt yet, but you should. This is a talented artist with passion, soul, grit, and--rarest of all--sincerity.