Big Blog: American Roots - Funk

Funk. Funk is that "thaaang" that moves around in your body and makes your knees weak and your hands go up in the air at a concert. Funk is when you move to the groove, it is going up or down or left or right or diagonal and across to go wherever the music takes you. As said by Rickey Vincent in his book Funk: The Music, The People, and The Rhythm of The One, "Funk is that low-down dirty dog feeling that pops up and the baad funk jam gets to the heated part, and you forget about that contrived dance you were trying and you get off your ass and jam" (Vincent 3).

Funk started making its appearance in the late 60s and was gaining steam in the 70s, and in the late 70s, the 80s, and the 90s, it was influencing other music such as disco, hard rock, and rap/hip-hop (Jazz History Tree - Funk). Funk comes from the blues, so it originated in New Orleans, in primarily African American communities is where it gained popularity, following, and creators. One of the most prominent parents of Funk, sometimes seen as the Godfather of Funk, was James Brown, who was a soul singer in the 50s and was the man who started to develop and grow the genre funk through his live performances (Foundations of Funk). One of his and his band's songs, "Cold Sweat" could be considered one of the first funk songs.

This next media is one of my favorite funk songs, and it is also by James Brown. 

Funk was nurtured, created, cultivated, and performed by African Americans, and was seen as an outlet of "black pride" and black voices, and because of this it even was attached to a growing Civil Rights Movement (Foundations of Funk). Funk was raw, it was passionate, and started to go hand in hand with the black experience, and as funk developed artists started to use their song lyrics as a way to comment on social issues and to express themselves (Funk - Britannica). Some other artists and groups of funk include "Sly and the Family Stone, the Meters, Kool and the Gang, Prince, Rick James, George Clinton/Parliament- Funkadelic, Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band, Earth Wind, and Fire, Curtis Mayfield, and the Brothers Johnson. Notable funk women greats include Chaka Khan, Patti Labelle, Lyn Collins, Brides of Funkenstein, Klymaxx, Mother’s Finest, and Betty Davis," (Jazz History Tree - Funk).

Funk's biggest hallmark is probably its dancing-driven rhythm. Funk is more of a rhythm-driven music due to how the major rhythms in a funk are set up, which differs from the parents of funk. Funk finds its roots in African music traditions such as sound and call, as well as from other genres with African American parentage, such as "blues", "praise shouts", and "gospels", (Jazz History Tree - Funk). For the most part, traditional blues rhythm focuses on a 2, 4 beat (which is the backbeat) and the funk beat puts a stronger pulse on the first note, on the 1, 3 beat, which is also referred to as syncopation, or accenting a beat that might not normally be accented (Funk - Britannica). This means it also would align heavily on the guitar and bass lines, on the parts of the song that people could hear the most clearly throughout the whole song (Black Music Scholar). Because of this difference, funk was able to get more into a whole-bodied groove that might not have been captured in other songs in blues and gospel songs. In the below media, the YouTuber provides a bit of a real-life personal and outside professional example of what changing from a 2 and 4 beat to a 1 and 3 beat can do, starting at around 8:40.

A song that exhibits this 1 and 3 beat, or syncopation, in the funk genre is "Super Freak" by Rick James. 

In funk songs, there is normally a bass guitar or some sort of strong beat-keeping instrument, and the bass guitar could be used in more of a percussive way in a funk by slapping it, (Black Music Scholar). As funk evolved and went through the decades, it picked up certain aspects as technology changed. It went from the traditional bass guitar in the 60s-70s, to more electronic background noises and bright colors in the 80s. Some other instruments that you are likely to find would be a horned instrument of some sort, an electronic keyboard, clapping, drums, call and response type vocals, and some stomping with dancing. The lyrics of funk can have social commentary, but it seems like the lyrics are influenced by when they were produced. The 80s funk songs have a little more sexually driven lyrics, like the song by Rick James, but a good deal of funk songs are about moving your body, about being wild, or just about a good time of any type, although the message can change as it adapts. The song "Lady Marmalade" by Patti & Labelle exhibits some of these characteristics. 

As does "Superstition" by Stevie Wonder.

As does "Le Freak" by Chic

Funk's roots in the blues and African music helped it to gain traction with its audience, and it's syncopated rhythms and adaptable sounds allowed aspects of it to be adopted into styles such as rock and rap. For an example of funk in rap today, we can look at G-Funk, or gangster funk. The song "Nuthin but A G Thang" by Dr. Dre ft. Snoop Doggy Dogg displays some clear funk elements in the background music, with electronic noises, and some funky gospel-like vocalization, and is not on the back beat.

Our soul is housed in our body, and funk is seen as a way to peel back the layers in our body through dance in order to get to our soul. Funk is earthy, visceral music that pairs danceable music and lyrics that help both the artists and listeners express themselves. 

Funk. Funk got that thaaang in it. 

Citations

"Foundations of the Funk: The Birth of a Genre". MN2S, 17 August 2016, mn2s.com/news/features/funk-foundations/#:~:text=Funk%20was%20born%20from%20the,Orleans%20since%20the%20mid%2D1900s.

"Funk: 1970". The Jazz History Tree, 2023, www.jazzhistorytree.com/funk/#:~:text=Funk%20is%20a%20music%20genre,bop%2C%20and%20R%20%26%20B. Accessed 30 March 2023. 

Ruach, Nelly. "All About The Funk". Black Music Scholar, 14 Sept. 2022, blackmusicscholar.com/all-about-the-funk/. Accessed 28 March 2023. 

Vincent, Rickey. "funk". Encyclopedia Britannica, 23 Mar. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/art/funk. Accessed 1 April 2023.

Vincent, Rickey. Funk: The Music, The People, and The Rhythm of the One. St. Martins Publishing Group, 1996. Google Books, books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Tb-FBAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR1&dq=funk+music&ots=CcUMWT_EXX&sig=N9qjb_mqIQ2jxqUQOgYeDKFEiR4#v=onepage&q=funk%20music&f=false. Accessed 30 March 2023.