All About Funk

What is funk? What does it sound like? Why is it important? All questions surrounding funk need to be explained. Funk is a fundamental foundation for today's known R&B, Jazz, and Soul in return for what they gave to it. It also gave birth to its own genre of hip-hop.

Musically, funk is an urban dance music style driven by hard syncopated bass lines and drumbeats and accented by any number of instruments. It is a blend of the early '70s-'80s Soul with African American and oral traditions. Funk got its start in the early 1960s in New Orleans's popular music scene. Its most direct tie comes from the soul music industry. Funk is a word that has various meanings in all different contexts. The definition of funk changes where and how you use it. But to talk about the beginning of funk, we must start with the one man credited for starting it all, with the help of some influence of other genres, of course.  His influence from Soul helped him transition into a successful and one of the firsts of the Funk Genre. PBS has a video explaining and breaking down how he gave headway for funk to come about and how it is prevalent in even today's most popular forms of music. 

James had an understanding of his new look at music as the entire band was a part of the experience. The beats, which can be dated back to African traditional music, are emphasized at the beginning of each section, and the "groove" is one of the most essential parts of the song. 

The main characteristics of funk are as follows: syncopation, downbeats followed by sixteenth-note grooves, and seventh-chord variations played by bass guitars. The syncopation of the foundation, as mentioned above, and sister genres is driven by the guitar lines and bass. These are the musical notes providing a rhythm that inspires dance. An example is "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" by James Brown and his band.

Brown's focus on what he liked to call "the one" made what we today know as funk. It is the focus on the first beat. This takes the usual emphasis on the second and fourth beat of a set to focusing down on the first beat of a four-count group.

Funk bands use many rhythm instruments, such as electric guitar, bass guitar, drums, and keyboard instruments, mainly synthesizers and electronic organs. Funk bands also have people who play horns, including saxophones, trumpets, and trombones. But why? Why these instruments?

 Well, the horns in a song are used in off-beat sections adding rhythmic displacement. The guitar is used as a compliment to the beat. They not only hold the beat along with the drums and bass but also give an extra push, especially to "the one." Keyboard instruments are used to hold the melody.

So other than James Brown, who else made a name for themselves in funk? Some of the earliest artists who helped get funk off the ground and running were George Clinton, Rick James, William Collins, Prince, and Cameo. Next, I would like us to closely examine these musicians and their relationship with funk through the years.

Let's start with Geroge Clinton, leader of the popular group Parliament-Funkadelic in the late 1970s base in New Jersey. Their version of funk was influential and inventive for its time, creating a large following and helping kickstart the earliest grooves to funky music. He is often referred to as the King of funk. Rick James was considered a King as well. But, his title was reserved not for just funk but as the King of punk-funk. From New York, Rick James's success came in droves with his unique style of music. He himself coined the term punk funk. He used a syncopated form of aspects of both traditional funk and punk music that aligned closely with the newest conditions of disco new wave that came about in the late 70s. William "Boosty" James played a significant role in helping form funk into what we know today. He was an iconic bass player that played on some of the most influential albums of the genre, some even with our aforementioned James Brown. Now, to get to who we have all been probably waiting to talk about, Prince. Prince closely studied the founders of funk because of its unique sound, going as far as to take some of the founding members of some of these bands and integrate them into his own funk dream team.

Bibliography-

“Funk.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/art/funk.

F, Catherine. "Funk Music and Songs." Study.com, https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-funk-music-definition-characteristics.html#:~:text=Funk%20features%20strong%20bass%20lines,to%20get%20up%20and%20dance.

"Funk." Music Rising ~ The Musical Cultures of the Gulf South, 5 Oct. 2018, https://musicrising.tulane.edu/discover/themes/funk/.

"Foundations of Funk: The Birth of a Genre: Features." MN2S, 19 Nov. 2018, https://mn2s.com/news/features/funk-foundations/.

"Horn Section." Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 21 July 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horn_section.

"The Use of Brass Instruments in Funk Music  ." The Use of Brass Instruments in Funk Music - The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia, http://www.artandpopularculture.com/The_use_of_brass_instruments_in_funk_music.

Expert, Guest, and The Funk Will Set You Free…Joe Gatto helps time-strapped lovers of funky. "The Funky Ones - What Makes Funk Guitar What It Is." Musical U, 14 Feb. 2017, https://www.musical-u.com/learn/the-funky-ones-what-makes-funk-guitar-what-it-is/#.

Nero, Mark Edward. "10 Kings of Funk in Music History." LiveAbout, LiveAbout, 21 Mar. 2019, https://www.liveabout.com/greatest-funk-stars-in-music-history-2851607.