Funk comes in many shapes and sizes, but generally, it's a type of aggressive dance music with syncopated bass lines and drum beats. Funk isn't driven by harmony or chords, but rather the rhythmic interactions of the instruments. The instruments in its thick texture play off of each other to create an intense and complicated rhythmic texture.
The term "funk" and "funky" came from jazz players in the 1950's. They would describe an improvisation as funky if it was a passionate expression of the Black experience in America.
Black Americans using funk as an expression of their experience in America lead to some typical lyrical content:
Of course, the lyrics didn't always have to be about these things, but it wasn't uncommon for them to be. Funk provided a safe place for Black people in America to express themselves, liberated by the music.
Funk became popular in the 1970's and early 80's and in it's beginnings, James Brown laid the foundation.
James Brown
Hey, don't be shy. Go ahead and listen to this while you read this next part:
(if you can dance and read at the same time)
Hopefully, you've heard of James Brown before. He didn't exclusively make funk music. Actually, before he started changing his sound (switching focus from melody to rhythm) in 1964, he made R&B. A good example is "It's A Man's Man's Man's World." Anyways, the funk he made in the late 60's would be extremely influential for decades. First of all, it established the "funk beat." The funk beat focuses on rhythm in every aspect. The way James Brown sings, even, is percussive and rhythmic. The instruments have a lot of syncopated rhythms and importantly, a strong emphasis on the downbeat of each measure. Having emphasis on the down beat was a large factor in pulling funk away from jazz, which had a stronger emphasis on the upbeats. Having emphasis on the downbeat created more space for all of the instrumentalists to add in their own syncopation and rhythmic ideas. Also, the lyrics that he used in his funk created a standard vocabulary and grammar in funk.
James Brown's characteristic sound is thanks to his raspy voice, his screeches, and his use of "Huh!" and "Hey!" at the end of phrases, which is actually inspired by "whooping." Whooping is used by preachers in Black churches at the end of a profound statement. The purpose of whooping is to get a response out of the congregation. When James Brown did this, not only did he get a reaction from his audience, but using whooping, something that a lot of his listeners heard every Sunday, made him more relatable and easier to identify with. His vocal punctuations have been influential all the way to the present. Ever heard of adlibs? Well here's an example:
(if you actually don't know what adlibs are, they're call and response style comments or punctuations that respond to the main lyric. I couldn't resist putting Playboi Carti in here because he's just too good of an example.)
Anyways, because of his relatability to Black audiences, James Brown stayed popular among them and remained influential. His funk never made it to the tops of the charts, though, because as musician, LA says in a PBS interview, his music was "too black" to make it to the mainstream at the time.
Funkadelic
I'm not going to do a deep dive into this group or even how much I love them (because I do...like... a lot). Funkadelic is a huge group of ever changing members that mixes funk and psychedelic rock. They came about a little bit after James Brown. I want to use the following song to show how funk was used by Black musicians to express their feelings and social commentary. "You And Your Folks, Me And My Folks" was released in 1971, at a time where there was a large social class divide. This song pleads for equality among the rich and the poor. I love this song because I can be pissed about society and dance at the same time (my two favorite things), but I'll let the song speak for itself:
These are some notable lyrics:
Ha, but if in our fears, we don't learn to trust each other
And if in our tears, we don't learn to share with your brother
You know that hate is gonna keep on multiplying
And you know that man is gonna keep right on dying
The rich got a big piece of this and that (Yeah, yeah, yeah)
The poor got a big piece of roaches and rats (Yeah, yeah, yeah)
Can you get to that? (Yeah, yeah, yeah)
Tell me where it's at (Yeah, yeah, yeah)
Yeah
Funk Today
There's still a lot of bands that recreate the classic funk sound, like The Motet, Lettuce, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, etc., but the majority of modern funk bands are a bunch of white guys, which is interesting... it doesn't really sit right with me... anyways...
I think it's really cool when a music artist will take a music genre that precedes them and do their own thing with it, like how rap artists would rap over James Brown records in the 90's.
We're in the 2020's now and artists are still playing around with funk, a 50 year old music genre. That being said, lets see what Kendrick Lamar is doing with funk. This song is explicit so if that offends you, don't listen. If you so chose, I recommend starting around 0:40 if you want to skip the intro.
I'm choosing to show you guys this song because of Kenrick's creative use of original funk elements and also the way Kendrick Lamar modernizes them with relevant HipHop/Rap elements that are more common today.
First of all, before you even listen, you know it's about to be funky. George Clinton, the former leader of Funkadelic, and Thundercat, amazing bassist are on this song.
Kerrigan, you did an awesome job with all this information! Before I read your blog, I couldn’t; really say what funk was, so I’m glad I can now! I wasn’t aware that whooping made such an impact, but once I listened to the music you included, it made sense. I think my absolute favorite part of this post, though, was the artists you listed for the bands that make classic funk today. Great job!
Kerrigan - wow kerrigan you did such a good job displaying this information. Especially since ive heard a splash of funk my entire life on my grandparents vinyls. It was so cool to get some new insight on this genre. I also didn't know a lot of the elements of it till now.
as a person who has never really listened to funk...ever I enjoyed the musical style a lot. From the history of it it seems that it was pushed down at the times due to the racial situations at the time and I'm glad that I was able to listen to this and understand a more about funk. Thank you for helping me understand this genre more and broadening my horizons!
Ah Kerrigan I've made my way yet again to your blog. This one is absolute heat, and this idea of James Brown having such an influence I think not only comes from his but his fabulous musicians. The way the pocket sits in funk music is just right compared to jazz (being just slightly off) is just big brain honestly. Music where it feels like the pocket is sitting ahead the beat but is actually right on the beat just gets to me. Side note... of course you would include Playboi Carti.
For this blog, I chose to interview my dad. For some background, my dad grew up in Los Angeles in California. His father is a guitarist and during my dad's childhood, he was exposed to a lot of music, musicians, and live shows. He also taught himself how to play the piano. This is my dad playing piano: Before the interview, I texted him and told him that we were going to be talking about how music has effected his life. When I called him, I didn't even have to ask any questions, he just got straight into it. So without further a due, here's my dad's relationship with music: The Beginning: When I asked him what his first experience with music was, he told me about the first instrument he had: a wooden pump organ (with a King Kong sticker on it). He was seven when this instrument entered the house and he would play it casually. I asked him if the organ is what sparked his interest in music. Short answer- kind of. He said "what really started ...
Let's talk about Korea! but first... a disclaimer: when I say "Korea," I mean North and South Korea, but most of the information I found was on South Korea. String Instruments Gayageum The Gayageum is the most well known Korean instrument in the West. It's a plucked chordophone traditionally made of paulownia wood, a hardwood tree native to Korea and Japan, and strings made of twisted silk. It usually has 12 strings, but it really varies depending on the Gayageum. They come in all shapes and sizes. What they all have in common is that each strings has a moveable bridge that you can adjust the pitch of the strings to tune them and to change the pitches to fit whatever scale the player is using. While they pluck a string, to do vibrato, they press the string on the other side of the bridge. Sanjo ajaeng This video has a bit of an introduction, so skip o 00:30 if you want to skip straight to music. This instrument, as you can see, looks similar to the Gayageum, but ther...
Kerrigan, you did an awesome job with all this information! Before I read your blog, I couldn’t; really say what funk was, so I’m glad I can now! I wasn’t aware that whooping made such an impact, but once I listened to the music you included, it made sense. I think my absolute favorite part of this post, though, was the artists you listed for the bands that make classic funk today. Great job!
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteKerrigan - wow kerrigan you did such a good job displaying this information. Especially since ive heard a splash of funk my entire life on my grandparents vinyls. It was so cool to get some new insight on this genre. I also didn't know a lot of the elements of it till now.
as a person who has never really listened to funk...ever I enjoyed the musical style a lot. From the history of it it seems that it was pushed down at the times due to the racial situations at the time and I'm glad that I was able to listen to this and understand a more about funk. Thank you for helping me understand this genre more and broadening my horizons!
ReplyDeleteAh Kerrigan I've made my way yet again to your blog. This one is absolute heat, and this idea of James Brown having such an influence I think not only comes from his but his fabulous musicians. The way the pocket sits in funk music is just right compared to jazz (being just slightly off) is just big brain honestly. Music where it feels like the pocket is sitting ahead the beat but is actually right on the beat just gets to me. Side note... of course you would include Playboi Carti.
ReplyDelete