Who funked with my funk?
Originally posted Friday, November 10, 2006 .
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Funk
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Funk. What does the word conjure up in your mind? Chances are, you’re wrong. You’re likely thinking some awful form of disco, or even worse, one of your favorite bands “funky” jam, maaaan. Well, you’re wrong. While I appreciate some good funky jams… they are funk-y. Not funk.
I, am a funk snob.
Let me bring you all back to a time before my time. There was a time where music was made by musicians. When music was an art and required talent to create. In the mid to late 1960s in America, black people were still frowned upon, and seen as second class citizens. Now, today, this idea (to most rational humans) seems proposterous, but, trust me my droogies, this time existed. Just mention black people around your grandparents and the chances are they refer to them as “colored” or some other derogatory term.
I digress.
In this time period, there was an urge to escalate music beyond the aspiring rock bands of the time, and even beyond the soul and Motown sound… these pioneers, we will refer to as O.G. Funkateers, created a style of music that revolutionized a culture, and at its peak, was the modern day equivalent of whatever drivle you see on the popular music charts now. Funk took the world by storm. The horns, the beats, the grooves, the people, THE LIVE SHOW.
Funk music.
Funk best can be recognized by its syncopated rhythms; fatty bass lines; razor-sharp rhythm guitars; chanted or hollered vocals often relating to socio-political struggles or absolute nonsense; strong, rhythm-oriented horn sections; prominent percussion; an upbeat attitude; African tones borrowed from old Afrobeat jams; and most importantly, danceability. Funk music made people move. Period. If you listen to any of the music or watch the movies I recommend as true funk, you will soon understand what I mean.
Funk music in itself, to the untrained ear, is incredibly simple; while in reality the rhythms are much more complex than your average soul jam, but the structure remains simple, butt hats just it my friends. The simplicity is what makes it groove, don’t you understand this? The horns, the keys, the percussion, the groove, the beat, the total package… the simplicity is so complex… its beautiful. Listen to some raw funk and you will know what I mean. The simplist changes in the song actually MAKES the damn song. This sounds horrible simplified, but its true. Some of the best musicians of our time came from this period of music, and that’s not just biased opinion, you cannot argue the following musicians aren’t amazing at their craft:
-Maceo Parker
-Fred Wesley
-James Brown
-Eddie Hazel
-Jimi Hendrix
-Earth, Wind, and Fire
-Herbie Hancock
-Isaac Hayes
-Parliament
-The Nevelles
-Kool and the Gang
Look, these are just a few… and by all means they are not the be all end all funk music… I’m just stating them so you can see what’s happening here. If you have half a clue of modern music, you will see where they get their inspirations/samples from… Funk. Period. Fucking funk. And true, raw, uncut, nasty, O.G. funk is being lost. I play some raw funk for some people and it often goes along this line…
KID WHO DOSEN’T KNOW ANY BETTER:
Yea man, I know this song… this is that NAS song… who is this covering NAS?
ME:
You are a shitdick… get out of my house.
Now, you may ask… “Billy Vegas… noone is reinventing the wheel… all music is a rip of some other music…” And you’re right. I don’t have a problem with modern day music ripping old funk beats and groove, in fact, I applaud their use of good music and modern-day approach, and feel there should be more inclusion of these things in a live music setting. The problem I have is people not recognizing funk. People not wanting funk. People not looking for funk. People not APPRECIATING funk.
Now, I’ll give it to you… it’s older… some of the records have a old sound to them… but most don’t, and that’s not a good excuse.
What do I want you to do? Listen to more funk? Sure. That’s it.
No, it’s more than that people. I want you to all open your ears… I want you to pay attention to whats happening around you. It’s beyond funk music, this is just one example I happen to be passionate about.
What’s old is new again, and the old is being forgotten. Does this make sense? Think about it.
Now… why bother with this.. chances are you aren’t going to listen to more funk after reading this… you were just looking for a cheap laugh and you’ll carry on your day as it were.
Enjoy your z100, ya ham and egger. Keep your mind closed to whats true why don’t ya.
Funk, when I listen to it… is moving. It’s alive. It makes unexplainable feelings happen to me more than any kind of music. Granted, I’m the kind of person who believes music is a higher form of communication, but for christs sake, how can this not happen in other people? There has to be a neurological switch that needs to be tapped in peoples heads that, I feel, is my mission to tap.
Your funk switch needs to be turned on. Give it a poke, it feels good, I promise. If you would like help in finding your funk switch, feel free to contact me and I will point you in the right direction.
Also–
Listen to this. You’ll need WINAmp to run the streaming radio station, but trust me, it’ll be well worth it.
Website:
www.WEFUNK.com
Direct Shoutcast Link:
http://www.wefunkradio.com/play/shoutcast.pls
What WEFUNK is doing is terrific. Blending raw, uncut, OG Funkateer funk in playlists with modern rap/hip-hop so you can see the connection. I love this shit. This is great music. You can hear the correlations and understand for yourself if you half half of a brain.
Watch These:
1.) James Brown doing Sex Machine LIVE circa 1960-1970s. Observe how the audience, as James and the band proceeds to funk hard, sits in awe and watches him until he directs them accordingly to get the fuck up and dance, and they have no choice but to listen, because funk can move and remove, dig? If you’ve ever been in a band and played a show where noone moves, you will appreciate this.
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2)Pay no mind to the “Disco Vision” label on this one, as the timne period lends itself to the “Disco” term quite often. Don’t be fooled, this is hot funk. Listen how Kool and the Gang use horns to shake the crowd, and make your most likely white-ass tap your foot. Also, lets take the time to notice the capes. That’s right. Capes. In funk, costumes can do no wrong, as we will see in the coming videos… SHAZAM Mother Fucker, Shazam indeed.
3.)Ahh, ripped right from the Parliment DVD– I love this one. Night of the Thumpasaurus People, proving how funk isn’t always about how fast your rhythm guitar is, but how tight a band can play without one…primarially horns. Oh, thats right bubba, thats Bootsy on the cowbell. This also shows you a glimpse into how a show back then must have been. Note the guy behind a young George Clinton (yes, thats him) holding up the chalise like object up… seem familiar? Mind you, this is how they end the 2+ hour DVD and their show so— granted this isn’t the best musical example, but it shows you something. If you or someone you know would like a private viewing and funk lecture while watching this DVD, please inquire within; I promise a good time.
4.) Binky Griptite and what appears to be the Dapkings. A great example of a band, who is around now, is trying to bring back raw, uncut funk. Listen and tell me this dosen’t sound really old. Yup, its from a couple years back. These guys rock live byt he way, saw them on Halloween. Funk.
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5.) Sharon Jones and the Dapkings. The last one was a instrumental funk example, where as this will provide you a great example of socio-political funk TODAY. This is from a year or two ago— just imagine seeing this live… it woudl be great. Focus on the hot, simplistic guitar, percussion, and hot bassline, even though it is hard to hear since the sound quality isn’t top notch. Also, around 2:30 you can see a long shot of the whole band… you can practically see the funk moving them all together in time like a wave. Glorious. Pay no attention to the ridiculous graphics of Bush and nonsense someone edited into this… obviously they had the intention of getting a laugh or two. Hilarious.
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If you like this, the next step is finding yourself a live funk show. Good luck.
And also, lets not forget the psychadelic history and spiritual connections some of the O.G. Funkateers feel. What follows is a summary of P-Funk’s Manifesto, as sloppy as it may be, the principals still ring true to this day.
Ahem.
The secret of funk was placed inside the pyramids 5,000 years ago. If we had stayed tuned to The One, we wouldn’t be in the mess we’re in. “Mother earth is pregnant for the third time. We all have knocked her up.” It took the arrival of Dr. Funkenstein to unearth the funk and usher its viral spread over the de-funkatized surface of the planet. The problem with earth is that it is devoid of funk, — earth is the “Unfunky UFO” — due to the unfunky operations of the white house, the pentagon, Nixon, businessmen and greed in general, and an overall lack of supergroovalisticprosifunkstica-tion. The symbol for the collective greed/war mentality is embodied by Sir Nose, D’Void of Funk, who relentlessly pimpifies the people “By sucking their brains until their ability to think was amputated…pimpifying their instincts until they were fat, horny, and strung out” in pursuit of “financial security or an eternal supply of TRIM,” the result being that “the very source of life energies on earth have become the castrated target of anile bamboozelry from homo sapiens’ rabid attempts to manipulate the omnipotent forces of nature.”
The ruthless whoring of Funkentelechy has brought mother nature to her knees, and we’re pinned beneath them. “The frenzied incipience of pimpification hath risen to the point of cosmicide.” In other words, we all have a bad case of the Placebo Syndrome, having traded in “the real thing” for a civilization comprised of cheap imitations, which is now crumbling around us. The Placebo Syndrome has given the body politic weak knees, which are doomed to give out from under us at any moment. We no longer feel the pulse, or smell the deep draughts of the Cosmic Slop which generates the funk. “When the signal is too weak, you’re in the syndrome.”
But alas! We do have booties and we do have boots, so let’s move ‘em! “When the syndrome is around, don’t let your guard down. All you got to do is go on a bump.” We have the strategic assistance of Star Child, who takes careful aim and shoots at Sir Nose (who inhabits the Nose Zone, or the Zone of Zero Funkativity) with his Bop Gun, funkatizing him in the luminescent sheen of its rays. In concert, guitarist Gary Shider flew over the crowd, wearing diapers of course, blasting at the crowd with a strobe light attached to a space-age rifle, “Chasing the Noses away,” which forces Sir Nose to “give up the funk” and dance. “We shall overcome…we got to shoot ‘em with the Bop Gun.” To gather the collective energies of the funkateers into a mobilized force, Uncle Jam’s Army was created to snuff out Sir Nose wherever he may lie.
Whew.
Convoluted? A bit. A parallel for whats been happening since the late 60s and even today? I think so.
DISCLAIMER:
This was written in the last hour of work in a very unscripted rant formation, some of the information may not be 100% accurate. This all will later be clarified in chapters as I write my thesis of Funk History to teach at Mason Gross School of Music in an upcoming class entitled “Funk Yourself”.
ESPECIALLY Horns…We’re going to need horns, and lots of them.
The world needs to be changed, and the revolution is upon us.