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Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies.
Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
funk
, rhythm-driven musical
genre
popular in the 1970s and early 1980s that linked soul to later
African-American
musical styles. Like many words emanating from the African-American
oral tradition
,
funk
defies literal definition, for its usage varies with circumstance. As a slang term,
funky
is used to describe one’s odour, unpredictable style, or attitude. Musically,
funk
refers to a style of aggressive urban
dance
music
driven by hard syncopated bass lines and drumbeats and accented by any number of instruments involved in rhythmic counterplay, all working toward a “groove.”
The development of the terms
funk
and
funky
evolved through the
vernacular
of
jazz
improvisation in the 1950s as a reference to a performance style that was a passionate reflection of the Black experience. The words signified an association with harsh realities—unpleasant odours, tales of tragedy and violence, erratic relationships, crushed
aspirations
, racial strife—and flights of imagination that expressed unsettling yet undeniable truths about life.
James Brown
’s band established the “funk beat” and modern street funk in the late 1960s. The funk beat was a heavily syncopated, aggressive
rhythm
that put a strong pulse on the first note of the musical measure (“on the one”), whereas traditional
rhythm and blues
emphasized the backbeat (the second and fourth beats of the measure). Brown and others, such as
Sly and the Family Stone
, began to use funk rhythms as their musical foundation while their lyrics took on themes of urgent social commentary.
In the early 1970s funk became the musical standard for bands such as the
Ohio Players
and
Kool and the Gang
and
soul
singers such as the
Temptations
and
Stevie Wonder
, its driving beat accompanied by
lush
, melodic arrangements and potent, thoughtful lyrics.
Parliament-Funkadelic
and other bands sang the praises of funk as a means of self-development and personal liberation, while established jazz artists such as
Miles Davis
and
Herbie Hancock
adapted and explored the funk groove. The
disco
music of the late 1970s evolved from the rhythmic and social foundation of funk.
In the 1980s the sexually expressive aspects of funk were popularized through the works of
Rick James
and
Prince
, while the funk beat became the primary rhythm in Black
popular music
. The influence of funk spread to other styles in the 1980s—mixing with the gritty realism of hard
rock
and
punk
and the experimentation of much of the
electronic music
of the time. With the rise of
rap music
in the 1980s and its “sampling” of 1970s funk songs, funk grew in stature and significance in
hip-hop
culture
. It became associated with ancient mysteries in the Black tradition, providing hip-hop with a historical link to artists and cultural movements of the past. As part of hip-hop’s influence on popular culture, funk provided the rhythmic basis for most American dance music of the 1990s.
