What is Funk Music?
Funk music is a genre created in the mid-1960s by the African American community. It can be characterized by syncopated bass lines and steady drum grooves. It’s known to be a more aggressive genre of music as it provides listeners with a “danceable” feeling. Funk was influenced by other popular genres like jazz, blues, and R&B.
Rise of Funk Music
The Rise of Funk Music occurred in the 70s and funk musician James Brown, The Godfather of Soul, heavily influenced funk music. He began as a blues and gospel singer but later shifted his music to be more Africanized. This gave him his signature groove style that emphasizes the first beat like this: one-two-three-four. This is something that was later adopted by many artists during this time.
Importance and Influence of Funk Music
Funk was a way to reveal the resilience, creativity, and hard-ship of African Americans during the social and economic crisis. It encourages black Americans to showcase their blackness and refined pride in their community. A great example of this was the Summer of Soul. Funk music has had a great influence on other music genres such as hip-hop. In the 1980s, rap music was on the rise and many artists used samples of popular 1970s funk songs. Hip-hop used a lot of elements of funk music such as the use of a hook in a song and a rhythmic groove. This grew funk music’s significance in hip-hop culture.
