Funk was formed through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the mid-20th century. Musicologist Anne Danielsen wrote that funk might be placed in the lineage of rhythm and blues, jazz, and soul. Sociologist Darby E. Southgate wrote that funk is "an amalgam of gospel, soul, jazz fusion, rhythm and blues, and African rock."
The distinctive characteristics of African-American musical expression are rooted in sub-Saharan African music traditions, and find their earliest expression in spirituals, work chants/songs, praise shouts, gospel, blues, and "body rhythms" (hambone, patting juba, and ring shout clapping and stomping patterns).
Like other styles of African-American musical expression including jazz, soul music and R&B, funk music accompanied many protest movements during and after the Civil Rights Movement. Funk allowed everyday experiences to be expressed to challenge daily struggles and hardships fought by lower and working class communities.
Funk bands in the 1970s adopted Afro-American fashion and style, including "Bell-bottom pants, platform shoes, hoop earring[s], Afros [hairstyles], leather vests,... beaded necklaces", dashiki shirts, jumpsuits and boots. In contrast to earlier bands such as The Temptations, which wore "matching suits" and "neat haircuts" to appeal to white mainstream audiences, funk bands adopted an "African spirit" in their outfits and style. George Clinton and Parliament are known for their imaginative costumes and "freedom of dress", which included bedsheets acting as robes and capes
In the 1970s, funk used many of the same vocal styles that were used in African-American music in the 1960s, including singing influences from blues, gospel, jazz and doo-wop. Like these other African-American styles, funk used "[y]ells, shouts, hollers, moans, humming, and melodic riffs", along with styles such as Call and Response and narration of stories (like the African oral tradition approach). The call and response in funk can be between the lead singer and the band members who act as backup vocalists.
As funk emerged from soul, the vocals in funk share soul's approach; however, funk vocals tend to be "more punctuated, energetic, rhythmically percussive[,] and less embellished" with ornaments, and the vocal lines tend to resemble horn parts and have "pushed" rhythms. Funk bands such as Earth, Wind & Fire have harmony vocal parts. Songs like "Super Bad" by James Brown included "double-voice" along with "yells, shouts and screams". Funk singers used a "African aesthetic" to perform that made use of "colorful and lively exchange of gestures, facial expressions, body posture, and vocal phrases" to create an engaging performance.
The lyrics in funk music addressed issues faced by the African American community in the United States during the 1970s, which arose due to the move away from an industrial, working-class economy to an information economy, which harmed the Black working class. Funk songs by The Ohio Players, Earth, Wind & Fire, and James Brown raised issues faced by lower-income Blacks in their song lyrics, such as poor "economic conditions and themes of poor inner-city life in the African communities".
The Funkadelic song "One Nation Under A Groove" (1978) is about the challenges that Africans overcame during the 1960s civil rights movement, and it includes an exhortation for Africans in the 1970s to capitalize on the new "social and political opportunities" that had become available in the 1970s. The Isley Brothers song "Fight the Power" (1975) has a political message. Parliament's song "Chocolate City" (1975) metaphorically refers to Washington D.C. and other US cities that have a mainly African population, and it draws attention to the potential power that African voters wield and suggests that a African President be considered in the future
Funk drumming creates a groove by emphasizing the drummer's "feel and emotion", which including "occasional tempo fluctuations", the use of swing feel in some songs (e.g., "Cissy Strut" by The Meters and "I'll Take You There" by The Staple Singers, which have a half-swung feel), and less use of fills (as they can lessen the groove). Drum fills are "few and economical", to ensure that the drumming stays "in the pocket", with a steady tempo and groove.These playing techniques are supplemented by a set-up for the drum kit that often includes muffled bass drums and toms and tightly tuned snare drums. Double bass drumming sounds are often done by funk drummers with a single pedal, an approach which "accents the second note... [and] deadens the drumhead's resonance", which gives a short, muffled bass drum sound.
James Brown used two drummers such as Clyde Stubblefield and John 'Jabo' Starks in recording and soul show By using two drummers, the JB band was able to maintain a "solid syncopated" rhythmic sound, which contributed to the band's distinctive "Funky Drummer" rhythm
Funk continues the African musical tradition of improvisation, in that in a funk band, the group would typically "feel" when to change, by "jamming" and "grooving", even in the studio recording stage, which might only be based on the skeleton framework for each song. Funk uses "collective improvisation", in which musicians at rehearsals would have what was metaphorically a musical "conversation", an approach which extended to the onstage performances
Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the mid-20th century. It de-emphasizes melody and chord progressions and focuses on a strong rhythmic groove of a bassline played by an electric bassist and a drum part played by a percussionist, often at slower tempos than other popular music. Funk typically consists of a complex percussive groove with rhythm instruments playing interlocking grooves that create a "hypnotic" and "danceable" feel. Funk uses the same richly colored extended chords found in bebop jazz, such as minor chords with added sevenths and elevenths, or dominant seventh chords with altered ninths and thirteenths.
Funk originated in the mid-1960s, with James Brown's development of a signature groove that emphasized the downbeat—with heavy emphasis on the first beat of every measure ("The One"), and the application of swung 16th notes and syncopation on all basslines, drum patterns, and guitar riffs—and rock and psychedelia-influenced musicians Sly and the Family Stone and Jimi Hendrix, fostering improvisation in funk. Other musical groups, including Kool and the Gang, Earth, Wind & Fire, Chic, B.T. Express, Loose Ends, Shalamar, The S.O.S. Band, Slave, The Whispers, Cameo, and the Bar-Kays began to adopt and develop Brown's innovations during the 1970s and adding R&B essences to the genre from the early 1970s, while others like Parliament-Funkadelic and Ohio Players followed Hendrix's path.
Funk derivatives include avant-funk, an avant-garde strain of funk; boogie, a hybrid of electronic music and funk; funk metal, a mix of funk and metal; G-funk, a mix of gangsta rap and funk; Timba, a form of funky Cuban dance music; and funk jam. It is also the main influence of Washington go-go, a funk sub-genre. Funk samples and breakbeats have been used extensively in hip hop and electronic dance music.
