What Is Funk?

I am fairly new to Reverbnation; so I spend my nights drinking red wine, toking and being entertained by artist all around the world. But there is something that I have to get off of my chest. It seems like everyone is labeling their music "Funk" when in fact it is everything but that. I sing down home, gritty, red light in the basement funk. Although I am a fan of P-Funk, the old school kind with James Brown, Marva Whitney, and Lyn Collins is where it started. On the one funk. Black Dynamite a guy running in a Blaxploitation funk. Someone once asked me, "Coko, what is funk to you?" Funk to me is a combination of rock, R&B and sprinkle of jazz. It is something that you feel; sometimes it sounds so good that you make a sour face when you are grooving to it. It makes you slip, dip wind and grind. Funk was the music you heard in a basement at a house party. Funk has become universal. Even famed sax player Fela Kuti did that African Funk!! What do I love most about Funk music from back in the day ?The messages James Brown put in his funky grooves. "If You Don't Work, You Can't Eat", "Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud" and many more. Sassy Soul sisters like Ann Alford spoke on life in those streets on "Got To Get Me A Job". All time favorite, "Think" by Lyn Collins. I just want artist to take the time to hone their craft before labeling yourself. Funk is Funk. Nothing more or nothing less. Coko B

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