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Mureed Ibrahim
Author's Bio
Rickey Vincent has been developing his "History of Funk" concept since the early 1980s. After his acceptance to UC Berkeley in 1979, Ricky began his work in KALX radio at Berkeley in summer 1983. In 1996, he published in New York the first comprehensive treatment of funk music, "Funk, The Music, The People and the Rhythm of The One". Rickey Vincent now teaches "From Funk to Hip Hop" at San Francisco City College, where he continues to expand the scope and understanding of Tha Funk!
Funk: A Music Revolution
While it is usually easy to distinguish music that is funky from music that is not, it is much more difficult to say what funk actually is. In Funk, Rickey Vincent attempts to arrive at such a definition and to provide a historical overview of "The Funk" from its emergence as a recognizable element of black music in the 1960s to its varied manifestations in today's popular culture. He adeptly demonstrates how funkiness celebrates various aspects of African American culture, many of which have historically not been valued by white society, and makes clear the broad impact of various funk styles on American music. Vincent provides substantial analysis of funk's musical elements, especially its unique harmonies and rhythms, and of the social forces that shaped its development. He focuses on well-and lesser-known innovators since the 1960s and on how such diverse elements as jazz and African pop music fed into funk. He finally concludes how rap and hip-hop have successfully continued to incorporate funk's beat and lyrical edge. In Funk, Vincent also talks about many of funk's most notable artists. Such artists included the Godfather of Soul, James Brown, who "dropped the bomb on America" ; next to Funkadelic; Sly; Kool and the Gang; Earth, Wind and Fire, the Ohio Players; and many other hip-hop artists and bands that continue the legacy of Funk today. 1
Funk has many different meanings in Vincent's book. Funk is "a nasty vibe, and a sweet sexy feeling."2Funk is high, but it's also low. Funk is at the extremes of everything. Someone "funky-looking" is generally thought of as someone colorful and amusing. Funkiness, to Vincent then, is "an earthy sense of self that is free of inhibitions and capable of tapping instincts and celebrating the human condition in all its forms. Funkiness is a way of life." 3 The black popular music of the early 1970's was a consistent reminder of this new affirming, colorful, ethnic aesthetic, and the hip hop culture of the 1990's has spawned a return to this less formalized foundation of life. Blacks, after 1970, could almost go anywhere in America. They transformed many environments into rhythmic, spontaneous, sensual, and stylish ones. Funk was not just a musical concept; it was a way that connected to politics mainly through the civil rights movements. For example, Vincent emphasizes James Brown's role in Funk and black culture. He claims "it was James and his band that provided the musical backdrop for the authentic musical reflection of black America in the 1970's, in all its hope, despair, charm, style, and nasty unforgiving truths." 4 The Funk music evolved, with all its effects on society throughout the years, in the seventies from the sixties black rock, which came from a mixture of R&B and rock before that. Funk went on to create a branch called Hip Hop later in the eighties that went on to the nineties.
With many movements and events in the late 1960's such as Malcolm X's assassination, Martin Luther King, Jr. assassination, the rise of the Black Panther Party, and The Black Power Movement, influence was a main goal that could be approached and obtained throughout Funk music. The innovative nature of funky music fit into the same rebellious attitudes of the times. The freedom to redefine "black" meant the freedom to redefine "black music." The affirmation that black is actually "beautiful" was a transformation. "It was the essence of the black revolution, it was the incubator of the funk, and it was the inspiration of the overall social revolution of the late 1960's." 5 But while funk was growing, what became known as Rock and Roll began to rise as the white's idea of musical revolution, creating a counterculture and the "Hippies". The 1970 and 1971 deaths of Jimmy Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison; the murder in full view at the Rolling Stones Altamont rock concert; the police killings of student protests at Jackson State and Kent State; and the sound defeat of Democratic presidential hopeful George McGovern in 1972 put an end to the idea that Rock and Roll could change the world. But the ideals still remained, and in black music, it would be Funk that would keep those ideals fresh and the possibilities infinite.
With a multitude of converging influences to draw from, black life in America was funky indeed in 1970's. A new, integrated world surrounded blacks everywhere. Change was the operating principle, although not all of the change was for the better. Black culture had finally become a "national" culture. There was a general sense of brotherhood and sisterhood, a faith in black folks that carried across class and regional lines. New handshakes, greetings, and movies emerged-not to mention froes that every black person had as symbol for freedom of style. With the help of TV and radio, funk in the 1970's was everywhere.
The late seventies was a peculiar time for Americans. It was the period when escapist entertainment went from being an exiting slideshow to the center of the American cultural experience. The simple, catchy dance music called disco became a focal point of a culture that had lost its direction. "Disco is the simplified form of nonethnic, electronic-sounding dance music that swept the country- to late 1970s." 6 Every aspect of American popular culture took hold of the disco phenomenon. The culture of disco exploited the black music experience in a selective, manipulative, and ultimately racist way. Disco became a pseudonym for any black music to most of America's rock fans, and when the disco fade effectively was killed by 1982, it was still used as a term to define black dance music.
The Parliament Funkadelics, or P-Funk Mob, elevated Funk into an ideology. Their huge concepts, their vast informal enterprise, and their powerful affirmation of common black folks created a small-scale movement and large-scale following. The rise of P-Funk was part of a new era in black culture that developed after the civil rights movement. P-funk manages to revere the struggles of women and pursue them with open and "ribald sexual aggression" at the same time. 7 P-Funk incorporated, and celebrated, the intensity of sexual drive and absurd realities of the sexual drive and absurd realities of sexual attractions while also affirming the humanity of women. Vincent approves "The unification of the mind with the body, of the spiritual with the sexual, of the intellectual with the intuitive, is a constant struggle for black Americans- and liberated people everywhere-to reclaim themselves from the constrictions of westernization," and it is the clear goal of black jazz and funk. 8 P-Funk is the music that has propagated these ideas to the rap music generation. P-Funk remains the strongest influence on black music since their popular zenith in 1987. P-Funk is designed to "bring the spiritual world down to the level of its participants, so that everyone on this earth can groove together, on the one." 9
The age of "naked funk" spanned the creative peaks of Prince, Michael Jackson, Rick James and Ronald Reagan's two presidential administrations. Although the naked funk sound had been played since the mid-seventies, the "naked funk dynasty" began with the election of Reagan in 1980. In the eighties, unless you had a "sound that imitated the thin splinking grooves of Prince....was as brain-dead as Rick James was by 1984, or as mechanical and lightweight as the New Jack sound," radio success was not an option, so true funkers did the unthinkable by abandoning the radio. 10 As a result, the city Hip Hop scene developed a life of its own. It would be the musical underground that would be the driving force of the funk through the eighties and beyond.
Funk later would develop and turn into what became know as Hip Hop. "Hip Hop has strived to emulate the musical and social values of The Funk." 11 Hip hop unleashed a radical turnabout in American culture. The intelligent youth movement in fields of fashion, attitude, rhythm, and rhyme spread across the country through the beats of Hip Hop. As Hip Hop developed, a number of connections were being made between the richness of African history and culture, the creative strength of seventies and soul, and the positive potential of Hip Hop. For a brief time, Hip Hop took the initiative to envision liberation in a positive form. The colorful use of words brought all of these aspects of life together. Rap went on to consider those aspects like politics, sex and even violence which became the major concerns of different rap groups from the east coast and the west coast. Until our present day, Hip Hop and rap have become the symbolic music and style that have affected all black culture and even other cultures in their way of dress and style, slang words, and even life. Hip Hop drew an image of how success is achieved by large amounts of money and jewelry. Ofcourse, that image unfortunately became real with the help of TV, and the formation of many music channels that still exist till now giving a bad reflection of who we are and what we do.
Rickey Vincent's thesis in Funk is to show how funk, has had an affect on politics, economics, and most importantly, culture and society. Vincent provides substantial analysis of funk's musical elements, especially its unique harmonies and rhythms, and the social forces that shaped its development. Vincent stresses how funk was a major element and had a major role in forming and shaping the black culture that became finally a "national culture." What is delivered nicely in "Funk" is a structural line of balance between music and what is represented while it affected and reflected the social situation of the day. "Vincent paints an illuminating illustration of funk music's evolution being a human event gaining importance with him" George Clinton argues in his forward on "Funk". 12
Graduating from Berkeley High school in 1979, Rickey Vincent had a great interest in pursuing funk history. Vincent wanted to connect the present Hip Hop with its origins and find out what caused the rise of themes like sex, violence, or "criminal nature" in Hip Hop. 13 Having information about the civil rights movements and black rights parties helped Vincent connect the music to its culture and surroundings. Hosting a radio show on KALX mainly about funk helped Vincent gain more knowledge on this type of music that has birthed many branches- some of which had disappeared and some of which are still played these days. Vincent's bias could simply be his interest in funk music and lack of interest in other types of music like rock. Influenced by many of his colleagues and his friends, Vincent's interest in funk grew. Through a combination of academic study and interaction with the East Bay funk audience, a clear focus emerged to Vincent: "funk was more than merely a groovy flavor, but instead was and is a viable musical movement that that has altered the lives of millions of people around the world." 14
A first critique of the book Funk is Daniel D. Zarazua who claims that Vincent did an "excellent job of tying together all the elements that have created the funk, including the social policies of Reaganomics." 15 Furthermore, Zarazua provides that Vincent takes a critical look at how funk has suffered from technological changes in the 80's, including video games, cellular phones, and walkmans that detracted from funk's communal spirit. He explains how different sides liked technology has negatively affected funk music through playing with the beats and definig music in simple steps and in a way it should not be. Another analysis on Rickey Vincent's Funk is made by Funky-stuff.com. The analysis states that the book is recommended to anyone who wants to have a better idea and a deeper knowledge on funk in the seventies. The analysis also gives that Rickey Vincent "gives a clear picture of all facets of the funk; its social background, ideals and reasons of existence." 16
Vincent provides substantial analysis of funk's musical elements, especially its unique harmonies and rhythms and the social forces that shaped its development. He focuses on well-and lesser-known innovators since the 1960s and on how such diverse elements as jazz and
African pop music fed into funk, and he concludes that rap and hip-hop have successfully continued to incorporate funk's beat and lyrical edge. His book is strongest when he argues for recognizing the cultural importance of George Clinton and the influence of his Parliament-Funkadelic cohorts. "All too often am I confronted with the proposition to publish my life story," say George Clinton in his forward. 17 The book was weak in where it doesn't have the enough coverage of early eighties funk, and non American funk in general. The book doesn't also give much of an economical affect of funk and how music affected great businesses. Most importantly, Funk does not compare the successes of funky music and Rock and Roll.
The period between the seventies and the nineties marked a great change in political, economical and cultural history. To Vincent, he stressed the idea of Reaganomics and its affects on society and the American people. He talked about the civil rights movements and how the Vietnam War and the growth of the peace movements have created the counterculture to funk which is Rock and Roll. "You can't talk about funk without talking about the black revolution," suggests Greg Jacobs. 18 Vincent also talks about how music, as it converted every decade reflecting the present movements in each, was a great factor in shaping the black culture and the black community as a whole. Funk wasn't just a type of music; it was "a way of life".
Funk is the reason why we have different dress styles today, whether it is colorful, painted shirts or saggy, large pants. Funk is what brought all these present artists to what they look like and what they believe in and symbolize. Funk in the seventies and eighties had the fro, unbuttoned to chest shirts and the Charleston pants. Rap and Hip Hop today have produced other styles like the braids or curls, the double x shirts and other styles. George Clinton says that "Hip Hop saved Funk," explaining that the spirit of funk is still around.19 We can say that the great spending of artists on jewelry and cars and houses have helped the economy. Culture these days is based on a music style or even a song or an artist. Society has become a child following whatever style artists create, whether giving a good or a bad influence on next generations. Nonetheless, funk was a revolution that touched on every aspect of society, and succeeded in changing it.
Finally, Ricky Vincent's "Funk" gives a great summary and creates a timeline of what
Funk is, and what affect it had on society from 1970's to 2000's whether politically,
economically, or from a cultural point of view. It's the only musical genre ever to have transformed the nation into a throbbing army of bell-bottomed, hoop-earringed, rainbow-Afro'd warriors on the dance floor. Funk tells a vital, vibrant history-the history of a uniquely American music born out of tradition and community, filled with energy, attitude, anger, hope, and an irrepressible spirit. Like Parliament once said, "the Funk is its own reward." 20
Endnotes
1. Vincent, Rickey. Funk: The Music, The People, and The Rhythm of The One. 175 Fifth Avenue, New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 1996, 7.
2. Vincent, Rickey 3.
3. Vincent, Rickey 3
4. Vincent, Rickey 7.
5. Vincent, Rickey 56.
6. Vincent, Rickey 25.
7. Vincent, Rickey 261.
8. Vincent, Rickey 263.
9. Vincent, Rickey 264.
10.Vincent, Rickey 285
11.Vincent, Rickey322
12. Vincent, Rickey xiv.
13. Vincent, Rickey xviii.
14. Vincent, Rickey xix.
15. Zarzua, Daniel D. "Funk: The Music, The People, and The Rhythm of The One." Domingo Yu. March 28, 2006. < http://www.domingoyu.com/education/reviews/funk-the-music-the-people-and-the-rhythm-of-the-one >.
16. < http://www.funky-stuff.com/jamesbrown/BooksMain.htm>.
17. Vincent, Rickey xii.
18. Vincent, Rickey 47.
19. Vincent, Rickey 305.
20. Vincent, Rickey 320.
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