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Funk: The Music, The People, and The Rhythm of The One
FUNK: 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. Its rhythms and lyrics turned bleak urban realties inside out with distinctive, danceable, downright irresistable music.
Funk hasn't received the critical attention that rock, jazz, and the blues have-until now. Colorful, intelligent, and in-you-face, Rickey Vincent's Funk celebrates the songs, the musicians, the philosophy, and the meaning of funk. The book spans from the early work of James Brown (the Godfather of Funk) through today, covering funky soul (Stevie Wonder, the Temptations), so-called "black rock" (Jimi Hendrix, Sly and the Family Stone, the Isely Brothers), jazz-funk (Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock), monster funk (Parliament, Funkadelic, Bootsy's Rubber Band), naked funk (Rick James, Gap Band), disco-funk (Chic, K.C. and the Sunshine Band), funky pop (Kool & the Gang, Chaka Khan), P-Funk Hip Hop (Digital Underground, De La Soul), funk-sampling rap (Ice Cube, Dr. Dre), funk rock (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Primus), and more.
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.
375 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1996
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
June 2, 2022
A beautiful book. It's a great companion to Rickey Vincent's radio show The History of Funk on Fridays at 10pm on KPFA 94.1 in Berkeley (live streaming and recent archives on kpfa.org), although you don't have to listen to the show. I've been listening to the show off and on for almost 20 years, and so much of what he says make sense to me now. Funk history written by someone who's a huge and extremely knowledgable fan. Thank you, Rickey, for writing this book!
April 20, 2017
Excellently written book on the genre. I keep it for reference.
August 24, 2025
I truly am the prime audience for a book like this. I’ve read biographies of many of the artists mentioned (James Brown, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Hendrix), played this music professionally, and read books on related areas like Guaralnick’s Sweet Soul Music, and Stax: Respect Yourself. Funk is pretty clearly marketed as being a book about the key figures, albums, and evolution of the genre of funk music, yet it doesn’t seem like much more than a sociology/political science paper written by the author, and one dripping with post modern jargon.
It’s at least made clear from early on that the author is not setting out to present a rigorously researched book on the genre. He makes his biases and intent clear - to filter the entire complex story of this music through an ethnic studies lens. Clearly there is a place for that type of analysis, especially when talking of overtly political artists like Gil Scott Heron and songs like James Brown’s “Say it Loud”. It’s the way that he insists on inserting his political opinions everywhere that’s distracting. This becomes a lens that distorts facts in his direction (his thesis that Jimi Hendrix only wanted to play “black”music is belied by Hendrix’s well documented adulation of Dylan throughout his career- a fact that is inconvenient for the author to acknowledge) or simply omits them (no mention is given to the all white Swampers rhythm section behind Aretha’s breakout albums).
From the very introduction of Peter Guaralnick’s classic book Sweet Soul Music, he admits that in doing the intensive work of researching for the book, many of his preconceived notions had to be challenged. First, that most soul artists were not uniformly ideologically driven, and second discovering the sometimes odd yet countless stories of multiracial integration undergirding the history of soul music (black artists playing fraternities, white songwriters/session musicians/singers).
Rickey Vincent shows no interest in having his notions about the music changed through research, and that’s likely because very little research seems to have even gone into this project. The pacing of the chapters make little sense chronologically, and the most he offers on each artist is a paragraph where instead of relevant interviews he includes his own flowery descriptions of the music. These can sometimes be clever (in describing the track Chameleon from headhunters he quips that by the end of the song “the Chameleon has changed colors”) but he also chooses to be needlessly profane “Grover Washington Jr. was the one to take jazz-funk to the next level… sexy syncopated Latin-flavored jazz that he licked and fondled with his saxophone”. That’s all in line with how he argues that funk is a non-white sexual way of life, but it just comes across as cringey and dated.
One of the few arguably well researched chapters (besides P-Funk) is on James Brown, but even that he can’t help but editorialize during. He says “problems with the law and his much publicized domestic abuse allegations have undermined Brown’s leadership”, so he seems to blame the publication of Brown’s real domestic abuse as being evidence of society holding him back?? Certainly I feel everyone should be understood in all their complexity, but the author is committed to the idea that James Brown’s misfortunes were entirely due to the oppressive forces of white America, not due to his own alleged mistreatment of Tammi Terrell and other women. He also does this for Public Enemy later in the book, saying that “rumors” of antisemitism undermined the bands image. Those rumors were the very real words of their Minister of Truth saying that Jews were responsible for all the wickedness on earth. It just seems so dishonest for him to gloss over these facts to serve his notion that black artists are always wrongfully chastised.
And there’s his obsessive hate for disco. No doubt related to the ideas of George Clinton despising it, it’s truly overwrought throughout the text. And it sees him pretentiously criticizing great artists like Patrice Rushen and Donna Summer. He views disco as the ultimate white take over of funk - although inconveniently Chic (an all black band) are one of the genre’s progenitors. While the racial element of disco is well documented, it seems more plausible to me that capitalism, not racism, is to blame for disco’s rise. Record labels look for the economic way of selling records, they’re not engaged in a plot against black liberation.
His disdain for integration is very apparent throughout, and while complex discussions of that can be warranted, it’s just so out of place in a book where the author should be ostensibly articulating the history of a music genre. Clearly this is a part of his style in delivering the book, but it’s mainly just annoying and feels like this book is a political manifesto under the guise of a researched non-fiction music book. It at least mentions essential musical artists and albums to know — but he also this album ranking system he’s created in the back of the book… why is he ranking them at all?! He claims Herbie Hancock’s Thrust and Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew both have “Good grooves and good ideas, but could improve”… Oh boy this was a tribulation.
It’s at least made clear from early on that the author is not setting out to present a rigorously researched book on the genre. He makes his biases and intent clear - to filter the entire complex story of this music through an ethnic studies lens. Clearly there is a place for that type of analysis, especially when talking of overtly political artists like Gil Scott Heron and songs like James Brown’s “Say it Loud”. It’s the way that he insists on inserting his political opinions everywhere that’s distracting. This becomes a lens that distorts facts in his direction (his thesis that Jimi Hendrix only wanted to play “black”music is belied by Hendrix’s well documented adulation of Dylan throughout his career- a fact that is inconvenient for the author to acknowledge) or simply omits them (no mention is given to the all white Swampers rhythm section behind Aretha’s breakout albums).
From the very introduction of Peter Guaralnick’s classic book Sweet Soul Music, he admits that in doing the intensive work of researching for the book, many of his preconceived notions had to be challenged. First, that most soul artists were not uniformly ideologically driven, and second discovering the sometimes odd yet countless stories of multiracial integration undergirding the history of soul music (black artists playing fraternities, white songwriters/session musicians/singers).
Rickey Vincent shows no interest in having his notions about the music changed through research, and that’s likely because very little research seems to have even gone into this project. The pacing of the chapters make little sense chronologically, and the most he offers on each artist is a paragraph where instead of relevant interviews he includes his own flowery descriptions of the music. These can sometimes be clever (in describing the track Chameleon from headhunters he quips that by the end of the song “the Chameleon has changed colors”) but he also chooses to be needlessly profane “Grover Washington Jr. was the one to take jazz-funk to the next level… sexy syncopated Latin-flavored jazz that he licked and fondled with his saxophone”. That’s all in line with how he argues that funk is a non-white sexual way of life, but it just comes across as cringey and dated.
One of the few arguably well researched chapters (besides P-Funk) is on James Brown, but even that he can’t help but editorialize during. He says “problems with the law and his much publicized domestic abuse allegations have undermined Brown’s leadership”, so he seems to blame the publication of Brown’s real domestic abuse as being evidence of society holding him back?? Certainly I feel everyone should be understood in all their complexity, but the author is committed to the idea that James Brown’s misfortunes were entirely due to the oppressive forces of white America, not due to his own alleged mistreatment of Tammi Terrell and other women. He also does this for Public Enemy later in the book, saying that “rumors” of antisemitism undermined the bands image. Those rumors were the very real words of their Minister of Truth saying that Jews were responsible for all the wickedness on earth. It just seems so dishonest for him to gloss over these facts to serve his notion that black artists are always wrongfully chastised.
And there’s his obsessive hate for disco. No doubt related to the ideas of George Clinton despising it, it’s truly overwrought throughout the text. And it sees him pretentiously criticizing great artists like Patrice Rushen and Donna Summer. He views disco as the ultimate white take over of funk - although inconveniently Chic (an all black band) are one of the genre’s progenitors. While the racial element of disco is well documented, it seems more plausible to me that capitalism, not racism, is to blame for disco’s rise. Record labels look for the economic way of selling records, they’re not engaged in a plot against black liberation.
His disdain for integration is very apparent throughout, and while complex discussions of that can be warranted, it’s just so out of place in a book where the author should be ostensibly articulating the history of a music genre. Clearly this is a part of his style in delivering the book, but it’s mainly just annoying and feels like this book is a political manifesto under the guise of a researched non-fiction music book. It at least mentions essential musical artists and albums to know — but he also this album ranking system he’s created in the back of the book… why is he ranking them at all?! He claims Herbie Hancock’s Thrust and Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew both have “Good grooves and good ideas, but could improve”… Oh boy this was a tribulation.
December 2, 2021
I feel really disappointed in this book. I had been looking for a book like this and when I came across it, I was really excited and looking forward to it. Sadly, I've made it a third of the way and I'm giving up. It just really sucks. The author tries desperately to define or describe what "funk" is, but frankly it's one of those words or concepts that really defies adequate definition and the author's fumbling around displays that. Additionally, there seemed to be a lot of unnecessary redundancy, and most annoying, I found it boring as hell! Now since I'm stopping a third of the way through, it's certainly possible the book improves and I hope so. But I'm not going to devote what little precious time I have to a book that bores me and I think sucks when I have hundreds of better books to read and that I am currently reading. Waste of time. Not recommended. If anyone knows of other books on funk, I'd appreciate any recommendations, so thanks.
October 25, 2020
"People in the world's are acting ridiculous trying to be serious. What we need to do is get serious about getting ridiculous" Patrick "Sledhicket" Norwood
That elusive All-American notion of unity amid diversity is embodied by The Funk
That elusive All-American notion of unity amid diversity is embodied by The Funk
June 8, 2023
I don't like abandoning books but my second attempt to read this ended on page 153 out of 323. I gained some insight into the development of funk and probably stopped at the right place, before the P-funk chapters. I have little interest in Hip Hop and didn't expect chapters on this in a funk book anyway.
The author has strong views that I felt got on the way of the content and started to grate early in the book.
Oh well, you win some and you lose some. I will hold onto the book for reference purposes.
The author has strong views that I felt got on the way of the content and started to grate early in the book.
Oh well, you win some and you lose some. I will hold onto the book for reference purposes.
August 11, 2012
in two words, the bomb...a good investigation of historical/socio-political concerns as they are interpreted and negotiated through art...in this case, The Funk....
"...There's nothing that the proper attitude won't render funkable..."
"...There's nothing that the proper attitude won't render funkable..."
July 3, 2022
It’s not an easy task to write about music, but it’s clear that Rickey Vincent is well practiced. Developed out of his thesis, this book is a definitive history of funk through the early 90s. I’d love to see an update edition covering Nu-Funk!!
August 16, 2007
you could replace the word "funk" with "the Force" and it could be a book about Star Wars. The Suggested Listening section is a crucial component of this book.
December 20, 2009
The primary source for much of my undergraduate thesis...which Mr. Vincent was kind enough to review personally!
October 1, 2015
If your a Pfunk lover, Funk lover, or just curious about the genre, this is the book to read, pretty much one stop reading. Very informative.
November 7, 2022
Amazing account of the history. Detailed and gave me a greater appreciation of the vastness, impact and beauty of funk music and culture. <3
So much love and creativity and foolishness and freedom
So much love and creativity and foolishness and freedom
October 18, 2008
The Funk stretches beyond words and Rickey Vincent would be the first to admit this. This book gives a/the history of FUNK by examining the music, the people and the social/cultural impact. Indeed, much research went into the construction of this book, but one cannot dismiss the fact that this book was written by a fanatic of the Funk. At times the book is afrocentric and self-indulgent, however Vincent has a sincere adoration for the genre and has given the world a necessary reference. Funk is undefinable in how it effects the soul, still credit is due to the spirit and execution of this artform/way of life.
***
PS Rickey Vincent goes in depth on behalf of the whole P Funk phenomena and its influence upon all sentient life. Only Johnny Terry's review on Debbie Reynolds could come close to what Vincent offers George Clinton & company in terms of appreciation and honesty.
***
PS Rickey Vincent goes in depth on behalf of the whole P Funk phenomena and its influence upon all sentient life. Only Johnny Terry's review on Debbie Reynolds could come close to what Vincent offers George Clinton & company in terms of appreciation and honesty.
December 17, 2024
"Funk: The Music, The People, and The Rhythm of The One" reads less like a celebration of great music and more like a political manifesto.
The author spends an awful lot of time talking about the African American experience and "the struggle" before he even broaches the music. He also seemingly makes more references to Malcolm X than George Clinton. And fewer references to funk and more to The Funk, which is more concept than music. In fact, the term loses its meaning altogether when he says rap music is "The Funk."
He also obviously has a bone to pick with record companies, radio and disco music in particular, which he seems to be saying was invented in the late '70s only to undercut funk. One assertion: "Disco radio spread like a crippling disease in the heartbeat of a people." OK then.
The author also "debunks" myths about funk that I've never heard before, like "Jazz is real music, while funk is not" and "There are no books about funk, so it must not be that important," which seems more than a little self-serving.
When he finally gets to the artists, it's a nice survey. But the polemics keep coming, which is a lot to wade through.
The author spends an awful lot of time talking about the African American experience and "the struggle" before he even broaches the music. He also seemingly makes more references to Malcolm X than George Clinton. And fewer references to funk and more to The Funk, which is more concept than music. In fact, the term loses its meaning altogether when he says rap music is "The Funk."
He also obviously has a bone to pick with record companies, radio and disco music in particular, which he seems to be saying was invented in the late '70s only to undercut funk. One assertion: "Disco radio spread like a crippling disease in the heartbeat of a people." OK then.
The author also "debunks" myths about funk that I've never heard before, like "Jazz is real music, while funk is not" and "There are no books about funk, so it must not be that important," which seems more than a little self-serving.
When he finally gets to the artists, it's a nice survey. But the polemics keep coming, which is a lot to wade through.
July 11, 2025
Rickey Vincent's passion for The Funk shines through every page of this expansive overview over the music, the times, and the politics of The Funk. You can't help but marvel and the depth and the scope of the book, even while such a vast scope necessarily sidelines some topics.
I started this book with little knowledge about Funk, having been immersed in Jazz for decades. The big names were known to me, but I'm happy to say the Vincent managed to give me an appreciation for all the nooks and crannies of this distinctly Black American music. The local record stores definitely saw an increase of sold funk records in the last month, as my bank account saw the same thing from the other side...
The book can be a tad repetitive sometimes (there's only so much variation on "Band X recorded album Y which was amazing, then recorded album Z" you can do) but you will be left with a deeper understanding of the culture around Funk and, at the very least, a hefty backlog of great music to listen to.
I started this book with little knowledge about Funk, having been immersed in Jazz for decades. The big names were known to me, but I'm happy to say the Vincent managed to give me an appreciation for all the nooks and crannies of this distinctly Black American music. The local record stores definitely saw an increase of sold funk records in the last month, as my bank account saw the same thing from the other side...
The book can be a tad repetitive sometimes (there's only so much variation on "Band X recorded album Y which was amazing, then recorded album Z" you can do) but you will be left with a deeper understanding of the culture around Funk and, at the very least, a hefty backlog of great music to listen to.
August 27, 2017
questo libro ti trasporta letteralmente dentro un'epoca, facendo capire come "funk" non sia solo un termine musicale ma uno stile di vita! e poi analizza il genere in tutti i suoi aspetti, da james brown all'hip hop passando per certa fusion e il crossover, con tanto di discografia dettagliata alla fine.
che io sappia è l'unico libro in italiano reperibile sull'argomento, e questo ne fa un obbligo per gli appassionati di musica, e non solo di quella black.
che io sappia è l'unico libro in italiano reperibile sull'argomento, e questo ne fa un obbligo per gli appassionati di musica, e non solo di quella black.
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May 30, 2024It’s almost impossible to uniquely describe music in language at all, and this is a noble try;
The real treasure here is the catalog of funk albums that is probably already a Youtube playlist somewhere;
The real treasure here is the catalog of funk albums that is probably already a Youtube playlist somewhere;
April 18, 2019
I now have a very long list of music I want to listen to.
January 17, 2011
An interesting read for anyone who wants to learn more about the history of funk music and its major artists. Worth noting is the excellent discography which I found very useful as a guide to delving further into the funk universe.
It's not an incredibly well-written book though: stylistically, it hovers uncomfortably between a serious piece of musical/cultural writing and a throwaway hype-driven magazine article. There's a lot of flowery waffle and in some parts it seems to lose a sense of direction. Content-wise, it's lacking in direct input from original practitioners, and doesn't go into as much depth as I would have liked on the actual music itself.
Another mild peeve for me is the occasionally militant attitude of the author, an African American, towards race issues in the US and the contribution of white musicians to funk music. Quotes like "Unfortunately, any time white musicians get into a black thang, things can get messy" (here describing white scottish funksters Average White Band) seem to diminish, unfairly, the contribution of non-black musicians to funk music. And as a white boy confronted with this residual bitterness you can't help but echo Ben Folds' sentiment in Rockin' The Suburbs: "because my great-great-great grandaddy made someone's great-great-great grandaddy his slave.... it wasn't my idea!".
Nevertheless, short-comings aside it is essential reading for noobs to the genre, like myself.
A couple of interesting factoids that I learned in the discussion of rap and hip-hop music towards the end:
1. Part of the riff to Tone Loc's "Wild Thing" is actually a sample of Van Halen's "Jamie's Crying".
2. Rage Against The Machine's "Renegades of Funk" is actually a (brilliant) cover of a rap song by Afrika Bambaataa from 1983.
It's not an incredibly well-written book though: stylistically, it hovers uncomfortably between a serious piece of musical/cultural writing and a throwaway hype-driven magazine article. There's a lot of flowery waffle and in some parts it seems to lose a sense of direction. Content-wise, it's lacking in direct input from original practitioners, and doesn't go into as much depth as I would have liked on the actual music itself.
Another mild peeve for me is the occasionally militant attitude of the author, an African American, towards race issues in the US and the contribution of white musicians to funk music. Quotes like "Unfortunately, any time white musicians get into a black thang, things can get messy" (here describing white scottish funksters Average White Band) seem to diminish, unfairly, the contribution of non-black musicians to funk music. And as a white boy confronted with this residual bitterness you can't help but echo Ben Folds' sentiment in Rockin' The Suburbs: "because my great-great-great grandaddy made someone's great-great-great grandaddy his slave.... it wasn't my idea!".
Nevertheless, short-comings aside it is essential reading for noobs to the genre, like myself.
A couple of interesting factoids that I learned in the discussion of rap and hip-hop music towards the end:
1. Part of the riff to Tone Loc's "Wild Thing" is actually a sample of Van Halen's "Jamie's Crying".
2. Rage Against The Machine's "Renegades of Funk" is actually a (brilliant) cover of a rap song by Afrika Bambaataa from 1983.
November 26, 2015
a 1996 book detailing the history of funk music from the perspective of a guy who had been living with this stuff for a couple decades at least when he wrote the book. Do I go with flaws first or the praise parts? He desperately needed an editor to avoid repetition, he has a fannish enthusiasm that gets a little old over the course of a book, he only rarely does much to actually describe what's happening in the music (though his chapter on James Brown is very good in this regard), he skips over the downward spiral of Sly Stone's life and other problems with musicians, and worst of all for me, he spends way too much time insulting disco music. But, my goodness, the scope of this book is terrific, he does a great job of placing funk in an ongoing story of African-American popular music from jazz and blues to hip hop, he covers virtually every funky record from the 70s and even the early 80s, he neatly divides the story into short eras which make perfect sense, and he makes me want to listen to a lot of music both long familiar and overlooked.
September 25, 2021
"This book was published in 1996 and deals with funk music and black consciousness in the USA up until 1995. I can't help wondering if the author had written this twenty years on would he have reached the same conclusions. A fascinating read though I am not sure the way the author arranged his chapters was entirely helpful." was what I wrote on 27 December 2015.
Reading this book again six years later I don't have anything to add to my earlier review.
Reading this book again six years later I don't have anything to add to my earlier review.
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May 11, 2007FUNKY
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October 18, 2008 feel the funk! funk dynasties from the 1960s -1990s! the funk family tree! get it! get into it!
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