Funk Music is Excremental

After we travel deep into the future, new adherents of Funk music emerge.  Barriers that once separated Funk from fiction have been deconstructed. The power of thought  allows growth, proving that Funk can unite all life forms within photosynthesized realms.  In case you ask, we can confirm that there is Funk without light, and because all Funk emerges from the dark and illuminates.  Funk is universal and exists alongside limitless   sounds.  Funk music is excremental, and also exponential. That is how it flows.

What is the real question here?  “Is all Funk, Funky?”  That is the question. If it isn’t Funky, is it  still  real Funk?”  So, what do you do?  Are you dealing with something Funky, or something ‘called’ Funk? Don’t call it Funk, if it isn’t Funky.   If we call everything ‘Funk,’ we end up adding non-existent factors to Funk. They already don’t exist with this, so why call them that?  Some people never saw a Funk explosion, and now confuse explosions with implosions. A way to find Funk is to smell the air and  look inside the outhouse.   

The book, Kill ‘Em  and Leave: Searching for James Brown and the American Soul, by James McBride is essential reading, because of how it explains the idea of Funk.  We should take note of when Mr. McBride explained that, “It wasn’t “funkiness” that makes Brown important, though. That word is overused, misunderstood, and misrepresented anyway.  The true substitute for it, really, is the term ‘sound,’ or ‘influence.’ Brown’s musical sound-acknowledged as supreme among the greats in African American music, from Miles Davis to the avant-garde Art Ensemble of Chicago to the fabulously talented bassist Christian McBride-is what sets him apart, as well as the longevity he achieved in a tough musical world.”  To create and develop music that moved people in the way that James Brown  could, required  the ability to reshape what was already put there. We search for words to define Funk, but when we smell it…no explanation is necessary. When that door is opened, we definitely know that we are smelling Funk.  James Brown had often explained the way  that he approached music, and that music became Funk. 

When Fela Kuti found Funk, he made it his own by creating a genre that was unique and a reflection of his life experiences.  In the book, Chinua Achebe and Fela Anikulapo Kuti: Revolutionary Consciousness in Music and Literature, by Peters Chuka Nwafor, Nwafor writes, “… it is evident that for revolutionary consciousness to be possible to creative man, human beings have to be aware of themselves and the issues to revolt against. This process has the aim of resolving the identified issue for the betterment of society.”  Without saying a word, anyone who knows the real history and music of Fela, knows that he uncompromisingly addressed issues that plagued the development of Nigeria and colonized People all around the world.

The book, Fela: This Bitch of A Life, by Carlos Moore,   explained how Fela Anikupapo-Kuti changed his continent’s energy. Moore, speaking about Fela says, “… forming his Koola Lobitos band in 1961 with his school friend J.K. Braimah.  In 1969 he traveled with the group to the United States, where he connected with Black Power militants and became increasingly politicized. Specifically, his meeting with Sandra Smith, a member of the Black Panthers, was a catalyst for everything that was to follow.”  Funk became more than entertainment, because Fela articulated greed’s reality.  Funk was Fela’s vehicle. His juxtaposed  musical style highlighted the political stench of corruption, and actions that embody the abject spiritual emptiness that resides side by side with the slums.