Jazz? I Prefer Funk – It Made Me Aware and Alive

(I’m calling fanboi warning on this post.)

I believe in Funk.

The first time I heard Parliament-Funkadelic’s “Do That Stuff” I was in – knee deep. Funk. The bomb. P-Funk. Uncut, lip-curling, stank, funk! I realized that I was a Funkateer all my life and never realized it. (Name-shouts for James Brown, The Bar-Kays, Booker T. and the M.G.s, The Brothers Johnson, Rufus, Sly Stone, and Prince.)

Wasn’t just about the groove and the thump. For me, funkiness was a way of life – it gave me a sense of self, freed us from small inhibitions, and offered a way for us to come alive. Sure, Funk – especially George Clinton style – was about a little ego trippin’ but, for me – when it was righteous – it was about protest, escaping, and guided me to my own uniqueness. Funk is a celebration of being human and all the conditions that go with it. It’s about the joy of life.

I peeped a mothership connection on campus in, of all things, a course! And, in a University! So, to get the discussion going for the first day of school and to avoid coming in unprepared, I’ve got one question: if the American people decided to rededicate Mount Rushmore to the Funk – let’s call it the new Mount Funkmore – which four mugs does Overton Loyd chisel on the rock?

Don’t fake the funk, listen for yourself.

Peace

_________________________________________

Screenshot above: Recreating Sir Nose as a clone from Funkentelechy VS the Placebo Syndrome (overtonloyd.blogspot.com)