Funk is a many splendored thing. Funk is a nasty vibe, and a sweet sexy feeling; Funk is funkiness, a natural release of the essence within. Funk is a high, but it is also down at the bottom, the low-down earthy essence, the bass elements. Funk is at the extremes of everything. Funk is hot, but funk can be cool. Funk is primitive, yet funk can be sophisticated. Funk is way out, and a way in. Funk is all over the place. Funk is a means of release that cannot be denied.Village Voice writer Barry Walters explained The Funk as well as anyone could: "Trying to put that thang called funk into words is like trying to write down your orgasm. Both thrive in that gap in time when words fall away, leaving nothing but sensation."
Someone "funky looking" is generally thought of as someone colorful and amusing, yet unkempt, undisciplined, somewhere between exotic and ridiculous. Whether or not "funky" is in style, there are funky-looking people everywhere. Quite often, these funky people are self-styled, creative, and in touch with themselves. Funkiness, then, is an earthly 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
Funkiness for our purposes is an aesthetic of deliberate confusion, of uninhibited, soulful behavior that remains viable because of a faith in instinct, a joy of self, and a joy of life, particularly unassimilated black American life. The black popular music of the early 1970s was a consistent reminder of this new affirming, colorful, ethnic aesthetic, and the Hip Hop culture of the 1990s has spawned a return to this less formalized foundation of life.
SOURCE: Funk by Rickey Vincent
