It's been said that Go-Go and Punk Rock are cousins to Hip-Hop and there are certainly enough similarities to make such a claim.

All three music genres are parts of bigger sub-cultures created in the 1970s by disenfranchised and frustrated youth searching for a means of expression. As a music genre Rap music took off into the stratosphere and almost 5 decades after its birth in the modern day it shows no signs of slowing down, while Punk Rock barely penetrated popular culture outside of a few bands gaining some national exposure in the 1980s and an Alvin & The Chipmunks Punk Rock parody album. That isn’t a slight to Punk Rock, the music was far too angry and rebellious to be transformed into commercial music for the masses. While Go-Go has been sampled heavily by major rap artists, featured in movies and the subject of documentaries, it has still remained a regional music and movement for the more than four decades that its been in existence.

One of Go-Go’s architects is the band Trouble Funk. Trouble Funk leader Big Tony credits the late Chuck Brown as the Father of Go-Go. “Chuck Brown's early records weren’t Go-Go. Chuck was doin’ Go-Go but he wasn’t recording it. Trouble Funk was the first to actually record Go-Go. 'Bustin’ Loose' (by Chuck Brown & The Soul Searchers) was a top 40 funk record with Go-Go ingredients. 'E Flat Boogie' (by Trouble Funk) and 'Bustin’ Loose' were the first recordings with Go-Go in them. The very first Go-Go recording ever released was 'Straight Up Funk Go-Go Style' by Trouble Funk. People don’t acknowledge that.”

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