UK funky (sometimes known as UKF or funky) is a genre of electronic dance music born in

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

that is heavily influenced by Soca, soulful house, tribal house,

UK garage UK garage, abbreviated as UKG, is a genre of electronic dance music which originated in England in the early to mid-1990s. The genre was most clearly inspired by garage house, but also incorporates elements from dance-pop, R&B, and jungle. I ...

, broken beat and grime. Typically, UK funky blends beats, bass loops and synths with African and

Latin percussion {{for, the company, Latin Percussion Latin percussion is a family of percussion, membranophone, lamellophone and idiophone instruments used in Latin music. Instruments Afro-Cuban and Puerto Rican styles Folkloric and Santeria * Trap drums * Abakua ...

in the dembow rhythm and

contemporary R&B Contemporary R&B (or simply R&B) is a popular music genre that combines rhythm and blues with elements of pop, soul, funk, hip hop, and electronic music. The genre features a distinctive record production style, drum machine-backed rhy ...

-style vocals.

Characteristics

UK funky uses tempos of around 130bpm. Drum patterns vary between tracks, using either " 4 to the floor" or a syncopated style. The drum patterns commonly also include percussion playing African inspired rhythms. Instrumentation varies widely, but drum machines and

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

s are common. There are similarities to garage in rhythmic, musical and vocal styles. UK funky is highly influenced by the

tribal The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to conflic ...

, soulful and

bassline Bassline (also known as a bass line or bass part) is the term used in many styles of music, such as blues, jazz, funk, Dub music, dub and electronic music, electronic, traditional music, traditional, or classical music for the low-pitched Part ( ...

house subgenres. Similar genres include

Afrobeats Afrobeats (not to be confused with Afrobeat or Afroswing), or Afro-pop or Afro-fusion (or Afropop or Afrofusion), is an umbrella term to describe popular music from West Africa and the diaspora that initially developed in Nigeria, Ghana, a ...

, broken beat, electro and garage.

History

US house producers such as

Masters At Work Masters at Work is the American garage house production and remix team of "Little" Louie Vega and Kenny "Dope" Gonzalez. The duo has produced music together under the names MAW, KenLou, Sole Fusion, Hardrive, and Nuyorican Soul. They have been r ...

, Karizma (with "Twyst This"), Quentin Harris and Dennis Ferrer (with a remix of

Fish Go Deep Fish Go Deep are an Irish production duo consisting of Greg Dowling and Shane Johnson from Cork city.

's "The Cure and the Cause"; and with "Hey Hey") have had an influence on UK funky. Hits from this genre include the Crazy Cousinz songs " Do You Mind?", "Bongo Jam" and "The Funky Anthem", and Fuzzy Logik featuring Egypt's "In The Morning". Popular songs have also produced dance crazes, such as "Heads Shoulders Knees and Toes", "The Tribal Man Skank" and "The Migraine Skank". Other notable artists include Apple, Marcus Nasty, Tribal Magz, Donae'o, KIG, Roska, Champion,

iLL BLU Ill Blu (stylized as iLL BLU) is a British record production duo, consisting of James Grant and Darius Ellington. History Ill Blu began their career in 2008 following the release of "Frontline" by Princess Nyah; at the time, the members of Ill ...

, Lil' Silva and Funkystepz. DJs and MCs that have played a role in UK funky include DJ Pioneer, Supa D, MA1, Cameo, NG, MC Kaos Spidey G, Coldstepz, and Dogtaniaun & Versatile. Funky Dee's "Are You Gonna Bang Doe?", recorded in 2009, achieved mainstream success and was signed to

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch–American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

. It was interpolated by

Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran (; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently re ...

in his viral 2010 freestyle alongside

Example Example may refer to: * '' exempli gratia'' (e.g.), usually read out in English as "for example" * .example The name example is reserved by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) as a domain name that may not be installed as a top-level ...

, the "Nando's Skank", and was later interpolated by

Sun Bingo ''Sun Bingo'' is an online bingo operator based and licensed in Alderney. It was established in 2006, and is part of News UK Group, who also operates newspaper '' The Sun''. The company provides an online bingo gaming platform, predominantly for ...

for their 2018 "Are You Gonna Bingo?" advertising campaign. The track was described by

Tim Westwood Timothy Westwood (born 3 October 1957) is a British DJ and presenter. He is often referred to by other DJs and artists appearing on his shows simply as Westwood. He was described by ''The Guardian'' in 2022 as "a veteran of the hip-hop scene ...

as "the summer soundtrack" which "replaced oy Better Know's"Too Many Man" in the clubs" and by ''TRENCH Magazine'' as an "Ayia Napa anthem". Critics included ''

Vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character t ...

s Sam Diss, who considered it to be one of several tracks "that practically confirmed

K funky K, or k, is the eleventh letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''kay'' (pronounced ), plural ''kays''. The letter K u ...

would soon become the novelty soundtrack to every bad freshers week in the country, eventually leading to its demise", and Marcus Nasty, who claimed it contributed to the genre becoming "kiddies' music".

References

;Notes ;Bibliography *Clark, Martin
'The Month In: Grime / Dubstep'
Pitchfork, August, 2006. *Clark, Martin

Blackdown, December, 2007. *Prancehall 'What happened to grime? It turned into funky house', NME, February, 2008. *McDonnell, Joh

Guardian, February, 2008. *Finney, Ti
'Peering Through The Front Door Of Funky House'
Idolator, May, 2008. *Wilson, Maked
'The rise of Funky'
Beatportal/D101 Magazine, July 2008. *McDonnell, Joh
'Broken beat meets tribal house? Now that's what I call... funky?'
Guardian, August, 2008. *Clark, Martin

Blackdown, September, 2008. * Wilson, Makeda - 'Nah That's Funky, It's leaking.... It Stinks!!' - D101 Magazine, October 2008. Article Available on request from D101MAGAZINE * Wilson, Makeda - 'Keep It Funky!!' - D101 Magazine, February 2009. Article Available on request from D101MAGAZINE

External links

bassmusic.me
is an online magazine shedding light on various forms of bass driven music such as: Dubstep, UK Funky, Garage, Drum & Bass, House, Juke, Techno and more. {{DEFAULTSORT:Uk Funky (Music) UK funky UK garage English styles of music Electronic dance music genres Fusion music genres House music genres