Funky Drummer

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"Funky Drummer" is a song recorded by James Brown and his band in 1969. The recording's drum break, a propulsive beat improvised by Clyde Stubblefield, is one of the most frequently sampled rhythmic breaks in hip hop and popular music.

Video Funky Drummer

Track recording

"Funky Drummer" was recorded on November 20, 1969 in Cincinnati, Ohio, and originally released by King Records as a two-part 45 rpm single in March 1970.The difference between the album version and the single version is that the single version contains Brown's vocal percussion ('kooncha'). Despite rising to #20 on the R&B chart and #51 on the pop chart, it did not receive an album release until the 1986 compilation In the Jungle Groove.

The piece takes the form of an extended vamp, with individual instruments (mostly the guitar, tenor saxophones and organ) improvising brief licks on top. Brown's ad-libbed vocals on "Funky Drummer" are sporadic and declamatory, and are mostly concerned with encouraging the other band members.The song is played in the key of D minor, though the first verse is in C major.

As in the full-length version of "Cold Sweat," Brown announces the upcoming drum break, which comes late in the recording, with a request to "give the drummer some." He tells Stubblefield "You don't have to do no soloing, brother, just keep what you got... Don't turn it loose, 'cause it's a mother." Stubblefield's eight-bar unaccompanied "solo", a version of the riff he plays through most of the piece, is the result of Brown's directions; this break beat is one of the most sampled recordings in music.

After the drum break, the band returns to the original vamp. Brown, apparently impressed with what Stubblefield has produced, seems to name the song on the spot as it continues, and repeats it: "The name of this tune is 'The Funky Drummer', 'The Funky Drummer', 'The Funky Drummer'." The recording ends with a reprise of Stubblefield's solo and a fade-out.

"The Funky Drummer" is also sometimes used as a nickname for Stubblefield himself, who capitalized on the name with his 1997 album Revenge of the Funky Drummer. As a session drummer, Stubblefield received no further compensation for the many samples that were taken from the recording.

Maps Funky Drummer

Versions

More than one mix of "Funky Drummer" was made around the time it was recorded, including one with tambourine and another with vocal percussion by Brown and trombonist Fred Wesley; the most commonly heard version of the track lacks these elements, which were apparently overdubbed. In addition to the original version of "Funky Drummer", the album In the Jungle Groove includes a "bonus beat reprise" of the piece. This track, edited by Danny Krivit, consists of a 3-minute loop of the drum break, punctuated only by Brown's sampled vocal interjections and an occasional guitar chord and tambourine hit.

Released versions

• Part 1 - 2:35
• Part 2 - 2:55
• Parts 1 & 2 (first appeared on Foundations of Funk - A Brand New Bag: 1965-1969) - 5:34
• Full version (appears on In the Jungle Groove) - 9:13
• Tambourine Mix (appears on Soul Pride: The Instrumentals - 1960-1969) - 9:13
• Bonus Beat Reprise (appears on In the Jungle Groove) - 2:56

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Personnel

• James Brown - vocals, organ

with the James Brown Orchestra:

• Richard "Kush" Griffith - trumpet
• Joe Davis - trumpet
• Fred Wesley - trombone
• Maceo Parker - tenor saxophone
• Eldee Williams - tenor saxophone
• St. Clair Pinckney - baritone saxophone
• Jimmy Nolen - guitar
• Alphonso "Country" Kellum - guitar
• Charles Sherrell - bass
• Clyde Stubblefield - drums

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Chart positions

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Influence

The rhythm pattern on "Funky Drummer" is cited as one of the world's top most sampled drum segments and has backed hip hop songs for 30 years. Rediscovered by Hank Shocklee of The Bombsquad while they were creating mixes for Public Enemy in the early 1980s, it has since been used by hip-hop groups and rappers including Run-D.M.C., N.W.A, LL Cool J, and Boogie Down Productions. Starting with Bell Biv DeVoe's "Poison," new jack swing artists have sampled a snare unit on loop. As of 2018, the drum break has been sampled in more than 1,400 other songs.

Rappers who sample the recording have included references to Brown, Stubblefield, and the song's title in their lyrics, two examples being LL Cool J in "Boomin' System" ("The girlies, they smile, they see me comin, I'm steady hummin, I got the Funky Drummer drummin") and Public Enemy in "Fight the Power" ("1989 - the number, another summer / Sound of the Funky Drummer...").

The "Funky Drummer" beat has been so widely used that it has become something of a musical cliché, and performers sometimes refer to it sarcastically. MC Frontalot's song "Good Old Clyde" comments on the widespread appropriation of the "Funky Drummer" beat (while exploiting the beat itself). Pop Will Eat Itself's song "Not Now, James, We're Busy" samples Brown's vocal asides from "Funky Drummer" as well as the drum break, weaving them into a commentary on Brown's legal troubles.

Songs that feature the sample (partial list)

1986

• Public Enemy - Rebel Without a Pause
• RUN DMC - Beats to the Rhyme
• Kool Moe Dee - Go See the Doctor
• Grandmaster Flash - Fastest Man Alive

1987

• Public Enemy - Bring The Noise
• Coldcut - Say Kids What Time Is It?
• BDP - South Bronx
• Ice T - Make It Funky
• Gang Starr - The Lesson
• Fat Boys - Crushin'
• Big Daddy Kane - Somethin' Funky
• LL Cool J - Jack the Ripper

1988

• RUN DMC - Run's House
• Eric B & Rakim - Lyrics of Fury
• Salt-N-Pepa - Let The Rhythm Run
• DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - Jazzy's Groove
• DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - Pump Up the Bass
• James Brown - The Payback Mix
• James Brown - She Looks All Types a Good
• Stop The Violence Movement - Self Destruction
• The Fedz - Taking U Out
• NWA - Quiet On Tha Set
• Today - Him Or Me
• Jewel T - I Like It Loud

1989

• Kool G Rap & DJ Polo - It's a Demo
• Big Daddy Kane - Mortal Combat
• Biz Markie - Spring Again
• Maestro Fresh Wes - Let Your Backbone Slide
• Heavy D &The Boyz - We Got Our Own Thang
• Wreckx-N-Effect - New Jack Swing
• Wrecks-n-Effect - Clubhead
• De La Soul - Three Is A Magic Number
• Public Enemy - Fight The Power
• Roxanne Shante - Have A Nice Day [Remix]
• 2 Live Crew - Coolin'
• NWA - Live Intro
• Geto Boys - Mind of a Lunatic

1990

• LL Cool J - The Boomin' System
• LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock You Out
• Another Bad Creation - Iesha
• Snap! - Blase Blase
• Kid n Play - Fun House

• Paris - I Call Him Mad
• Sinead O'Connor - I Am Stretched On Your Grave
• The Jaz & Jay-Z - The Originators
• George Michael - Freedom! '90
• Ice Cube - Jackin' for Beats

1991

• Queen - We Are The Champions (Rick Rubin Ruined Mix)
• Serious Tripp - Gotta Keep Movin'
• Pete Rock & CL Smooth - Go With the Flow

1992

• Dr. Dre - Let Me Ride
• Sublime - Scarlet Begonias
• Ultramagentic MC's - Moe Love on the 1 and 2

1993

• Fine Young Cannibals - I'm Not the Man I Used To Be
• Enigma - Carly's Song

1994

• True Mathematics - For The Lover In You

1995

• Planet Hemp - Porcos Fardados

1996

• A Tribe Called Quest - Separate/Together

1997

• Bob James - Love Is Where

1999

• Mos Def - Mathematics

2012

• Labrinth - Express Yourself

2016

Theodore Shapiro & Ludwig Goransson - Central Intelligence

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See also

• Amen break
• "Think (About It)"
• Woo! Yeah!
• "Funky President (People It's Bad)"

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References

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External links

• Allmusic review
• List of songs that sample "Funky Drummer" (the-breaks.com)
• Samples of "Funky Drummer" by James Brown (whosampled.com)

Source of article : Wikipedia