Funk is a style of music that emerged out of the African American community in the early 1970s. It represents a chapter in the long evolution of black music beginning with blues (see entry under 1920s—Music in volume 2) and jazz (see entry under 1900s—Music in volume 1) and continuing to gospel, rhythm and blues (R&B; see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3), and soul. Like these other forms of music, funk was an expression of black popular culture that sought to recapture the essentials of the black music experience away from a watered-down version that was marketed more to whites than to blacks.

Funk's immediate predecessor was soul music. As soul music matured in the mid-1960s, some black performers began experimenting with a new sound that relied on heavy bass rhythms and drum beats. The most important of these innovators was James Brown (1933–). Known as...