Black Excellence: We Want the Funk!
https://www.npr.org/2025/04/08/nx-s1-5312006/we-want-the-funk-pbs-documentary
We Want the Funk!, an expansive, emotive, celebratory documentary looking at one of history’s most important musical genres, begins simply.
Legendary studio musician Marcus Miller picks up his bass guitar and thumps out a funky, percussive rhythm. Which then builds into a full-on groove by James Brown, leading to an existential question – asked over the course of the film to people like Miller, Parliament-Funkadelic leader George Clinton, The Roots’ Ahmir ‘Questlove’ Thompson and Talking Heads’ David Byrne.
What exactly is the funk?