Take a syncopated voyage through the history of funk music, spanning from African, soul, and early jazz roots, to its rise into the public consciousness.
Independent Lens “We Want the Funk” airs Tuesday, April 8 at 9 p.m. on WXXI-TV and streaming live on the WXXI app.
Featuring James Brown’s dynamism, the extraterrestrial funk of George Clinton’s Parliament Funkadelic, transformed girl group Labelle, and Fela Kuti’s Afrobeat. The story also traces funk’s influences on both new wave and hip-hop.