Deep funk


Deep funk is a genre of funk music which, unlike traditional mainstream funk, has a more soulful, rawer, grittier, and "heavier" sound. The term "deep funk" is also the name of the scene of collectors, DJs, and musicians who are into deep funk as a genre.

Name

It got its name after Keb Darge's "Legendary Deep Funk" DJ night, held at Madame Jojo's nightclub in London's Soho district. The night started originally with Snowboy, Keb Darge and Greg Belson as the DJs for the club session.
Deep funk is a reference to the term "deep soul" coined by Dave Godin.

History

The focus of the scene is collecting and DJing rare funk 45s of the deep funk genre, most usually released originally by local funk groups and artists in the USA throughout the 1960s and 1970s that usually stayed in their local home bases, only playing nearby clubs and other venues, and releasing their music on small local and regional record labels at the time in the form of 7" 45 rpm singles in quite small quantities, hence their extreme rarity and high collectible value. Most of these records have quite high re-sale values due to their scarcity, with some selling for upwards of four to five figures.
The main DEEP FUNK DJs still working are Ian Wright, DJ Shadow, Fryer from Athens of the North, Snowboy, DJ Oneofoakind, Adrian Gibson, Jason Stirland, Funky Plumber, Perry Louis, Music Man Miles from Breakestra, Frank Raines from Funk Night Records, Daisuke Kuroda, Lincoln Wood, Mike Bandoni from Funkshone, Rainer Windisch, Tobias Kirmayer, Greg Belson, Scott Craig, Adam Hayden aka Mean Mr. Mustard and Jazzman Gerald.
The Deep Funk Scene recently had an event featuring artists appearing live along with DJs performing over two rooms in London, United Kingdom called the HOOK & SLING - named after the Eddie Bo 45. The debut event happened in 2017 at 229 in Great Portland Street. The 2018 HOOK & SLING is planned for 13 & 14 July 2018.