Brit funk is a musical style that has its origins in the British music scene of the late 1970s-80s. It mixes elements from funk and soul music with original jazz-funk and Caribbean overtones.

An important stylistic element of Brit funk is the dominant role of the bass and rhythm guitars. With a hard funky rhythm, a cross between James Brown and Earth, Wind & Fire, the Brit funk trend reached its peak in the mid-1980s.

Brit funk has its roots in North and East London. The pioneers of Brit funk were Hi Tension, a band from northwest London, which started as Hot Waxx in the early 1970s.The Real Thing, Heatwave and Gonzalez were also pioneers from the late '70s, adding their own slant to the American melodic funk and R&B sounds of the post-disco era. However, the first time the term was use was in reference to bands such as Light of the World, who were obviously influenced by the funk scene from the USA, but were happy to acknowledge their UK roots without the need to adopt American accents on stage.

Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground. Funk songs are often based on an extended vamp on a single chord, distinguishing it from R&B and soul songs, which are centered on chord progressions.

Like much African-inspired music, funk typically consists of a complex groove with rhythm instruments such as electric guitar, electric bass, Hammond organ, and drums playing interlocking rhythms. Funk bands sometimes have a horn section of several saxophones, trumpets, and in some cases, a trombone, which plays rhythmic "hits".

Many of the most famous bands in the genre also played disco and soul extensively. Funk samples have been used extensively in genres including hip hop, house music and drum and bass. It is also the main influence of go-go, a subgenre associated with funk.

Gilles Peterson (born 28 September 1964 in Caen, France, as Gilles Jerome Moehrle to a mother from Paris and a father from Zürich), is a SwissDJ, record collector and record label owner residing in London, UK. Through his labels Acid Jazz, Talkin' Loud, and latterly Brownswood Recordings, he has been associated with the careers of well-known artists of the 1990s such as Erykah Badu, Roni Size and Jamiroquai. He is also well known as a radio DJ.

After starting out on pirate radio, and having shows on various legal London-based radio stations, most noticeably including Kiss FM dance music station, he was recruited to the BBC's youth-oriented Radio 1 in 1998. Peterson is known for his eclectic musical selections, and has even been occasionally mentioned as the new John Peel^{[citation needed]}. However whilst John Peel had an "anything goes" range of tastes displayed on his show, Peterson's focus has always been Jazz music, generally Modern Jazz, with a strong emphasis on its translation to a club environment, mixed with associated music styles.