Funk

Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid- to late 1960s when African American musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of soul music, jazz, and rhythm and blues (R&B). 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 them from R&B and soul songs, which are built on complex chord progressions. Funk uses the same extended chords found in bebop jazz, such as minor chords with added sevenths and elevenths, or dominant seventh chords with altered ninths.

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". Funk originated in the mid-1960s, with James Brown's development of a signature groove that emphasized the downbeat—with heavy emphasis on the first beat of every measure, funky bass lines, drum patterns, and syncopated guitar riffs. Other musical groups, including Sly & the Family Stone and Parliament-Funkadelic, soon began to adopt and develop Brown's innovations. While much of the written history of funk focuses on men, there have been notable funk women, including Chaka Khan, Labelle, Brides of Funkenstein, Klymaxx, Mother's Finest, and Betty Davis.

Mark Ronson

Mark Daniel Ronson (born 4 September 1975) is an English musician, DJ, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Although his debut album Here Comes the Fuzz failed to make an impact on the charts, his second album Version reached number two in the UK and included three top 10 singles. This success won him a Brit Award for Best British Male Solo Artist in 2008. His third studio album, Record Collection, was released on 27 September 2010, peaking at number two in the UK.

In 2014, Ronson achieved his first UK and US number one single with the Grammy-nominated "Uptown Funk," which featured vocals from Bruno Mars. In 2015 it won Ronson the Brit Award for British Single of the Year. His fourth studio album, the Grammy-nominated Uptown Special, was released in January 2015, and became his first UK number one album. Ronson has also produced multi-platinum, Grammy-winning albums for Amy Winehouse and Adele.

Early life

Ronson was born at the Wellington Hospital, St John's Wood, London, the son of Laurence Ronson, a real-estate speculator and music manager, and Anne Dexter. His parents are both Ashkenazi Jews (their ancestors being Jewish immigrants from Austria, Russia, and Lithuania); Ronson was brought up in Masorti Judaism and had a Bar Mitzvah. The family name was originally "Aaronson," but was shortened by Mark's grandfather Henry. He is the nephew of Gerald Ronson. Through his mother, he is also related to British Conservative politicians Sir Malcolm Rifkind and Leon Lord Brittan, as well as Odeon Cinemas founder Oscar Deutsch. He is not related to the late English guitarist Mick Ronson, who coincidentally fathered a son named Mark in 1975.

Hip hop

Hip hop or hip-hop is a sub-cultural movement that formed during the early 1970s by African-American and Puerto Rican youths residing in the South Bronx in New York City. It became popular outside of the African-American community in the late 1980s and by the 2000s became the most listened-to musical genre in the world. It is characterized by four distinct elements, all of which represent the different manifestations of the culture: rap music (oral), turntablism or DJing (aural), b-boying (physical) and graffiti art (visual). Even while it continues to develop globally in myriad styles, these four foundational elements provide coherence to hip hop culture. The term is often used in a restrictive fashion as synonymous only with the oral practice of rap music.

The origin of the hip hop culture stems from the block parties of the Ghetto Brothers, when they plugged in the amplifiers for their instruments and speakers into the lampposts on 163rd Street and Prospect Avenue and used music to break down racial barriers, and from DJ Kool Herc at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, where Herc mixed samples of existing records with his own shouts to the crowd and dancers. Kool Herc is credited as the "father" of hip hop. DJ Afrika Bambaataa of the hip hop collective Zulu Nation outlined the pillars of hip hop culture, to which he coined the terms: MCing or "Emceein", DJing or "Deejayin", B-boying and graffiti writing or "Aerosol Writin".

Uptown Funk

"Uptown Funk" (stylised as "UpTown Funk!") is a song recorded by British producer Mark Ronson, with vocals from American singer Bruno Mars, for Ronson's fourth studio album, Uptown Special (2015). RCA Records released the song as the album's lead single on 10 November 2014.Jeff Bhasker assisted the artists in co-writing and co-producing the track, with additional writing from Philip Lawrence. This is Mars' fourth collaboration with Ronson (following Mars' own songs "Locked Out of Heaven", "Moonshine", and "Gorilla") and sixth with Bhasker (after "Talking to the Moon", "Young Girls" and the three previously mentioned songs).

Deep house

Deep house is a subgenre of house music that originated in the 1980s, initially fusing elements of Chicago house with 1980s jazz-funk and touches of soul music. Deep house tracks generally have a tempo of between 120 and 125 beats per minute. This style of house music can often have an acoustic feeling. The online music store Beatport is credited with driving the popularity of deep house, but also mislabeling a number of artists in the process and giving rise to the future house genre.

Characteristics

Deep house is known for complex melody, use of unrelated chromatic chords underlying most sequences, and a soul, ambient, or lounge vibe to the vocals (if any). In the early compositions (1988–89), influences of jazz music were most frequently brought out by using more complex chords than simple triads (7ths, 9ths, 13ths, suspensions, alterations) which are held for many bars and give compositions a slightly dissonant feel. The use of vocals became more common in deep house than in many other forms of house music. Sonic qualities include soulful vocals (if vocals are included), slow and concentrated dissonant melodies, and a smooth, stylish, and chic demeanor. The use of women's vocals is more common than male's in deep house tracks. Deep house music rarely reaches a climax, but lingers on as a comfortable, relaxing sound.