Clyde Stubblefield is the ACTUAL AND LITERAL "Funky Drummer". RIP Mr Stubblefield.

In the best James Brown records, every instrument is treated like it's a drum.

"It's not a thang when I lower the gradient lens frames
I'm cooler than Clyde Stubblefield drummin' for James "- Black Thought

I like your Bjork shirt, LUXXURY!

I can’t understand how this hasn’t blown up more. This show is killer when I get in a music selection rut at work. Always love to mix it up from constant music throughout the day and yous have me listening to all of the past episodes now.Thanks fellas

This track is like the source code for hip hop. One of your best episodes!

Petey Wheatstraw "The devil's son in law" also a phenomenal Dolemite movie.

One of the best episodes!!  Thank you guys :)

I was fortunate enough to have a father who was a friend of James Brown from the 1960s forward. My father was a car salesman who used to sell cars to James, as well as pick him up from JFK irport when James came to NYC. This was before James moved to our old neighborhood in St. Albans a.k.a. Addisleigh Park.

From 1966 through the early 1970s, be it Marva Whitney, Hank Ballard, Pee Wee Ellis, Bobby Byrd & James, I was blessed to get promo 45s & LPs of James releases on King. I wish that I still had them today. In March 1969, my sisters & I rode in a motorcade from James' house on 175th & Linden, all the way down to the RKO Albee in Downtown Brooklyn. James had the yellow hotrod with the vinyl snap-on windows back then.

We didn't get to hang with, nor meet James that day. Instead, we hung out in one of the dressing rooms with Marva Whitney (who was really sweet, sharing her chicken with us), Clay Tyson, Danny Ray & some of the band. As it turned out, Marva left his camp not very long afterward, but she was a very friendly woman.

Today, everyone thinks of Funky Drummer as a "massive" song & that break definitely is that. But back in 1969/70, James seemed to be getting into an experimental period, releasing the instrumental "Soul Pride", which "only" hit #33, disappearing after 5 weeks, "World", (a "message" song that I played as though it was "Cold Sweat"... It wasn't because it had too many stops & starts & tempo changes to be danceable, actually going to #8, charting for 8 weeks, purely on the strength of being a JAMES BROWN record), "Ain't It Funky Now", an instrumental that was a little too much Jazz, with a time signature that wasn't dance friendly (charting again, on the strength of being a JAMES BROWN record, it charted at #3 for 5 weeks & lasted on the chart for 12 weeks. James could do no wrong back then.

James released "It's A New Day" in February 1970, which was more in line with his standard Funk & that was a definite hit. The next month, in March 1970, he released "Funky Drummer" while "It's A New Day" was still riding high on the charts. It was another Jazz-influenced song, kind of a cross between Jazz & laidback greasy Funk. I imagine that it not being as frenetic, as well as sounding different than most of his Funk songs, "Funky Drummer" took a bit of a hit, only reaching #20, disappearing from the chart after 5 weeks.

I loved EVERYTHING that James released so, I loved "Funky Drummer". But back then, only the most hardcore James Brown fan was listening to "Funky Drummer", because James had so many more Funky songs of his to dance to. I believe that another thing that hurt "Funky Drummer", was the fact that we had to listen to 2:36 of "Part 1", flip the record over & listen to "Part 2". When you did, you had to listen to 2:55 of that & the break didn't hit until around the 2:40 mark.

You have to remember that back then, if you had a "good" stereo, you stacked your records on a record spindle, wait for all of the record (usually between 8 to 10 45s), then, if the B-Side was any good, you'd flip the 45, maybe replacing some of the less worthy songs, eventually getting to hear "Part 2". Of course, if you had a portable record player, you could flip the record immediately.

That break was always the high point of the record, but back then, very few records featured the best part on the flip side. But James had so many 45s that featured a "Part 1" & "Part 2", smart fans learned to ALWAYS flip his 45s. Then again, most of us flipped our 45s, to see if the B-Side was just as good as the A-Side.

Unfortunately, in 1970, we had no samplers, no direct drive turntables nor mixer & no cassette decks, to enable us to catch & extend that break. Even if you were lucky enough to own a reel-to-reel (which we were), there was always a delay between pressing record & the tape head actually starting.

For the purposes of Rap, it wasn't until the 1986 compilation, "In The Jungle Groove", with the 9 minute Extended Version, that the break became much more accessible. Getting more to the point for DJs, was the "Bonus Beat Reprise", which featured nothing but the break.

It only took 16 years for that break to become accessible & rescue "Funky Drummer" from the obscurity that it DIDN'T deserve.

Grew up in Cincinnati driving past the abandoned King Records building and James Brown's office. There have been talks to turn it back into a studio.

such an iconic record. as a teenager i started producing chopping the break on my amiga 500 computer. i know and love every single transient of that recording in 8 to 12 bit. i love your show - this is e x a c t the right depth those well selected records need to be nerded out. maxi respect.

Really enjoying this video. Appreciate the deep dive and the ability of both hosts to discuss funk in understandable terminology. Long live the funk!

THE GODFATHER!!

- I recently went into the timeline of James Brown and the musical universe... WHAT A FRIGGIN GENIUS

Everything is on the ONE 1️⃣

A couple of nepo babies (middle age version) break down Funky Drummer and totally school us all on about 50 years of music. This is a college credit break down and I love it.

The first time I heard the Funky Drummer break was on Sweet T's "It's My Beat".  I'm a kid from VA.  I had no concept of break beats yet. I really thought it was her beat. 🤣🤣

Gotta Love the funky drummer! Crazy to think Bootsy played with James. Love the Mike Judge animated short about JB being "Elevated" and standing in place for 15 mins lol check it out in your spare time, but LOVED this episode. Can't wait for Pt. 2!

My favorite break beat of all time❤❤❤❤

They gotta mention when Catfish Collins, Bootsie Collins & others replaced his original band...they made it even more funky!

Awww man! I'm here for this one. 🍿