Rza & Keb Darge:
The Kings Of Funk (Sampler)

Release Date: 28 February 2005

Reviewed By: Oli Marlow

1. All Night Long - Red Cafe

2. No Need For Conversation - Fabolous, Mike Shorey

3. Professional - Chingy, GIB

4. Southside - The Game, Lil Scrappy

5. Roll With You - Ciara

6. Wouldn't You Like To Ride - Kanye West, Malik Usef, Common

7. Hope - Twista, Faith Evans

8. Your Love - Van Hunt

9. This One - Ak'sent

10. Beauty Queen - Cazrnok

11. Balla - Mack 10, Da Hood

12. Time - St Lunatics

13. What Love Can Do - Letoya

14. About The Game - Trey Songz

Coach Carter - Soundtrack
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Underground music has always been thought of as being left field or a little too different for everyone to get. The term itself can be easily applied to the genre of funk music.

There are pockets of resistance who’ve failed to engulf the heavy metal culture that killed Disco in the late 70s, that still live on today all be it partly concealed from the world of mainstream marketing and mass produced music.

Wu Tang head honcho RZA and the Deep Funk pioneer himself Keb Darge have sought to pay homage to both a genre and a time gone by through the second instalment of ‘The Kings Of…’ series from BBE & Rapster Records, ‘The Kings of Funk’.

After the success of the previous album ‘The Kings of Disco’, hand picked by Joey Negro and Dimitri from Paris, it seems a little odd bringing the second ‘tribute’ album out when its subject matter actually preceded that of the first, but hey, let’s chalk that one up to marketing and proceed to delve a little deeper.

Funk’s influence is easy to spot on all manner of modern music from the obvious uses in hip hop, all the way to some you wouldn’t expect in genres such as dance and techno. The two DJs at the helm of the album endeavour to provide listeners with the originators of such influences, those people who changed the face of 60s music and all music that ever comes to supersede it.

RZA’s selections kick off with the intriguing ‘Is it because I’m black?’ by Ken Boothe, which aptly sets the tone for the soon- to-be-double CD release of iconic funk masterpieces. What follows is a twisted mesh of groove derivatives that kick and bounce their way through; all the way to the mandatory fade out at the end of each track on this sampler.

The beats are incessant throughout, and the slice of the guitars and the subduing lull of the organs blend transcendently through instrumental tracks from Sly & The Family Stone, Booker T and the MG’s, and Bobbi Humphrey; illustrating perfectly the reasons why funk became such an essential tool in the world of dance.

Keb Darge’s assortment in juxtaposition begins with ‘Genuine’ by Sharon Jones toting horn stabs deluxe and offering a true taste of everything that could be defined as deep. Then into the modern classic ‘Don’t Joke with a Hungry Man’ by Quantic featuring Spanky Wilson and it’s apparent that the very influences of those cited by RZA and Darge have created a modern battalion of funk aficionados who will continue to make timeless classic funk music.

Clichés aside, this could be the album to get down to this year, although I fear that if you don’t feel funk in the first place, despite this being one of the most influential funk compilations this reviewer has heard in a long time, you may fail to bond with the music.

Try maxing on cool with your disco chic and I can guarantee you’ll at least give the Duracell bunny a run for his money.

Rating: 4 out of 5

2) Quantic – Don’t Joke With A Hungry Man
6) Zebra – Simple Song
9) Ken Boothe – Is It Because I’m Black?

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