Of all the obnoxious, nonsensical electronic styles out there, how the hell didn’t ghetto funk get to be the biggest? Back in 2011, we so badly wanted it to be the next big thing, but didn’t happen. All the decent ghetto funk hits were remixes and the much more garish electronic styles owned the years up ’til now.
The reason I’m such an advocate for this style of electro funk is that like the thing it’s attached to most, remixes, ghetto funk is meant to be taken lightheartedly with a sound much more for mindless dancing – in the best sense of the word – than anything else. I’d actually say it’s my favorite style to dance to overall, though individual songs are a different story.
It kind of reminds me of what swing might have felt like back in the day.
Funk Ferret is known ’round these parts for his dirty bass ghetto funk and his new edit for Sisi’s ‘Stay’ does not disappoint. FF does lay off the dirty bass a lil’ and goes for more of a brass funkiness. All & all, it’s just nice to hear from this dude again, it’s been too long.
[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/52208574" params="player_type=tiny&font=Arial&color=292929" height="18" width="60%"]To start off our Best of’s for 2011, we went with one of the more obscure lists, duh Ghetto Funk. If you don’t know what ghetto funk is then you better get to knowin it. With a blend of electro funk and bass buzzin wobbles, ghetto funk is the next evolution in the genre.
Our list is filled with ghetto funkers remixing the soulful classics, ranging from Jurassic 5 to Hall & Oates. A few of these are from late 2010, but they didn’t get to go up on our last year’s Ghetto Funk list (because there wasn’t one), and they’re just too damn good not to put up on here. So prepare yoself for a funky good time.
[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/15625706" params="player_type=tiny&font=Arial&color=292929" height="18"]Funk Ferret has too much good music. This is the first SoundClouder that I couldn’t narrow down to a handful of tracks. Not that I’m complaining, it’s just for the life of me I could hardly remove one track from here to keep the list ‘selective’. It may just be my infatuation with the funkiness, but I think Funk Ferret puts something to it that makes it extra FUNKalicious.
[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/8148227" params="player_type=tiny&font=Arial&color=292929" height="18"]I don’t know what’s going on in New Zealand, but I’ve been finding some of the best DJ’s & bands from the Kiwi coast. Especially in the funk arena, NZ seems to be tearin’ up SoundCloud with a few labels and many artists to follow.
FunkFerret being among my favorite, particularly has a craft for mashing up classic tracks to a funkified beat – the “Red Wine Rebelution” mash is a favorite. Hit up these two tracks below (free download at FunkFerret’s SoundCloud) and get into the funk.
[audio:Smash-Ya-Moustache.mp3|titles=Smash Ya Moustache]I’m a sucker for anything J5, so when I heard they were mashed in Funk Ferret’s mix of UB40’s “Red Red Wine” & Snow’s “Informer”, I had to see how well J5’s rhymes would do over this reggae beat.
Funk Ferret describes “Red Wine Rebelution” as a dancefloor filler with a heavy breakbeat and a powerful bassline – couldn’t have said it better myself. I’m not a huge fan of mashups with anything over three or so artists, but Funk Ferret seamlessly layers them all together, giving off a cohesive vibe rather than a jumbled, overly sampled mashup – which I find a lot.