I was showing a musician friend of mine some songs I’m listening to, and he told me: you like funk music.
I do have an idea of what kind of music is funk, and I have heard of James Brown before. However, I couldn’t say what the distinguishing features of funk music are. I have no background in music or musical theory at all.
So – what exactly defines funk music?
In: Other
I used to confuse Funk and Disco. One thing that’s helpful is listening to the drum pattern.
[Billie Jean](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi_XLOBDo_Y) by Michael Jackson has a Disco drum loop, while [In The Closet](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XY6fbugcisY) by Michael Jackson has a Funk drum loop. The Funk drum pattern has become very popular in Hip-Hop music.
A Disco drum pattern usually sounds balanced and appears a lot in House music. It usually puts emphasis on the 2nd and 4th beat: 1, **2**, 3, **4**… 1, **2**, 3, **4**… like in this Disco drum loop [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZC7RWguGgE). Funk puts the emphasis on the 3rd and 4th beat: **1**, 2, **3**, 4… **1**, 2, **3**, 4… like in this Funk drum loop [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8wOEny3VSo).
When Disco began to be seen as uncool, it was eventually rebranded as Dance music. Disco, Funk, and House all seem to be Dance music. Here is a House song with a similar drum pattern to Disco: [Move Your Body](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFdbueklpwY) by Marshall Jefferson x Solardo. Don’t confuse this type of Dance (*Disco, Funk, House*) with EDM (*Electronic Dance Music like Techno or DubStep*), though.
Jersey Club also evolved from House music, so I would also put it in the “*Dance*” genre. Here is a Jersey Club drum pattern [here](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/wX5B8LbCPKs). You can find the Jersey Club drum pattern in [Boy’s a liar Pt. 2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oftolPu9qp4) with PinkPantheress and Ice Spice. It can also be found in [Just Wanna Rock](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhbixyxgsiU) by Lil Uzi Vert.
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