UK Funky

UK funky is a form of Electronic Dance Music that emerged in London in the mid-2000s. Deriving influences from UK Garage-derived styles (including Grime) and a wide range of contemporary regional styles of UK immigrants, like Caribbean Soca and Dancehall, and West African-inspired Tribal House styles, UKF would quickly earn prominence in UK clubs as an eclectic EDM genre that mashed together elements from all British immigrants' cultures. Funky is further characterized by its typical upbeat and joyous sound, often featuring soulful elements from Contemporary R&B vocalists and less occasionally from Broken Beat. It therefore often contrasted with the concurrent, similarly popular, but far grittier and darker in sound, Bassline and Dubstep genres. Though funky's initial wave of popularity largely eroded already by the late 2000s and early 2010s, with Dubstep quickly re-earning its popularity in underground clubs, much of UKF's influence would shape many trends in UK (and worldwide) underground electronica. UK Bass and other early 2010s post-dubstep trends (ie. certain styles of Future Garage) were heavily inspired by UKF's mash of various rhythms and percussive elements, and this influence would particularly coalesce in the emergence of the mid-2010s Hard Drum wave. Drake's "One Dance" sample of Paleface's UKF hit "Do You Mind" led, among other reasons, to a renewed interest in UKF around that time, especially with the growth in popularity of UK's Afrobeats scene from around that time. Afroswing's birth in the late 2010s was another instance of producers re-applying UKF influences into the pool of Afro-British popular music genres.