Someone school me on funk music

[THE 101]

I love Parliment/Funkadelic, Sly & The Family Stone and Roy Ayers (even tho Ayers isn't considered full out funk) but thats about as far as i've got with the genre.

What are some other dope artists, and what are their best albums to check out?

[Copper Scroll]

The BarKays, Kool & the Gang (early years, at least), Earth Wind & Fire, and maybe War are all worth checking out. Maybe also Roger Troutman & Zapp, Cameo, Rick James, and some Prince for 80s funk.

And, of course, James Brown. They put out a series of compilations concentrating on Brown's funk records and they are front-to-back essential listening: Foundations of Funk (covering 1964-1969 on 2 discs), Funk Power (1 disc covering 1970, the year Bootsy Collins was in James' band), and Make It Funky (covering 1971-1975 on 2 discs). I don't know about the individual albums, but everything on these compilations is must-have.

[RapMusicIsCool]

As a connoisseur of the founk, here are some recommendations:

Mandrill - Albums: Mandrill Is, Composite Truth

Cameo - Albums: They have a lot of ill albums, but my personal favorite is Alligaor Woman.

The Meters - Albums: The Meters, Looka Py-Py, Rejuvenation (Zigaboo Modeliste is one of the best drummers of all time, any genre. This band spawn a million break beats.)

Slave - Albums: Slave, The Concept

Rick James - Albums: Come Get It, Street Songs

Fred Wesley and the J.B.s - Albums: Damn Right I am Somebody

Bernard Wright - Albums: Nard (One of my favorite early 80's funk albums. The song "Haboglabotribin" was sample for Snoop's Gzs and Hustlas)