Funk is an American musical style that originated in the mid to late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, soul jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk "de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums" to the foreground. Funk songs are often based on an extended vamp on a single chord, distinguishing it from R&B and Soul songs centered around chord progressions.

Like much of African-inspired music, funk typically consists of a complex groove with rhythm instruments such as electric guitar, electric bass, Hammond organ, and drums playing interlocking rhythms. Funk bands sometimes have a horn section of several saxophones, trumpets, and in some cases, a trombone, which plays rhythmic "hits".

Influential African American funk performers include James Brown, Sly and the Family Stone, George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic, Curtis Mayfield, The Meters, The Funk Brothers, Bootsy Collins, Rick James, and Prince. Notable funk bands of the 1970s and 1980s included Rufus feat. Chaka Khan, Earth, Wind & Fire, Eric Burdon & War, Tower of Power, Average White Band, The Ohio Players, The Commodores, Kool & the Gang and Cameo, though many of these most famous bands in the genre also played disco and soul extensively. Funk music was a major influence on the development of disco music, and funk samples were present in most styles of house music and early hip hop music. It is also the main influence of go-go. Funk also has left its mark on new wave, and its pulse is evident in post punk as well.