Old School Heads(Funk), was CAMEO really that "innovative"?

[Techniec]

So Im a big 70/80s funk fan, Ive been collecting records for a while and ever since the late 90s, early 00s Ive really become submerged into that genre...it was a natural extension from the west coast rap I grew up on

But obviously I never came up in that era, since I was born in the early 80s

been going through old articles and interviews and came across this interview with Larry Blackmon where he talked really greasy:

Cameo Fights Funk Image

To Larry Blackmon, funk is a dirty word. But he can't escape it. Funk follows him everywhere. Everyone thinks his band, Cameo, plays funk--a raunchy, seamy, poundingly rhythmic form of R&B.

"We play black rock 'n' roll," Blackmon insisted in an exasperated tone that indicated he'd made this denial dozens of times.

But, when listening to Cameo, most of that new audience thinks it's listening to funk. "You can't lump us in with those other funk bands," Blackmon said. "We're better than that. We set trends. "

As you can see, when he's talking about Cameo, Blackmon ignores modesty. You can't really blame him though. He's bragging but he's not exaggerating. Cameo really is that good. Just ask anyone who saw its recent Santa Monica Civic Auditorium show.

Matter-of-factly, Blackmon continued to boast: "Kool & the Gang copied us. The Midnight Stars of the world copy us. And Rick James . . . well, I won't go into that."

How about outrageous funkmaster George Clinton?

Blackmon doesn't mind Clinton, but he's not crazy about his music, which is classic low-down, profane, back-alley funk. But, most of all, Blackmon hates being compared to Clinton.

"George Clinton, George Clinton, George Clinton," he grumbled. "When I do interviews in England, that's all they talk about. If they knew anything about Cameo's music, they wouldn't even make those references. George is coming from a different place with that music. It's more traditional. His whole mentality is in a different place."

The funkster stereotype really rankles Blackmon. Funksters are regarded as untamed, lustful, rowdy, sub-literate rogues who regard the world as one big party.

"I refuse to be classified with those down-and-dirty funk people," Blackmon said. "I'm a businessman. I'm bright. I'm articulate. I'm not subhuman."

http://articles.latimes.com/1986-12-21/entertainment/ca-3817_1_cameo-funk-image

I always just saw them as another great funk band, when I listen to tracks like Word Up, Candy or Shes Strange, I hear funk...any OG can clarify this issue?

 

[JulesWinfield]

Damn. This nikka really said "I refuse to be classified with those down-and-dirty funk people"

 

[Taadow]

If that's how he feels, then...*shrug*

I will say though, Larry Blackmon and them were comin' with that chit.
George Clinton himself said all they were doin' was gettin' hella high and playing whatever,
I might have an issue if somebody compared my work to that...

 

[Flav]

another bitter old muthafukka trying to rehash some old ass black & white memories and change history.i dont care what that old ass fart say Cameo made some funk music.

 

[JulesWinfield]

This thread got me jamming though, fukk it

 

[Flav]

im just going to drop this right here and walk off...

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Face_of_Funk

 

[scuba]

Ehhh I mean this sounds like some extreme self hate "I refuse to be classified with those down-and-dirty funk people," Blackmon said. "I'm a businessman. I'm bright. I'm articulate. I'm not subhuman."

But realistically Dude has a point about not being 'funk'. Basically certain genre's were really code words that came up to separate black and white music. If you sung and you were black you were R&B, Soul or Funk. If you were white and sung the same exact music you might have been considered country, or blues, or rock n roll. I mean literally not on some black power tip, records for the black audience used to be called 'race records' in the 60s... in the 70s when that kinda language became unpopular due to the civil rights movement, the labels just separated the 'race records' music by genre.

For instance take jimmy hendrix he made his bones playing R&B on the chitlin circuit... In america he was an R&B guitarist, he went to Europe playing from that perspective, and was considered Rock & Roll... Then when he started recording with his all black band in the US they said he was going in the 'Funk' direction with his music right before he died when he was recording the same kinda music...

The Rolling Stones, Led Zepplin, etc, were all british bands who played a lot of note for note copies of old blues and r&b songs with different lyrics... they were considered Rock & Roll not blues or r&b...

Genres are mostly marketing terms not real demarcations just based on style. in america music for blacks and whites were marketed differently and given different names to help with the marketing...

Why is sly and the family stone considered funk and not rock?
Why is Bezerk played on rock radio, and 99 problems not? same producer, same sound...
marketing

 

[JulesWinfield]

He disses rap music in the article as well.

Blackmon, obviously agitated, also pointed out that some people have the gall to classify Cameo with the rap groups. Blackmon, you see, isn't too fond of most rap groups.

"Some people look at rap groups and think that this is the way black people are," he noted incredulously, mockingly talking in an exaggerated black street accent. "Blacks don't talk in rhyme. All of us don't talk street jive either. Putting out some of that rap stuff is like making black people take 10 steps backward."

 

[Techniec]

Ehhh I mean this sounds like some extreme self hate "I refuse to be classified with those down-and-dirty funk people," Blackmon said. "I'm a businessman. I'm bright. I'm articulate. I'm not subhuman."

But realistically Dude has a point about not being 'funk'. Basically certain genre's were really code words that came up to separate black and white music. If you sung and you were black you were R&B, Soul or Funk. If you were white and sung the same exact music you might have been considered country, or blues, or rock n roll. I mean literally not on some black power tip, records for the black audience used to be called 'race records' in the 60s... in the 70s when that kinda language became unpopular due to the civil rights movement, the labels just separated the 'race records' music by genre.

For instance take jimmy hendrix he made his bones playing R&B on the chitlin circuit... In america he was an R&B guitarist, he went to Europe playing from that perspective, and was considered Rock & Roll... Then when he started recording with his all black band in the US they said he was going in the 'Funk' direction with his music right before he died when he was recording the same kinda music...

The Rolling Stones, Led Zepplin, etc, were all british bands who played a lot of note for note copies of old blues and r&b songs with different lyrics... they were considered Rock & Roll not blues or r&b...

Genres are mostly marketing terms not real demarcations just based on style. in america music for blacks and whites were marketed differently and given different names to help with the marketing...

Why is sly and the family stone considered funk and not rock?
Why is Bezerk played on rock radio, and 99 problems not? same producer, same sound...
marketing

great points and perspective, thank you

 

[Art Barr]

Ehhh I mean this sounds like some extreme self hate "I refuse to be classified with those down-and-dirty funk people," Blackmon said. "I'm a businessman. I'm bright. I'm articulate. I'm not subhuman."

But realistically Dude has a point about not being 'funk'. Basically certain genre's were really code words that came up to separate black and white music. If you sung and you were black you were R&B, Soul or Funk. If you were white and sung the same exact music you might have been considered country, or blues, or rock n roll. I mean literally not on some black power tip, records for the black audience used to be called 'race records' in the 60s... in the 70s when that kinda language became unpopular due to the civil rights movement, the labels just separated the 'race records' music by genre.

For instance take jimmy hendrix he made his bones playing R&B on the chitlin circuit... In america he was an R&B guitarist, he went to Europe playing from that perspective, and was considered Rock & Roll... Then when he started recording with his all black band in the US they said he was going in the 'Funk' direction with his music right before he died when he was recording the same kinda music...

The Rolling Stones, Led Zepplin, etc, were all british bands who played a lot of note for note copies of old blues and r&b songs with different lyrics... they were considered Rock & Roll not blues or r&b...

Genres are mostly marketing terms not real demarcations just based on style. in america music for blacks and whites were marketed differently and given different names to help with the marketing...

Why is sly and the family stone considered funk and not rock?
Why is Bezerk played on rock radio, and 99 problems not? same producer, same sound...
marketing

prolific posting!!



art barr

 

[avon barksdale]

my teen years

 

[patscorpio]

cameo = FUNK ...and it was jammin...dude needs to chill and collect them royalty checks

 

[IllmaticDelta]

Cameo Fights Funk Image

I always just saw them as another great funk band, when I listen to tracks like Word Up, Candy or Shes Strange, I hear funk...any OG can clarify this issue?

Cameo was Funk for sure....I think he was trying to appeal to crossover white audiences by trying not to get pigeonholed as Funk.

 

[IllmaticDelta]

Ehhh I mean this sounds like some extreme self hate "I refuse to be classified with those down-and-dirty funk people," Blackmon said. "I'm a businessman. I'm bright. I'm articulate. I'm not subhuman."

He was trying to get that white audience

But realistically Dude has a point about not being 'funk'. Basically certain genre's were really code words that came up to separate black and white music. If you sung and you were black you were R&B, Soul or Funk. If you were white and sung the same exact music you might have been considered country, or blues, or rock n roll. I mean literally not on some black power tip, records for the black audience used to be called 'race records' in the 60s... in the 70s when that kinda language became unpopular due to the civil rights movement, the labels just separated the 'race records' music by genre.

true

For instance take jimmy hendrix he made his bones playing R&B on the chitlin circuit... In america he was an R&B guitarist, he went to Europe playing from that perspective, and was considered Rock & Roll... Then when he started recording with his all black band in the US they said he was going in the 'Funk' direction with his music right before he died when he was recording the same kinda music...

true which is why hendrix had to take the backdoor through the UK to get noticed in the USA

The Rolling Stones, Led Zepplin, etc, were all british bands who played a lot of note for note copies of old blues and r&b songs

with different lyrics... they were considered Rock & Roll not blues or r&b...

In Britian they were called British R&B and Rock but in the USA they were just called Rock

Genres are mostly marketing terms not real demarcations just based on style. in america music for blacks and whites were marketed differently and given different names to help with the marketing...

Yes and NO.

Why is sly and the family stone considered funk and not rock?

Sly Stone was actually marketed/considered as Rock and Soul/Funk

Why is Bezerk played on rock radio, and 99 problems not? same producer, same sound...
marketing

We all know the answer to that.....

 

[Insensitive]

Maybe it's because I'm looking at Cameo in a modern context but musically I think they're
pretty plainly Funk music.

What's interesting to me though is dude sounds like Childish Gambino when he described his internet album.
Like being "Hip Hop" or "Funk" in this case is a bad thing, dude went out of his way to say "Well, I think it's more pop yah know ?" even though the shyt sounds like any other contemporary Hip hop album. It's kind of unfortunate when you have to go out of your way to classify how "not black" your product is before you can shill it to a certain segment of the population.

If that's how he feels, then...*shrug*

I will say though, Larry Blackmon and them were comin' with that chit.
George Clinton himself said all they were doin' was gettin' hella high and playing whatever,
I might have an issue if somebody compared my work to that...

True.
But look what came out of George Clinton's solo work on top of parliament and funkadelic.
I'd be honored to be compared to that man and his peers (Eddie Hazel, Bernie worrell, boosty collins etc.)

Genres are mostly marketing terms not real demarcations just based on style. in america music for blacks and whites were marketed differently and given different names to help with the marketing...

R&B (Funk, Soul uptempo blues, Neo-Soul, contemporary R&B etc.) has it's own musical ideas and expectations that separate it from rock music and you know this because you know a rock song when you hear it.
Metal doesn't sound like Hip Hop does it ?
Jazz doesn't sound like Reggae does it ?
Funk sounds pretty different from Soul which sounds pretty different from Post-Hip Hop
R&B from the 90's and on but they all seem to carry certain ideas from the past into the present.
Marketing is a reason for genres obviously but I think they're real and helpful especially
when you know exactly what you're looking for.