Psychedelic Funk

Psychedelic funk is the late-1960s and 1970s fusion of funk with psychedelic rock, in which *Sly and the Family Stone*, *Funkadelic* and their peers stretched tight James Brown rhythms with fuzz guitars, wah-wah, studio effects and lysergic imagery. *George Clinton*'s Parliament-Funkadelic collective made it a cosmology, while *Curtis Mayfield*, *The Temptations* under Norman Whitfield and *Betty Davis* each bent the formula toward soul, social commentary or raw confrontation. Its grooves underpin much of hip-hop sampling, and its hallmarks remain unmistakable: elastic basslines, chicken-scratch guitar, cosmic costumes and songs that dissolve into extended, effects-laden jams.