Funk You Up

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"Funk You Up"
TheSequenceFunkYouUp.jpg
Single by The Sequence
from the album Sugarhill presents The Sequence
ReleasedDecember 1979
RecordedNovember 1979
Studio Sugar Hill Studios
Genre old-school hip hop, rap
Length6:30 (single version)
10:30 (12" version)
Label Sugar Hill Records
Songwriter(s) Angela Brown, Cheryl Cooke, Gwendolyn Chisolm, Sylvia Robinson
Producer(s) Sylvia Robinson
The Sequence singles chronology
"Funk You Up"
(1979)		"Monster Jam"
(1980)

"Funk You Up" is a 1979 old school hip hop song American female hip hop group The Sequence. The song was released in December 1979 by Sugar Hill Records. It was written by The Sequence members Angie B., Blondy, and Cheryl the Pearl and produced by Sylvia Robinson. "Funk You Up" peaked at number fifteen on the US Hot Soul Singles chart. [1] The song was the first hip hop song to be released by female hip hop act. [2] "Funk You Up" is also the second single to be released on Sugar Hill Records, following the release of "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugarhill Gang. [2]

Contents

"Funk You Up" has become one of the most frequently sampled songs in music history, most notably in hip hop music. [3]

Commercial performance

"Funk You Up" peaked at number fifteen on the US Hot Soul Singles chart. [1] "Funk You Up" debuted at number 83 on the Cashbox Top 100 Singles chart during the week of December 22, 1979. [4] After eleven weeks on the chart, the song peaked at number 24 during the week of March 1, 1980. [5] The song held the spot for two weeks, [6] Having spent sixteen weeks on the chart, "Funk You Up" dropped down to number 96 during its final week, the week of April 5, 1980. [7]

Sampling

The opening guitar and synth-drums were sampled in Organized Rhyme's single, "Check the O.R." Dr. Dre used interpolations for his 1995 hit "Keep Their Heads Ringin'". [8] In 1997, En Vogue sampled the song on their remix of "Whatever" featuring Ol' Dirty Bastard. In 2003, Erykah Badu released a remix of her song "Love of My Life (An Ode to Hip-Hop)", re-titled "Love of My Life (Worldwide)". The remixed version of the song featured additional rap verses from Queen Latifah, Bahamadia, and former Sequence member Angie Stone. In 2022, Katy Perry released a song titled "Did Somebody Say", which featured in an advertisement for food delivery service Just Eat. The song interpolated "Funk You Up".

In 2016, The Sequence claimed that Mark Ronson's "Uptown Funk" infringed their single "Funk You Up". They decided to sue a year later. [9] [10]

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1979-1980)Peak
position
US Cash Box Top 100 [5] 24
US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs ( Billboard ) [11] 15

References

  1. 1 2 The Sequence: The Funked-Up Legacy of Hip-Hop’s First Ladies. Rolling Stone. Retrieved on March 27, 2025
  2. 1 2 Greenberg, Steve; Light, Alan [ed.] (1999). The VIBE History of Hip Hop. Three Rivers Press. p. 28. ISBN   0-609-80503-7
  3. ↑ Songs that sampled "Funk You Up" by The Sequence. Who Sampled. Retrieved on April 11, 2025
  4. ↑ CB-1979-12-22 Archive. World Radio History. Retrieved on April 11, 2025
  5. 1 2 CB-1980-03-01 Archive. World Radio History. Retrieved on April 11, 2025
  6. ↑ CB-1980-03-08 Archive. World Radio History. Retrieved on April 11, 2025
  7. ↑ CB-1980-04-05 Archive. World Radio History. Retrieved on April 11, 2025
  8. ↑ Ego Trip's Book of Rap Lists: Book of Rap Lists. 1999. Macmillan. p. 30. ISBN   0-312-24298-0
  9. ↑ Minsker, Evan (October 29, 2016). "Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars Sued Over "Uptown Funk"". Pitchfork . Retrieved February 12, 2018.
  10. ↑ Fabio, Michelle (December 30, 2017). "Bruno Mars And Mark Ronson's 'Uptown Funk' Faces (Yet Another) Copyright Infringement Suit". Forbes. Retrieved April 23, 2018.
  11. ↑ "The Sequence Chart History (Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved April 26, 2025.


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