User:Smallcrustywhiteratdog/sandbox

Introduction
Future funk is a subgenre of vaporwave music, a sample-based electronic music genre that is characterized by sampling old-school Japanese funk or pop songs and remixing them to an upbeat, bright sound with a BPM of 115-130. It was popularized in the early 2010’s by artists such as Yung Bae, Macross 82-99 and Night Tempo. The album, STUDIO 54, by Skylar Spence (formerly Saint Pepsi) is often credited with kickstarting the future funk style, a clean, sample-based album with inspiration coming from French House and Synth Funk. Accompanying visuals are often taken from popular modern and retro anime, often displaying retro futuristic anime like Gundam, Macross or Urusei Yatsura. For example, the video for Macross 82-99’s SUPER RISER is an AMV of scenes from the anime Macross and has amassed over 15 million views on Youtube.

Characteristics
Compared to vaporwave, which is characterized by slowed-down samples with a chill, slow tempo, future funk speeds up the original tempo of the song and adds house beats and kicks for a bouncy, energetic feeling. Future funk evokes a glamorized, shining version of the future by remixing the best notes of past hits for a modern audience. Samples often come from popular 70’s and 80’s Japanese pop songs, with a snippet of the chorus or refrain being remixed and looped throughout the track.

Future funk (hip-hop)
The moniker of ‘future funk’ is also used to describe hip-hop based electronic music which samples old-school funk and soul records. In 2012, Keats//Collective, a Denver-based music collective produced “Future Funk Fridays” compilations in which they would debut several vaporwave and future funk-style instrumentals. Their tracks feature heavy reverb, a slow tempo and soul or funk samples, which does lean more towards vaporwave than future funk. However, the romanticism of future funk is still present in their composition as well as the usage of chopping up samples.

Popular producers
The album that is often described as the first true ‘future funk’ album is Skylar Spence (formerly Saint Pepsi)’s Hit Vibes ". It samples 70’s-80’s Japanese pop, old funk songs and remixes them to an upbeat tempo with French-house inspired kicks and trips added. Released in May of 2013, this album consists of 13 tracks and with a total of approximately 35 minutes. It leans towards vaporwave on tracks such as “Together” and “Strawberry Lemonade”, including slowed-down vocals with heavy reverb and a slower, ambient beat. However, tracks like “Have Faith” and “Skylar Spence” are fast-tempo, upbeat songs with loud brass, soulful funk samples and an abundance of kicks and snares to accentuate the beat. “Skylar Spence” also samples a Japanese pop song, a staple of the future funk subgenre.

Another popular producer in the future funk scene is Macross 82-99, who has a distinctly more electronic-inspired sound. His most popular album, A Million Miles Away, features tracks with vaporwave, lofi and future funk sounds. It has 9 tracks with a total elapsed time of 25 minutes. Tracks like “Lovers” and “Fugaz” feature a slow, jazzy lofi beat with chimes and synths (in the case of Lovers) and soft piano and vocals (in Fugaz). “Bad Girl” and “This Feeling” both have a heavy future funk sound, with bright kicks and traps as well as chopped up samples.

Night Tempo’s “Stay With Me - Night Tempo Showa Groove Mix” is perhaps the most recognizable future funk song in the modern sphere, due to its rising popularity on TikTok. It remixes Miki Matsubara’s “Stay With Me” with house kicks and beats layered on top of it. Another popular song of Night Tempo’s is “Remember Summer Days (Night Tempo Showa Groove Mix)”, which adds brass, bass and an energetic beat to Anri’s “Remember Summer Days”. Night Tempo centers the vocals in many of his tracks, preferring to use the instrumental to complement and harmonize with it.

Yung Bae is also another influential future funk producer, bringing a modern sound to its retro landscape. His most popular album is Bae 5, with 83.7 thousand views on Genius. It consists of 11 tracks spanning a total of 32 minutes. This album features the artists bbno$, Billy Marchiafava, Paper Idol, Desired, Party Pupils, and fellow future funk titan Macross 82-99. Tracks like “Pacific Standard”, “You've Got Me”, and “Welcome to the Disco” have a classic future funk sound, while “Bad Boy” and “Laa La Laaa” sound distinctly more R&B-like and vaporwave-like respectively. Recently, he has collaborated with pop and rap artists such as Jon Batiste, Sam Fischer and AWOLNATION. His music has more of a pop tone than the other popular producers, with only the beats and backing synths remaining of the future funk style.

Cultural Significance
Although not as popular as vaporwave, future funk still had a significant impact on the online music industry. Despite not having a physical ‘scene’ or location, future funk is still widely circulated today on sites such as Youtube and Soundcloud. Future funk mixes and playlists are abundant on Youtube especially, making it easier for people to be introduced to the genre. Popular artists often use future funk as a launching point and then transform to a different sound later in their career, such as Yung Bae, whose most recent releases have a distinctly pop sound.

See also:
vaporwave, anime, electro soul, French house, lofi, J-pop