Funk and feminism are rarely mentioned in the same breath. Maybe Reiland Rabakas Black Feminist Funk will change that! By foregrounding some of the periods most artistically daring Black women musicians, Rabaka reveals that culture and politics, music and feminism came together in the funk of the 1970s. Rabakas tight focus on Chaka Khan, Betty Davis, and the women of Labelle, pays off, allowing readers to appreciate their contributions to the invention and evolution of funk and to the articulation of Black feminism.
- Alice Echols, Author of Hot Stuff: Disco and the Remaking of American Culture
Professor Rabakas passion for uncovering the overlooked roles of Black women who shaped Funk shines through once again! It is his attention to subtle yet powerful details that makes this book stand out. You will hear these womens voices as they speak and sing through its pages, and you will see them perform. Rabaka does more than center themhe allows them to speak and perform through his writing. This is another liberatory text that reveals how Black women voice their lived musical experiences through funk.
- Ruth Opara, Department of Music, Columbia University, New York
A daring and powerful work that rectifies the all too common erasure of Black women from feminist musicology, Reiland Rabakas testament of Black musical feminism provides an illuminating cultural context for Black womens funk, highlighting the critiques of patriarchy, capitalism, and sexism behind the beats, and how feminine funksters addressed sexual liberation, Black power, and calls for economic justice three minutes at a time.
- Roberta Freund Schwartz, Director of the Musicology Division, School of Music, University of Kansas
