More Bounce to the Ounce

from the LP Zapp, Warner Bros Records, 1980



As the P-Funk crew wandered into quasi-obscurity during the 1980s (due to all sorts of shit like arrests, deaths, temporary loss of minds---all things generally crack-related), no crew did a better job of carrying the torch of spaced-out-wackiness and all-around funkmanship than the four brothers Troutman, known collectively as Zapp. Rather than just aping the P-Funk sound, Zapp brought in elements of electro, new wave and hip-hop to create an altogether new vibe that, though still owing a big debt of gratitude to the originators, is immediately recognizable as Zapp. The family grew up in Hamilton, Ohio, smack dab between the ghetto’s of Dayton and Cincinnati, and that area’s deep tradition of funk clearly infused them all with high doses funkiness (that’s a scientific term). All of the group’s first three albums are fucking essential, but this track alone is equally (if not more) responsible for the style of beats inherent to early ‘90s gangsta rap as P-Funk themselves were.