THE FUNKY PROFESSOR

BY ALEX MULLANEY
Contributing Writer

Ricky Vincent teaches his class (above) about the history of funk, including soul music, funk’s stylistic forerunner. PHOTOS BY DAN ELDRIDGE

Upon entering the classroom, Rickey Vincent promptly set up a portable CD player for his Wednesday evening class, From Funk to Hip-hop.

“Soul Classics,” a compilation album of Atlantic Records’ legendary artists, sounded from the small stereo, introducing the night’s focus: soul music.

His diverse City College students hummed along, tapped a foot or finger and even sang aloud to Wilson Pickett’s “In the Midnight Hour.” Then Vincent spewed dates, names, meanings behind lyrics, artists’ influences, important concerts, era timelines and the social impact of music and its culture.

“My students are learning of a form of music that has such a different feel than what’s out there and missing today,” Vincent said. “Funk is rage, humor, love, freedom.”

The Bay Area native’s passion for music — particularly funk — started while attending Berkeley High School, through friends and especially his older brother, Teo.

“My brother is worldly, hip and in the streets, so I’d listen to the radio stations he dialed and the records he brought home,” Vincent said. “From there, I developed my own taste.”

While majoring in ethnic studies at UC Berkeley, he began to DJ at KALX. After 10 years there, he followed DJs Clay Ordona and Gary Baca to establish KPFA, where he currently hosts “The History of Funk” every Friday at 10 p.m.

Eight years after graduating from UC Berkeley, Vincent returned to school in 1991 for an ethnic studies master’s degree from San Francisco State University. He was able to use his thesis about funk to write a manuscript in 1993.

“I took my ‘History of Funk’ idea to dozens of publishers,” Vincent said. “St. Martin’s press was the largest, and quickest, and one of only two that showed serious interest.”

Vincent hosts a weekly radio show (above), in which he plays music and interviews diverse artists including James Brown and Zootzilla.

After two years of work, Vincent completed “Funk: The Music, the People, the Power of the One” in 1996.

He was subsequently offered a position at San Francisco State University to teach a course designed on his newly published book. Later on, similar courses were made for UC Berkeley and City College.

“I’m an activist for the funk, but I’m not doing anything radical,” he said. “I’m not going to try to convince you about it, but if you choose it, it’s an enjoyable pursuit. There is a serious dimension about gluing the generations together because there’s a gap, though the funk generation is respected by the hip-hop generation.”

With the success of his book and his ties in the music industry, Vincent has become a resource. The foreword to his book was written by Parliament’s George Clinton. He’s also been in a few documentaries and receives e-mails and phone calls with questions about the different cultural and musical aspects he’s studied.

“People find my Web site and see me as an authority, but everyone is an authority on their own funkiness,” he said.

Vincent plans to write another book in the future, but is unsure of the topic.

“I want to establish funk as a significant form of culture in America,” he said. “I want it to have its own place in music, debates and documentaries. It’s living history. The spirit of funk is alive.”