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Funk You Up

Field	Value
name	Funk You Up
cover	TheSequenceFunkYouUp.jpg
type	single
artist	The Sequence
released	December 1979
recorded	November 1979
studio	Sugar Hill Studios
genre	Old-school hip hop
length	6:30 (single version)
10:30 (12" version)
label	Sugar Hill Records
writer	Angela Brown, Cheryl Cooke, Gwendolyn Chisolm, Sylvia Robinson
producer	Sylvia Robinson
next_title	Monster Jam
next_year	1980

10:30 (12" version)

"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. The song was the first hip hop song to be released by female hip hop act. "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.

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

Commercial performance

"Funk You Up" peaked at number fifteen on the US Hot Soul Singles chart. "Funk You Up" debuted at number 83 on the Cashbox Top 100 Singles chart during the week of December 22, 1979. After eleven weeks on the chart, the song peaked at number 24 during the week of March 1, 1980. The song held the spot for two weeks, 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.

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'". 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".

Legal disputes

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

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1979–1980)	Peak
position	US Cash Box Top 100
24

References

[https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/the-sequence-the-funked-up-legacy-of-hip-hops-first-ladies-118369/ The Sequence: The Funked-Up Legacy of Hip-Hop’s First Ladies]. Rolling Stone. Retrieved on March 27, 2025
Greenberg, Steve; Light, Alan [ed.] (1999). ''The VIBE History of Hip Hop''. Three Rivers Press. p. 28. {{ISBN. 0-609-80503-7
[https://www.whosampled.com/The-Sequence/Funk-You-Up/sampled/ Songs that sampled "Funk You Up" by The Sequence]. Who Sampled. Retrieved on April 11, 2025
[https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/70s/1979/CB-1979-12-22.pdf CB-1979-12-22 Archive]. World Radio History. Retrieved on April 11, 2025
[https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/80s/1980/CB-1980-03-01.pdf CB-1980-03-01 Archive]. World Radio History. Retrieved on April 11, 2025
[https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/80s/1980/CB-1980-03-08.pdf CB-1980-03-08 Archive]. World Radio History. Retrieved on April 11, 2025
[https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/80s/1980/CB-1980-04-05.pdf CB-1980-04-05 Archive]. World Radio History. Retrieved on April 11, 2025
''Ego Trip's Book of Rap Lists: Book of Rap Lists''. 1999. [[Macmillan Publishers. Macmillan]]. p. 30. {{ISBN. 0-312-24298-0
Minsker, Evan. (October 29, 2016). "Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars Sued Over "Uptown Funk"". [[Pitchfork (website).
Fabio, Michelle. (December 30, 2017). "Bruno Mars And Mark Ronson's 'Uptown Funk' Faces (Yet Another) Copyright Infringement Suit". Forbes.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

1979-songs 1979-debut-singles american-hip-hop-songs songs-written-by-angie-stone songs-written-by-sylvia-robinson sugar-hill-records-(hip-hop-label)-singles

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