Short answers, pulled from the story.
Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s. It deemphasizes melody and chord progressions and focuses on a strong rhythmic groove built from a bassline played on electric bass and a drum part, often at slower tempos than other popular music.
Funk originated with James Brown's development of a signature groove in the mid-1960s that emphasized the downbeat, with heavy emphasis on the first beat of every measure, known as "The One." Rock- and psychedelia-influenced acts Sly and the Family Stone and Parliament-Funkadelic fostered more eclectic examples beginning in the late 1960s.
The word funk initially referred to a strong odor and was first documented in English in 1620, derived from the Latin fumigare, meaning "to smoke," by way of Old French fungiere. By 1784 "funky" meant "musty," leading to a sense of "earthy" taken up around 1900 in early jazz slang for something deeply felt.
Funk centers on electric bass playing the song's hook, often using slap and pop technique, alongside syncopated drumming and percussive rhythm guitar played in a "chicken scratch" style. Keyboards such as the clavinet, Fender Rhodes, and Minimoog, plus syncopated horn sections, fill out the sound.
Funk lyrics used a black vernacular and metaphorical language best understood by listeners familiar with the black aesthetic, and artists used sound-alike words and double entendres to get around 1970s radio obscenity restrictions. Many songs also carried political messages aimed at a Black audience, as in Parliament's "Chocolate City" from 1975.
Funk samples and breakbeats have been used extensively in hip-hop and electronic dance music, with James Brown the most sampled artist in hip-hop history and George Clinton the second most sampled. Samples of old Parliament and Funkadelic songs formed the basis of West Coast G-funk, popularized by Dr. Dre.