Kid Funk & Hip Kids Records

Funk for children "of all ages" bloomed in the early 1970s, particularly educational records intended for recently integrated American public schools. Of these, Bruce Haack's Dimension 5 series is among the most fascinating. Other examples include records related to television shows ("Sesame Street," "The Banana Splits") and audio-visual lessons ("Metric Man"). Ghetto Reality is perhaps the best example of the raw potential of school children themselves making a record.

Kid funk naturally includes funky records made by kids themselves, albeit under the direction of adult producers. (Thank the Jackson Five.) Jr. & his Soulettes' Psychodelic Sounds (sic) typifies the musical-family model, where parental producers relive or perpetuate their accomplishments through their children.

The amazing thing about kid funk is how hip, heavy, and even adult it can be. Beneath even inane classroom or academic "message" singing, the music is seriously funky. Breakbeats, deep bass, and covers of such hits as "Funky Broadway" make kid funk a fertile field for the funk-jaded. Even within "grownup" funk children's themes abound. Jimmy Castor's monster-movie tributes, dances such as the "Popcorn," and James Brown's black-power messages all reflected cross-generational unity and new hopes for future generations.

Buying: Apart from the known ones, many other children's records from the early 1970s are candidates, no matter how unlikely they appear. Cautious experimentation pays off.