Funky Friday – Episode 29: Funk Noir

Airdate: 08.22.25 - 9am Pacific Time

femme fatales, neon danger, and noir funk.

🔗 Quick Links:

🎧 Listen live on KDOG Radio → Here

🎶 Catch the Replay → Here

📖 Full Episode Recaps + Setlists → Here

🎟 RSVP to Episodes → Here

📂 Renegade Radio Site → Here

Happy Funky Friday!

Welcome to Episode 29: Funk Noir — where the groove steps out of the light and into the shadows. This week, we trade neon for moonlight, saints for sinners, and gospel funk for the dangerous pulse of the street.

The noir world is alive with femme fatales, hustlers, and alleyway basslines.

We open with Johnny Guitar Watson’s Funk Beyond the Call of Duty — a sly, creeping cut that sets the tone for an hour of cinematic grooves. From Isaac Hayes’ tense, string-drenched Walk On By to Curtis Mayfield’s hustler anthem Superfly, the set unfolds like a soundtrack to a midnight thriller.

The danger deepens with Betty Davis’ femme fatale bite, Roy Ayers’ Brooklyn paranoia, and Funkadelic’s raw alley funk. War stretches the city wide with The World Is a Ghetto, while Sheila E. and Chaka Khan deliver seductive, glamorous menace. Finally, Miles Davis closes the night with Tutu — a cinematic fade into darkness, the credits rolling over empty streets still buzzing with funk.

🎧 Track List – Funky Friday 29: Funk Noir

• Johnny Guitar Watson – Funk Beyond the Call of Duty (1977)

• Isaac Hayes – Walk On By (1969)

• Curtis Mayfield – Superfly (1972)

• Betty Davis – If I’m in Luck I Might Get Picked Up (1973)

• The Meters – Cissy Strut (1969)

• Roy Ayers – We Live in Brooklyn, Baby (1971)

• Funkadelic – Nappy Dugout (1974)

• War – The World Is a Ghetto (1972)

• Sheila E. – The Glamorous Life (1984)

• Chaka Khan – Ain’t Nobody (1983)

• Miles Davis – Tutu (1986)

🪩 Why “Funk Noir”? Because funk isn’t just a party — it can be shadows, seduction, and street survival. This episode plays like a midnight soundtrack: femme fatales in stiletto heels, hustlers working under flickering neon, and basslines as dangerous as they are irresistible.

🔗 Quick Links:

🎧 Listen live on KDOG Radio → Here 

🎶 Catch the Replay → Here

📖 Full Episode Recaps + Setlists → Here 

🎟 RSVP to Episode → Here

📂 Renegade Radio Site → Here

Funk Facts

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🎸 Johnny Guitar Watson – Funk Beyond the Call of Duty (1977)

Watson reinvented himself from bluesman to funk outlaw in the ’70s. This track drips with menace — lean bass, sharp guitar stabs, and Watson’s sly vocals — funk as street survival.

🎷 Isaac Hayes – Walk On By (1969)

Hayes transformed a Burt Bacharach pop tune into an epic 12-minute noir soundtrack. Sweeping strings, haunting organ, and a relentless groove — it feels like walking through city streets at 3 AM.

👠 Betty Davis – If I’m in Luck I Might Get Picked Up (1973)

Raw, dangerous, and unapologetic, Betty Davis embodied the femme fatale of funk. With snarling vocals and dirty grooves, she pushed boundaries that even shocked the funk world at the time.

🏙 Roy Ayers – We Live in Brooklyn, Baby (1971)

A dark slice of urban funk. Ayers’ vibraphone floats over a paranoid bassline, capturing both the pride and the tension of city life in the early ’70s.

🎺 Miles Davis – Tutu (1986)

A collaboration with bassist/producer Marcus Miller, Tutu fused jazz, funk, and electronic textures into a moody masterpiece. It’s cinematic funk — the perfect closing credits to Funk Noir.