Originally Posted by musiclistsareus

I think this is partially correct. Funk was originally an outgrowth of R & B (which was a term invented to replace "race music", and became Rock and Roll--especially, but not exclusively, when it was/is played by white musicians). Modern R & B (so called) doesn't tend to sound anything like the originators (Chuck Berry, Little Richard, etc), which seem to have been folded into the Rock & Roll camp. Likewise Funk has been brought into the Rock fold (like R.H.C.P.--I'm not saying they are lame , though), and so it has both been diffused and maintained through the works of the original funk music pioneers like Parliament/Funkadelic and it's off-shoots Bootsy Collins et al. In any case it has lost the predominance it held in the '70s, as it is overshadowed (but not superceded) by more "now" styles; hip-hop, etc.