# James Brown — Funky Drummer

James Brown’s Funky Drummer (1970) appears on 3 of our lists — Funk, The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred, and The Waxonia Desk — The Soulquarians Room, highest at No. 3 in Funk. Every verdict, in full.

- **Released:** 1970
- **Label:** King
- **On:** Funk, The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred, and The Waxonia Desk — The Soulquarians Room
- **Updated:** 2026-08-29
- **Artist:** [James Brown](https://waxonia.com/artist/james-brown/)
- **Canonical page:** https://waxonia.com/track/james-brown--funky-drummer/

## What 3 lists say

### No. 3 in [Funk](https://waxonia.com/genre/funk/)

Twenty seconds of Clyde Stubblefield alone became the most sampled bar of music in existence. Hip-hop, jungle and big beat are all, at some level, arguments about what to do with this loop.

### Picked by [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/)

Twenty seconds of Clyde Stubblefield alone, and then thirty years of other people's records. The most consequential drum break in existence.

### Picked by [The Waxonia Desk — The Soulquarians Room](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-soulquarians-room/)

The bar underneath everything above it. A generation of drummers learned Clyde Stubblefield from a sampler rather than from the record, and played him differently as a result.

## Listen

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/James%20Brown%20Funky%20Drummer) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=7dtpj8qa1hQ)

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Hand-curated by Waxonia. We host no audio; all links point to streaming platforms.