Trouble Funk NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

May 30, 2018, Abby O Neill Gogo Washington regional twist on funk reigned in the DMV during the 1980s, and one of the scene s signature acts was Trouble Funk. More than 30 years later, the collective, led by Big Tony Fisher, still fills soldout venues with heavyweight percussion and callandresponse lyrics. Trouble Funk concerts are bona fide jam sessions, so I was determined to squeeze their unrelenting rhythms behind the Tiny Desk. With 12 members sandwiched into a cramped space, the electricity was almost tangible as they launched into the 1982 banger Pump Me Up, a song sampled in Public Enemy s protest anthem Fight the Power and M, A, R, R, S s dance classic Pump Up The The drum breaks here are definitive gogo and it was hard to discern who was having more fun: the band or the audience. On Grip It, buoyant and staccato horn melodies propelled the song forward, while Let s Get Small featured Trouble Funk s classic callandresponse chants. Drop the Bomb, another notable