Trouble Funk is an American R&B and funk band from Washington, D.C. The group helped to popularize funk and the subgenre go-go in the Washington metropolitan area. Among the band's well-known songs is the go-go anthem "Hey, Fellas". They released several studio albums including Drop the Bomb, In Times of Trouble, Live, and Trouble Over Here Trouble Over There (UK No. 54), and two live albums, Trouble Funk: Straight Up Go-Go Style and Saturday Night Live. In 1982, they released a single "So Early in the Morning" on D.E.T.T Records, later reissued on diverse labels as 2.13.61 and Tuff City. Trouble Funk sometimes shared the stage with hardcore punk bands of the day such as Minor Threat and the Big Boys.
Trouble Funk's song "Pump Me Up" was sampled by many other artists, including Dimples D.'s "Sucker DJ", which went to No. 1 in Australia, Public Enemy's "Fight the Power", Kurtis Blow's song "If I Ruled the World" and MARRS's song "Pump Up the Volume". The song is also featured in the film Style Wars and on the fictional old-school hip-hop radio station Wildstyle in the game, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002).
Keyboard player Robert "Syke Dyke" Reed died at the age of 50 on April 13, 2008, from pancreatic cancer.
Trouble Funk remains active in the Washington, D.C. area live-music scene.
Discography
Albums Live (also titled as Straight Up Funk Go Go Style) (Jamtu Records, 1981) Drop the Bomb (Sugar Hill, 1982) In Times of Trouble (D.E.T.T. Records, 1983) Saturday Night Live (Island Records, 1983) Say What! (Island, 1986) Trouble Over Here (Island, 1987) Early Singles (Infinite Zero, 1997) Droppin' Bombs (Harmless, 1998) E Flat Boogie (Funky Delicacies, 2000) The Complete Collection of Trouble Funk (TF Records, 2015)
Charted songs TitleYearPeak chart positionsAlbumUSR&BHot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart positions: "Hey Fellas": "Trouble Funk Express": "Still Smokin'": "Good to Go'": NLUK"E-Flat Boogie"198072——"Hey Fellas"198263——Drop the Bomb"Trouble Funk Express"198377——"Drop the Bomb"1985——99Say What?"Still Smokin'"80—79rowspan="2" "Good to Go"198666——"Woman of Principle"1987—3965Trouble Over Here"Trouble"——95"Trouble Still Smoking"——99
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