Brit funk is a musical style that has its origins in the British music scene of the late 1970s-80s. It mixes elements from funk and soul music with original jazz-funk and Caribbean overtones. An important stylistic element of Brit funk is the dominant role of the bass and rhythm guitars.

With a hard funky rhythm, a cross between James Brown and Earth, Wind & Fire, the Brit funk trend reached its peak in the mid-1980s. Brit funk has its roots in North and East London. The pioneers of Brit funk were Hi Tension, a band from northwest London, which started as Hot Waxx in the early 1970s.

The Real Thing, Heatwave and Gonzalez were also pioneers from the late '70s, adding their own slant to the American melodic funk and R'n'B sounds of the post-disco era. However, the first time the term was use was in reference to bands such as Light of the World, who were obviously influenced by the funk scene from the USA, but were happy to acknowledge their UK roots without the need to adopt American accents on stage. Groups such as Light of the World were among the first after Hi Tension to have major hit records in UK and international charts.

After their split, the most notable part was Incognito, who released one of the definitive Brit-funk era albums called 'Jazz-Funk' plus a couple of notable singles such as 'North London Boy'. They reformed 8 years later on Gilles Peterson's Talkin' Loud label in 1990. The duo Lynx should also get a mention as being one of the quality acts following their eponymously-titled sparkling debut album from 1981 which included 'You're Lying' and 'Intuition'.

New Wave rock bands could be considered part of the Brit funk movement of the '70s and '80s.

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