(Not Just) Knee Deep

The record

“(Not Just) Knee Deep” opens side one of Funkadelic's Uncle Jam Wants You, released by Warner Bros. on August 21, 1979. George Clinton wrote the song and produced it under his “Dr. Funkenstein” credit, and Walter “Junie” Morrison arranged it. The lead vocals are shared by Clinton, Garry Shider, Morrison, Jessica Cleaves and former Spinners singer Philippé Wynne. Morrison played keyboards and synth bass and shared lead guitar with Michael Hampton. The album version runs more than 15 minutes; a 4:25 edit went to No. 1 on the Billboard R&B singles chart and reached No. 77 on the Hot 100.

The break

The song has no single isolated drum break. Its value to producers is the groove as a whole: Morrison's synth bass, the rhythm guitar, the layered vocal chants of “knee deep” and a long running time that offers many clean passages to loop. Different producers have pulled different pieces, from the bass and keyboard figures to the vocal hooks, and the 4:25 single edit condenses the main themes into a shorter form.

Into hip hop

The record became a common source for rap producers in the late 1980s. In 1989 alone it turned up on De La Soul's “Me Myself and I,” LL Cool J's “Nitro” and Tone Lōc's “Funky Cold Medina.” EPMD used it for “Gold Digger,” X-Clan for “Funkin' Lesson” and Everlast for “Never Missin' a Beat,” all in 1990. As West Coast producers built G-funk out of Parliament and Funkadelic records, the song kept returning: 2Pac's “Can't C Me,” on which Clinton appears, came out in 1996, and WC's “Just Clownin'” followed in 1998. MC Hammer and Deion Sanders also drew on it for “Straight to My Feet” in 1994.

Legacy

Sampling of the song has also led to legal action: Clinton sued the Black Eyed Peas for copyright infringement, alleging that his signature had been forged on release forms. The record also links two of the key sources in this archive: Junie Morrison, who arranged “(Not Just) Knee Deep,” had earlier played the synthesizer lead on the Ohio Players' “Funky Worm,” and De La Soul sampled both songs on “Me Myself and I.” Through those uses, the song helped shape both the playful sampling of late 1980s New York rap and the P-Funk based sound of 1990s West Coast rap.