​Lloyd Bradley
London, England
History belongs to those who write it down, and as one of the UK’s leading black music experts and cultural commentators, Lloyd Bradley has been documenting modern black music and culture from the UK, Jamaica and the US for over forty years.
Street Date 28.05.2026
The only book about the funk you'll ever need
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It's been a long time coming but now the third and final chapter of the Bass Culture/Sounds Like London trilogy is about to drop
Funk is its Own Reward is the music from Say It Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud to Off the Wall, a told with contributions from such luminaries as Fred Wesley, George Clinton, Larry Graham, Isaac Hayes, Martha High, Maurice White, Courtney Pine, the Last Poets, Carrie Lucas, Charles Haizlewood, Larry Mizell,Steve Arrington, Barry White, Carolyn Griffey, Bootsy, Harold Brown, Melvin Van Peebles, Lyn Mabry and Bill Curtis. It puts the music in its own context, stands it up within the wider musical world, celebrates its embrace of technology, connects with the parallel art forms and details where the funk came from, what it became and where it went.
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CLICK THE COVER TO PRE-ORDER
Many Rivers
The podcast that reconnects British black music with the culture that created It
In conjunction with Warner Music Entertainment and podcast producer Darkside Media, Lloyd has teamed up with poet & music creative Rotimi Skyers (above left) to present Many Rivers a brand new podcast dedicated to British black music.
Together, through the music past and present, Lloyd & Rotimi will be exploring our unique black British culture by diving into what went into the music, what lies behind it, what maintains it and, significantly, why it could only have happened in the UK. Genres won’t matter - many rivers flowing into the one sea - as they’ll all connect back to the evolving culture that created them showing how grime and calypso or lovers rock and jazz/funk have more in common than they do keeping them apart.
Most importantly, Many Rivers will enjoy itself, celebrating what makes British black music so special, iand doing so in esteemed and highly entertaining company. Cookie Pryce from the Cookie Crew, Jazzie B, Jaz Karis, Lionel McCalman leader of Nostalgia Steel Band, Light of the World’s Kenny Wellington & Breeze McKreith and saxophone colossus Courtney Pine. all drop by. Expect stories, anecdotes and fascinating first hand insight into the groove. With Many Rivers Lloyd and Ro will be reminding a huge, multi-generational audience why British black music has grown into a world force and has been rocking our house for over one hundred years.
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Series One available now
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Music Book of 2013: Financial Times, NME and Daily Telegraph
“Breezily written but politically astute and critically sharp” – The Guardian
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"Dizzying in its scope yet meticulous in its attention to detail, written with passion, style and gustom"
Independent
on Sunday
"far more engrossing than most bland football memoirs" – The Sunday Times
"a warm and engaging read" –the Sunday Post
"more than just a pop star autobiography – a charming, candid, laugh-out-loud story of survival, triumph, spirit and sheer force of will." The Daily Telegraph