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.
It's been a long time coming but now the third and final chapter of the Bass Culture/Sounds Like London trilogy has dropped.
A brilliant evening at Clapham Library, talking all things funky with Roitimi Skiers
Funk is its Own Reward meets the legendary Word In Your Ear podcast.
Click the pic to connect to that episode
.jpg)
Coming Soon
Sunday 04.10.2026
16.00 - 18.00
The only book about the funk you'll ever need
Thursday 08.10.2026
19.00 - 22.00
Funk is its Own Reward will be the guest on Jim Lister's VERSION radio show on 1BTN, avaiable on DAB or FM in Sussex and along the sough coast. Lloyd joins Jim to play records and discuss his books and The Funk in general.
"Funk here is more culture than genre, a constantly evolving Afrocentric journey into post-Civil Rights black self-definition in the face of a reductive music business. Exploring influences from the
Last Poets to Soul Train, Bradley uncovers the forces that shaped the Funkw hile amassing a
vast thumbnail discography of crucial albums."
Funk is its Own Reward is the music from Say It Loud - I’m Black and I’m Proud to Off the Wall, a story 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.
Mojo July 2026
Funk is its Own Reward takeover at the Museum of Youth Culture. Deejay, reading, exhibition, Q&A, book signing ... The MOYC is at 51 St Pancras Way London NW1 0PU
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.
Series One available now
Music Book of 2013: Financial Times, NME and Daily Telegraph
“Breezily written but politically astute and critically sharp” – The Guardian
"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