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"Funk originated in the mid-1960s, with James Brown's development of a signature groove that emphasized the downbeat—with heavy emphasis on the first beat of every measure ("The One"), and the application of swung 16th notes and syncopation on all bass lines, drum patterns, and guitar riffs. Other musical groups, including Sly and the Family Stone and Parliament-Funkadelic, soon began to adopt and develop Brown's innovations. While much of the written history of funk focuses on men, there have been notable funk women, including Chaka Khan, Labelle, Lyn Collins, Brides of Funkenstein, Klymaxx, Mother's Finest, and Betty Davis".

Funk Music emerged in the 60's

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"Funk derivatives include the psychedelic funk eras of Sly Stone and George Clinton; the avant garde of groups such as Talking Heads and The Pop Group; Boogie (or electro-funk), a form of electronic music; electro music a hybrid of electronic music and funk; funk metal (e.g., Living color, Faith no More); G-funk, a mix of gangsta rap and funk; Timba, a form of funky Cuban popular dance music; and funk jam (e.g., Phish). Funk samples and breakbeats have been used extensively in genres including hip hop, and various forms of electronic music, such as house music, old-school rave, breakbeat, and drum and bass. It is also the main influence of go-go, a subgenre associated with funk."
Funk music itself took its main influences from Jazz, soul and rock music.

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"William Earl "Bootsy" Collins (born October 26, 1951) is an American musician and singer-songwriter.Rising to prominence with James Brown in the early 1970s, and later with Parliament-Funkadelic, Collins's driving bass guitar and humorous vocals established him as one of the leading names in funk. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 1997 with 15 other members of Parliament-Funkadelic".
Where Larry Graham brought slap bass into funk Bootsy was the bass virtuoso of the Funk bass sound. He brought showmanship, crazy sunglasses, awkward lyricism and strange overdriven bass sounds to inspire a whole new generation of bassists, he is like the Jimi Hendrix of Bass. check out "I'd rather be with you" https://youtu.be/nph4Ln9BX2E

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"James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. A progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century popular music and dance, he is often referred to as the "Godfather of Soul". In a career that lasted 50 years, he influenced the development of several music genres".
I will begin with James brown, he is easily one of the most recognizable artists in funk music, although the music would take on many different masks in the next few decades it was Browns 1965 releases such as "Papas got a brand new bag" https://youtu.be/QE5D2hJhacU and "I feel good" https://youtu.be/QXCGnTy-v2M which truly marked the departure from the soul ballad and r&b songs to the upbeat, high tempo, syncopated rhythms of funk. Brown'S music was mainly focused on the horn sections provided by the JB's, funk music would change drastically in the coming years.

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"Sly Stone (born Sylvester Stewart, March 15, 1943, Denton, Texas) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer, most famous for his role as frontman for Sly and the Family Stone, a band which played a critical role in the development of soul, funk, rock and psychedelia in the 1960s and 1970s.In 1993, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the group".
As mentioned after James brown came Sly and the family stone, a change in the style was immanent with Sly Stone adding rock and roll and psychedelic influence on top of the horn sections that James Brown established as the corner stone of funk. the transition to rock and psychedelia can be heard in the song "dance to the music"  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmsJhDvJfkA&list=PL-op_9uvotoQ7KuiuDST9lWOthYz_MPrp the song uses electric guitar and organ parts which give it a more psychedelic rock vibe.

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"One of the Key elements of funk music is Slap bass, The invention of slap on electric bass guitar is generally credited to funk bassist Larry Graham. Graham has stated in several interviews that he was trying to emulate the sound of a drum set before his band had found its drummer. Graham himself refers to the technique as "thumpin′ and pluckin′". Graham was a bassist with Sly and the family stone and the frontman of his own band Graham central station". A key example of Grahams slap style appears on Sly and the family stones "Thank You (Falletin me be mice elf)" https://youtu.be/N5BP2KlPD4U it also happens to be one of my favourite funk songs ever.

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"George Edward Clinton (born July 22, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, and record producer. His band Parliament-Funkadelic (which recorded under the names Parliament and Funkadelic) developed a form of Funk music during the 1970s and early 1980s that he termed P-Funk. He launched a solo career in 1981. He is regarded, along with James Brown and Sly Stone, as one of the foremost innovators of funk music. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll hall of fame in 1997, alongside 15 other members of Parliament-Funkadelic".

George Clinton emerged around the same time as Sly stone but he took the psychedelia to a new place with his use of synthesizers.
A good example of this is the song "(not just) Knee Deep"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bN1xFZ2vfwY

For me George done more for funk music than Sly and James Brown, his use of moog bass and synth sounds through out the 70's and 80's influenced music on all levels, he is one of the most sampled artists of all time, with artists like Dr Dre, Jamiroquai, Calvin Harris, Pharrell Williams and even the songwriters behind the Spice girls taking influence from his style.

Clintons sound spear headed a whole sub genre of Hip Hop called G-Funk, this video gives a run down of 5 songs with samples from some of George's most recognisable works. https://youtu.be/AEmBK3KAjR8

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"Rick James (born James Ambrose Johnson, Jr. February 1, 1948 – August 6, 2004) was an American musician and composer. In April 1978, where the hits "You and I" and "Mary Jane", were released, helping the album go platinum and selling over two million records. This was followed with three more successful album releases. James released his most successful album, Street Songs, in 1981, which included career-defining hits such as "Give it to me Baby" and "Super Freak", the latter song becoming his biggest crossover single, mixing elements of funk, disco, rock and new wave. James was also known for his soulful ballads such as "Fire & Desire" and "Ebony eyes". In addition, James also had a successful career as a songwriter and producer for other artists including Teena Marie, the Mary Jane Girls, The Temptations, Eddie Murphy and Smokey Robinson".

Rick James is an example of how all the aforementioned ingredients of funk pioneered by Sly, George and James where boiled down into one product, Rick James used the horn sections of James Brown, the rock and roll sensibility of Sly Stone and the synth driven off kilter lyrics of George clintons P-Funk collective to become a superstar in his time, I can't choose one song so here are 2 prime examples "bustin out" https://youtu.be/hKjBuSoJtQM and "Give it to me baby" https://youtu.be/1dNIQVYGXbM

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Funk music is often seen as upbeat escapism from the dullness of everyday life, this is clear in the story telling of the video for "If anybody gets funked up" https://youtu.be/1MRtkAEDbjU
They depict a black and white version of life in a world devoid of funk but funk brings back the colour.
Apart from being uplifting funk emerged at the time of the vietnam war and it wasn't uncommon to hear lyrics on war and impoverished black America.
The song "Cosmic Slop" and "March to withes castle" by funkadelic directly relate to vietnam vets returning from war and attempting to adjust to normal life but falling prey to addiction because of an America that forgot them.
Sly stone frequently punctuated his song with social commentary, nowhere more apparent than the song "don't call me Nigger (Whitey)" https://youtu.be/7ecf363BkkM a song about racial discord and human rights.

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Funk music was the dance music of the time, taking it's influences from Jazz, soul, blues and rock it would go on to inspire disco, it had bleak social commentaries about poverty, drug addiction, human rights and war about 20 years before hip hop really started to take over the message. Despite it's serious side this music was born out of the 60's by black Hippies and it was ultimately about love, dancing and having fun.

"if you got funk, you got style" - George Clinton

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funk
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Graham
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bootsy_Collins
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Brown
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Clinton_(musician)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sly_Stone
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_James