Playing host to this year's Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics was a great thing for Canada. Another positive point about the Olympic games was the fact that a lot of homegrown performers were able to showcase their talent during the ceremonies. God Made Me Funky was one of the said performers. I was able to catch up with the PHATT al, the rapper of the Toronto based group and ask him about that experience as well as God Made Me Funky's ability to focus on music.

How has everything been?
PHATT al: It's been good. It has been a very good year with God Made Me Funky. We released our fourth album, "Welcome To Funktonia".

How was it playing at the Olympics?
PHATT al: It was amazing. There weren't a lot of "urban" acts at the Olympics because it was very diverse. It was amazing to be in the position of a performer with these athletes. [The athletes] being the best in the world and [we are] trying to be the best in the world. Just being able to be there and represent Canada in a positive way. I think Canadians feel like we underwhelm people around the world. So we kind of get patted on the head like, "Oh you're Canadian that's nice" we get by on that strength. This was amazing because it didn't feel like that. It felt like we're strong. We're a strong country and we can do just as well as the Americans, if not better. I think for us to be there at that time and this point in history is like overwhelming Canadian pride.

Since God Made Me Funky has often changed band members throughout the years, how do you continue to focus on making music?
PHATT al: Honestly, it's not the members of the band. It's the idea of [the band] that keeps us going. Whenever we come together as God Made Me Funky, whoever is in the band at that moment realizes that we have the honor and opportunity to get out there and change people's perspectives and make them happy. We are ambassadors of Nufunk. We are ambassadors of "jump around and have a good time". For us it's always been about that mission. So whoever shows up that day knows we're there to make the people move.
It's never taxing playing with the band or being in the band. The taxing part becomes the industry, having to make political decisions that you're kind of like, "should I do this, should I not do this?" And the really great aspect about being in God Made Me Funky is that we are 100 per cent independent. So even when we're faced with tough decisions, they're not so hard because nobody is forcing us to do what we don't want to do.

Do you continue to move forward as an independent band or is there a big record deal signing in your future?
PHATT al: Nah, independent is the way for us. I think everybody in the band, we all play with different or have played with different signed acts. I was in Len; I was in Raggadeath; I was in some of the biggest acts in Canada at one point. I saw the implosion of a lot of these acts based on the fact that the music industry has tanked out for major labels, but not for independent artists. We were on the road talk[ing] about the fact that a lot of people coming up now need to lose the major label mentality. If the label comes to you at this point they should be coming to you with what you want. And the only way for you to establish that is for you to build an independent following and a base. Once you've done that, at this point in time it may be more detrimental to sign to a label simply because they're not going to put the time and effort into you even when they do sign with you. So we are definitely remaining 100 per cent independent.

What should we expect from God Made Me Funky in 2010?
PHATT al: We have a lot of festival shows lined up. For us in the band it's always been about getting on stage and performing. There will be a lot more shows this year as we start working on the new record. We're real prolific, there's so many members, there's so much music and so much material we're constantly working on. We're definitely working on the new record. It's up in the air whether or not it's going to drop at the end of 2010 or early 2011. We got Melissa O'Neil from Canadian Idol singing with us right now and she's just amazing. Whenever we get new blood like that the new songs just come pouring out. Who knows? We might put a record out at the end of 2010 and in 2011.

Words by: Shaun Bolden