"What It Is! Funky Soul & Rare Grooves" is a super bad box set packed with re-pressings of twenty-five classic seven-inch vinyl singles originally released between 1968 and 1977. Each and every one is a serious slab of homegrown funk mined from the vaults of Atlantic, Atco, Warner Bros., Reprise and Josie Records, and they all come tricked out in an eye-popping package shaped like a vintage singles carrying case.

All of the reissued 7" vinyl gems, feature the original 45's A & B sides and with faithfully replicated vintage labels and sleeves. Celebrated online record collector's site - and Chicago record emporium - Dusty Grooves America says, "One of the funkiest box sets we've ever seen".

The spotlight is on groove-heavy gut-bucket funk, a scorching sound that emerged in the '60s and amped up the legacy of R&B and Doo-Wop in sonic intensity and booty-shaking spirit. It's a sound that became the precursor of hip-hop, which later went on to revive funk for successive generations via creative sampling of classic sides in the vein of the ones featured here.

The box pulls together both great yet obscure cuts from established artists and definitive grooves from lesser-known funk masters alike. If you could find these 45 RPM rarities while combing through the racks at any still-standing record shops, they would command a small fortune - and those stores are fast becoming as scarce as the records themselves, so even serious cash can't get you there.