Songfacts®:

• The only vocal in this song is "the funk phenomenon," which comes from a sample of one of Redman's verses in his 1995 track with Method Man, "How High." The full line is:
  
  "The funk phenomenon, I'm bombing you like Lebanon."
• The groove is mainly sampled from "Don't Throw My Love Around," a 1973 track by Cooly's Hot Box. There are also bits of an instrumental version of "Big Booty" by La Rockco Tee.
• "The Funk Phenomena" was an early club hit for Armand Van Helden, who lived in various parts of Europe as a kid (his dad was in the military) and got into the house music scene when he came to New York City in 1993. In 1994 he got some attention with his single "Witch Doktor," and in 1996 he made a bigger impact with "The Funk Phenomena." A year later, he had a #1 hit in the UK with his remix of "Professional Widow (Its Got To Be Big)" by Tori Amos. Since then, he's held his ground as a first-call DJ and remixer. In 2010 he had a big hit with "Barbra Streisand," part of his duo Duck Sauce with DJ A-Trak.
• In 1997, a year after this song was released, Van Helden sampled himself, making "The Funk Phenomena" the basis for his song "Ultrafunkula."