"Make the Road By Walking" (Menahan Street Band)

It was the case for my parents' generation that, when they saw a single released by a particular label, they automatically knew it was going to be good.  Even if they'd never heard of the recording artist before, if it was on Stax, Motown, Atlantic, or Philadelphia International, they knew it was worth buying.  Mainly because the same groups of backing musicians played on every single track (The Swampers, Booker T & The MG's, The Funk Brothers, MFSB...)
I have that kind of relationship with Brooklyn's Daptone Records.
If you don't know about Daptone, check it out.   The label was founded in the Bushwick neighborhood in 2002 by pals Gabriel Roth and Neal Sugarman with a focus on ol' skool funk, R&B, and soul.  More or less, the same core group of musicians (or permutations thereof) play on every record that the label puts out.  Sometimes they're billed as The Dap-Kings (the backing band for the inimitable Sharon Jones and the late Amy Winehouse on her album Back to Black).  Or, sometimes they're called The Budos Band, or Antibalas, or Menahan Street Band (named for the Bushwick street where the group's guitarist/founder Thomas Brenneck lived).
No matter what name is on a Daptone single, you know it's going to be good.
And as "throwback" as Daptone's music is, it never comes off sounding like some watered down imitation of James Brown, Al Green, or Aretha Franklin.  Each song is a real and true original.
That includes the track "Make the Road By Walking" by Menahan Street Band.  
The song is named for a Bushwick-based charity that focuses on economic opportunities for working class minorities, which is itself named after a line in a poem by early 20th century Spanish poet Antonio Machado: Wanderer, there is no road / The road is made by walking.
That spirit of achievement by carving one's own path comes through in every note of this 3-minute instrumental, which blends raw funk with the feel of Afro-beat.  It begins modestly with subtle wah-wah guitar, chimes, soul clapping, smooth brass, and one of the funkiest basslines I've ever heard.  (Like, ever ever.)  Then, measure by measure, it grows and gets stronger, more confident, till you reach the climax: the song's triumphant hook, which plays like a fanfare for a king.  (If the hook sounds familiar, that's because it was sampled by Jay-Z on "Roc Boys (And the Winner Is...).")
For me, the song paints the mental picture of a boxer getting in shape for a title fight.  There's the initial pain, self doubt, and struggle.  Still, he keeps on training and pushing himself.  Ultimately, there's that Rocky-like moment, where he reaches the top of the steps, pumps his fists to the sky, and knows in his heart that he's already won.
Yeah, it's one helluva groove.