George Clinton Announces 1st Funkadelic LP In 33 Years, Talks Upcoming Autobiography w/ Dam-Funk

"Mommy, what's a Funkadelic?" pleas a child in the opening moments of the foundational crew's debut self-titled LP. The group's pioneering head-honcho and foremost funkateer George Clinton set out to answer that burning age-old inquiry in a candid sit-down with the leader of the modern-boogie arsenal Dam-Funk after their cross-generational team-up at yesterday's Long Beach Funk Fest. The two beacons of flashy funk and electrifying stage antics waxed on all things cosmic slop, from Clinton's formative years to his ensemble's forthcoming LP; their first in 33 years, which is slated to have five features from the other funky forefather Sly Stone and artwork from OG P-Funk illustrator Pedro Bell.

On top of an already enticing and wholly proper resurgence, Funk Senior and Junior touched on Clinton's upcoming autobiography Brothas Be Like, Yo George, Ain’t That Funkin’ Kinda Hard on You? which will also be the title of the record's lead-off single. There's so much of Starchild's legacy in these 4,000 words that we could barely do it right by chopping it up, but you can catch testimonies on how the Motor Booty camp paid, produced and recorded Roger Troutman's introductory record with Zapp, the importance of their crunchy trademark clap, the conception of "the beautiful stink" and their cosmic origins below. This one's for the heads. Watch out for some new sonics from the interplanetary funk mob in the next couple of months and head over to The LA Record for the full scoop.

On the new record and the torchbearers of funk's legacy:

"I’m telling you, you’re gonna hear in another 6 weeks—we got our first funkadelic album in 33 years! I got a book coming out the same time: Brothas Be Like, Yo George, Ain’t That Funkin’ Kinda Hard on You? And it’s also the first single off the album. Like you mentioned Sly Stone … he’s on at least 5 of the cuts. To answer the question, I feel great! Funk is—it’s time, it’s always been here. Hip-hop kept it going forward, electronic music kept it going forward, and now we gonna stick our nose back in there!"

On "the 1" and the importance of the clap: 

"I don’t know, that was one of those moments—that was on ‘Flash Light,’ and that was also the first time a synthesizer did the bassline. That gave us the concept of ‘1’ being so hard, with the bassline being like—Bernie was playing and Larry Graham—and the funkiest thing would be to add the backbeat in there kinda like Motown would do with the tambourine, or they’d beat on something to make the backbeat really hard? I thought on ‘Flash Light’ since the bass was first time on a synthesizer and the ‘1’ is always emphasized, we know that … let’s give ‘em a backbeat of ‘2’ that was so hard when you run your hand across the record, you’d feel a lump on the record."

On Funkadelic's cosmic origins:

"I was a Trekker. I liked the Star Trek! It was from the psychedelic era of the 60s, and you’d travel a lot in like that Orion zone, with the Dogons and all the different tribes that say they come from different planets. So all that stuff, all that information … you mix it up with some R&B. After we did Chocolate City, and made the experience of a black man in the White House—which we got—we felt back then we said why stop at the White House? Let’s go into outer space! Black was hip. To this day, it’s still the dominant groove. With hip-hop being around the entire planet. Every country has its version of hip-hop. And that is the epitome of blackness! When you can play the dozens and become a billionaire … fuck the dumb shit! Forget all we think we know about what’s right, wrong, cool, all that shit! We just only realized that we ARE that power! We just got to catch up to our own cuz it is already THERE!"

 

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