George Clinton Chops It Up w/ Chairman Mao For RBMA
George Clinton Chops It Up w/ Chairman Mao For RBMA

Now Streaming: George Clinton's Live RBMA Fireside Chat!

If you're in need of a mid-day pick-me-up, the funk godfather George Clinton is due up for a live in-depth interview with >Red Bull Music Academy Radio, as a part of their continuing "Fireside Chats" series. Expect plenty of Parliament/Funkadelic tunes to be interspersed alongside quips and quotes. It's time to get yourself a snifter of something strong and listen to uncle George.

Here's how RBMA has billed the "chat":

Music as we know it would look a lot different (and less colorful) without the contributions of George Clinton. From his early musical beginnings in doo-wop and as a songwriter at Motown, the hugely prolific Clinton went on to form the bands Parliament and Funkadelic, two of the most important groups of the 1970s. With Clinton at the helm of their Mothership, they uprooted funk from its earthly origins, sending it into outer space. Having made P-funk a household name, Clinton went on to build an impressive solo discography, all the while holding the reins of a sensational band called the P-Funk All Stars, and inspiring a legion of West Coast rap artists. But not just the G-funk posse circling around Dr Dre, Ice Cube, Warren G., and Snoop, a whole new generation of (Westcoast-) trailblazers from Dâm-Funk to Kendrick Lamar, too, cites George Clinton’s explicit and spaced-out template as their main influence. Get in the tractor beam, the mothership is here.

A veritable treasure trove of musical experience and knowledge, Clinton is always a captivating interview subject, and was already tapped by Red Bull earlier this year to talk about the lineage and future course of funk. And while Clinton is known for resorting to the excuse of "Man, I was fucked up" to justify his memory's lapses, the man still knows more about the intricacies of syncopated rhythm than many of us could ever hope to discover in all our lifetimes. Listen to Clinton's interview, already in progress, below. You can also catch the broadcast over at the RBMA official website.

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