If James Brown is the Godfather of Soul and Micheal Jackson is the King of Pop, what do you call George Clinton? Starchild? Dr. Funkenstien? How about the Funk Messiah or the Prophet of P. I’ll call George the Funk Prophet. A man who received the funky word from the elder gods Jimi, James and Sly and called on his disciples to worship them and do funky works. It’s no stretch to see the funk mob as a congregation bringing new members into the fold and training them up on the bylaws of the funk. Clinton’s role was to see the funk in each individual, nurture it, and set it loose on the universe.

Many of his disciples have attempted to go it alone, without the guidance of the anointed one. The results have been mixed. George may not have been the greatest singer or songwriter but he had a genius knack for the spotting talent and getting the best out of it. He was able to insert his diverse group of players into the right places for a specific effect in a similar way as Duke Ellington used the members of his orchestra. His wisdom was to realize that funk is not a set of hard rules but a state of mind and a way of approaching your instrument.

Free your mind and your ass will follow.

Biography

Clinton was Born in Kannapolis, NC, on July 22, 1940. Legend has it the he was born in an outhouse meaning that he was thoroughly immersed in the funk from day one. His family later moved to Plainfield NJ where he formed a doo wop group called the Parliaments in 1955. The group eventually had a small R&B hit during 1967, but lost the rights to their name in a contract dispute shortly thereafter. In response Clinton created Funkadelic as a vehicle for the group’s musicians. Recording both as Parliament and Funkadelic, the group revolutionized R&B during the ’70s, twisting soul music into funk by adding influences from several late-’60s musical pioneers: Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, and Sly Stone. The Parliament/Funkadelic cooperative ruled black music during the ’70s, capturing over 40 R&B hit singles (including three number ones) and recording three platinum albums.

By 1980, George Clinton began to be weighed down by legal difficulties and ended up dropping both the Parliament and Funkadelic names. Along with the P-Funk All Stars Clinton signed with Capitol and dropped four albums under his own name: Computer Games, You Shouldn’t Nuf Bit Fish, Some Of My Best Jokes Are Friends, and R & B Skeletons in the Closet. These albums featured George with the backing of various members of the funk mob, both old heads and new blood. By the end of the ’80s Clinton had recorded a couple of Albums for Prince’s Paisley Park label as well as producing The Freaky Styley album for a young group P-funk fanatics named the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Just as Clinton’s creative output was beginning to wane his legacy was revitalized as 90s era rappers (the clones of Dr. Funkenstien) began to give him props publicly while sampling the hell out of his records.

Geriatric Funk

As of this writing George Clinton is still recording and performing in his ’60s. One of his most recent albums, How Late Do U Have 2BB4UR Absent?, a double album released in 2005 shows there’s still alot of funk left on the old skunk.

Here are some samples of George’s work:
Atomic Dog
Man’s Best Friend

For more info about George Clinton go here.