TVOne's Unsung: George Clinton

Who's watching this?!  I'm LOVING it: He is called an Afrofuturist on the show!

Feel free to add on or respond...

Some facts:

  • New Orleans jazz, psychedelic rock, blues = Funkadelic; Less guitar, more horns, slicker production = Parliament.  Same people but different styles of music.  Clinton led two bands at once and had 19 releases between two groups in a short period time.
  • Lyrics like "free your mind and your ass will follow" provided a much larger picture of what black liberation was/is.
  • Albums covers (by Pedro Bell) helped to explain the mythology; black superheroes from outer space; people die but characters live forever.
  • Nobody thought of black beings from outer space (Sun Ra was mostly underground).  Clinton says he got the idea from first-hand experience (or alien substances) - but the influence of Sun Ra on his style/look is apparent,
  • Clinton's cosmology struck a chord and united black and white fans.
  • Alter egos: Starchild vs.Sir Nose D'void of Funk = shot with bop gun (resolutions were always positive)
  • Atomic Dog inspired by computer games
  • Provided the cornerstone for hip-hop; funk/Funkadelic is the DNA of hip-hop
  • Hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue denied George Clinton (Westbound Records); Clinton put up his song publishing rights for cash advances against future earnings 
Okay.  So now I'm pissed that George Clinton is of retirement age and has not gotten his due! As I've said elsewhere the key issue here is: OWNERSHIP, or our relationship to what we create and contribute vs. what we demand as payment or compensation for our creativity.

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