Sometimes stars align. Sometimes kismet is irresistible. Fate. That which is meant to be. All these concepts apply to the collaboration between Dudley Perkins (aka declaime) and Georgia Anne Muldrow. G&D "The Message Uni Versa" on Look Records is the natural, and not unexpected, product of fate. These two star travelers HAD to come together. Both artists are loosely affiliated with Stone's Throw Records (Georgia released an album or two through S.T. and Dudley is immediate crew with Madlib who has produced a considerable amount of his work). Both are difficult to define; often wandering around the edges of hip hop but just as likely to attract fans of funk, soul, or the astral jazz explorations of Sun Ra. Both have shown a proclivity to run, not walk away, from convention.
I haven't been a great fan of Georgia up until now. All of her releases displayed a talent and artistic vision that impressed, but did not move me. Conversely, Declaime has always been one of my favorite artists. He's always been the black sheep in a crew filled with black sheep. It takes a lot to seem weird while working alongside Madlib. But Dudley has always danced to his own funky drummer. "The Message Uni Versa" seems to have combined the strengths of both artists and created something even greater.
The Funk has been making a re-appearance in the last few years. Plant Life sewed the seeds. Pharrel ("Angel" & "Beautiful" in particular) & Cee-Lo (initially with "Cee-Lo Green And His Perfect Imperfections" and most recently as Gnarls Barkley) dropped it on the mainstream world. Now indie hip hop is gonna get a chance to let the, "Fonk set 'em free!" Because make no mistake, just like Prince Paul and Bernie Worrell's Baby Elephant project, this is a funk album. It is one hell of a funky ride too. Georgia on production (an exciting proposition in and of itself to have a woman formulate the funk) and Dudley delivering the revolutionary funk-laimations spells nothing but good times.
The album drops Sept. 25th. Pick that thing up here!
Download "One"
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