The Breakfast Club interview with the GODFATHER OF FUNK George Clinton

0:00979 WJL. You're digging out the breakfast club. Morning everybody, it's DJ NV Jess Hilarious. Show them in the guy we are the breakfast club. Longer roses here as well. We got a special guest in the building. Godfather of funk. George Clinton. Maybe you laugh. You're just laughing. How you doing brother? I'm doing good man. How you feeling man? How's your energy man? I'm up in the morning and I'm ready for him. Parliament Funkadelic. Rock and roll hall of fame. That's the overall icon man. Is that what it is? Oh man. I guess it's a lot of history in that. I'm walking around here in New York looking at all the places that you do. Walk up and down the street, hustling songs and stuff. It's a good memory so I guess there's some legend in that somewhere. Completely different world now. Everybody's still fun to be around. I'm loving up and down bro. You know, it's super come to real building right now. 50th and Broadway. What's it called? The Braille building. That's why all the songwriters was that, you know, 57, 8th round through the 60s.

1:02So we used to hustle songs out there for everybody. So coming back through there now looking at the area, how all the people are. Brainbacked memories. Did you have vision life at this age back then? No, I didn't vision forever. Yeah. I'm going to do this rest of my life and it's going to be music and that's what I'm going to do. That's right. That's right. I'm going to find a way to do whatever the music changed, whatever styles. I knew I had to figure out what the new thing is. So I knew that route early in life then. Whatever it was, I was going to do it. Before parliament, before Funkadelic, before costumes, the mother ship, who was George Clinton when nobody knew his name? Do they know New Jersey over there singing duops for the like the Spaniels or the flamingos? Wanted to be a, you know, Frankie Lyman.

2:03You know, I had worked in a barbershop from about 17 on, 18 on. Doing the process here, you know, the waves and stuff. Do often rehearsing for the music, group getting together for when we become stars. Then Motown show up. So I wanted to be Smokey Robinson. That was like my, always my life goal to be a songwriter like Smokey or the Motown crew, all of them. They had a bunch of them. That was my idol. So even when they left Detroit, we went out there still trying to be carried a Motown flag. So that's who George Clinton was all his life. Wanted to find a way to get a spaceship to get off the planet. What they cutting head teach you about people that later helped you just understand audiences. The barbershop, you had like five or six barbers in there of all different generations and styles, the older guys. So you had wisdom or you had book and you had, you know, pimps, prostitutes, preachers, everybody play it.

3:11Everybody in the barbershop talking game. So you had a chance to pick from whatever style they fit the situation. I learned that over the years, all the different variations of choices I could make. I could pitch it any one of those barbers and say, so answer would do it like this. So answer would look at it like this. So answer would even give it a thought. You know, you get, I have, you teach you a lot of the style of communication. You know, because there's ain't number book, but it's information. Yeah, good, it's good. Who was me in the preacher, the politician, the pimped all over here, all to me, all of them had game. That's right. That's right. You can learn from all of them. You can learn from all of them. And they had styles of it. So when you got situation laid on a life, I could look at anything one of those guys and say, one of those, he would have worked, looked at it like this. He would have looked at it like that. So I'm a pick of styles. I ain't married to none of the styles. And same way about music. I mean, the music changed. I love duos. I love motown. But I can see when it's getting ready to change, when kids start doing music, they get on my nerve.

4:16I knew that's the new. I was going to say what was the indicator, but that's what I'm going to get on the nerve. Either you go get old or you don't get in the game. And that's that. I looked at that, you know, it was funny at first, but then it's like, I got older. That's really some real thing. You know, so you see me with really young kids, because that keeps me cool to keep. They got ambition. And nobody might even want to listen no more. So I ain't trying to deal with them being on dance. They ain't going to buy no records. I love them. But I got to cater to the one that's going to be out here by wrecking the dance. I was so interested because I never seen you and thought that you was trying to follow any trends. I always feel like. No, no, but I follow them, but I follow my head at time. I'm following them before they get big. I can see them getting big. And I help them out to help them get there. So when they get there, I get there with them. I mean, when hip-hop started, the first thing I realized, they need samples.

5:18Right. I did a record sample, some of this and some of that. Five copies, five version. And most of the producers will tell you they don't tell you, like AI didn't tell you that they do it. They used the samples. And a lot of them glad that they used them. Because those are the people that we came from with. I worked with Snoopnep all the time for samples and live in person. So when I see it happening, I jump right on it before it actually get there. I saw that you guys were among the most sample music acts in history. And I think people literally said that about you guys. I made sure, when I realized that's what they needed. Yeah. I made it myself available for it. Plus it kept me alive. It gave me something to do. And then I really, I start sampling them. I sample them when they sample me. I sample that record. That's just so crazy though for you to just, I mean, because I think what a lot of artists, like you said, when times change, they kind of like resisted, but for you to think that far ahead, just knowingly, right?

6:18Like, because not a music class forever, like a time of dog and different things, right? You get that kind of music. I mean, like, if I'm going to be in love with them, do up in Motown, I'm going to never left Motown if they're in the left detro. You know, to me, that's still the best music ever. But I do realize when it changed, I ain't married to this. And if you do it ahead of time, you actually can be a part of it. You don't have to look like you copy in it. Matter of fact, you get out ahead of it and they still look like they copy in you. What were people saying to you back then though? Because you weren't like, there were people that were taking like different hip hop producers or whatever the court and trying to get money and fighting back against that. And you were doing the exact opposite. So what were your peers saying to you who maybe didn't understand what you understood at that time? That's my sample. That's all I really, you were just fighting to figure out how you going to get paid. They wouldn't have laws yet. Right. They had to just do it and they figured out later. But a lot of people didn't want to happen.

7:18A lot of people don't sample my stuff. You know, don't sample. I'm like, no, this is what's happening. And the kids are doing it. And it's officially getting on your nerve. And especially when you start finding yourself liking it. You know, that first, they rock him. I'm like, I don't care what I thought before. I'm loving this. But I already was safe because I liked it anyway. I didn't have to like it because I was samples in there. I liked it for what he was going with it. When I saw the possibilities of what could be done with it. Then I said, oh, I'm going to move the horns out the way. I moved the voices out the way. And I make a rep called sample some of the discs and some of that. And they figure out how I get paid later. I'm still trying to figure that out. You know, but it's coming. Like you say legend, that's the kind of it brings about. Because I'm cool with everybody. You know, you don't know why. But we all cool. But now it's time to figure out what do we do? How do we do it? And this my family is the legacy. That's how you do it. You get it together for that.

8:19I had my fun at the clown. I did with rock and roll people do a party, act as pool. Did all of that. But now it's time to clean that up. But the sampling and all of that. I think I maintained that relationship with all the new things that's going on. We got more with George Clinton when we come back. Let's get into atomic dog. Of course it was sample by Snoop Dogg. Let's get into it as the breakfast club. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on.

9:19Come on. Come on. Come on. From the ZWC back to the rock Snoop Dogg and Dogg. You get the fuck the fuck the fuck I went solo on that day. For this deal was same. Long feature, the five-prop was hurt my candy. Follow me, follow me, follow me, follow me. But don't lose it for it. Nine-twins, eight-year-olds, eight-year-olds, eight-year-olds. You shit. So I ain't over there. Back in mother-cuff, I'm like a lab, all the time. Tell shit's like that. Morning everybody, it's DJ, NV, Jess Hilarious. Shalomay and the guy. We are the breakfast club. Longer roses here as well. We still kick it with the godfather of Funk George Clinton. Shalomay. You know, we call this room the black mothership. That's what I call this room. So black mothership. I was wondering if that's what you did. I might bite that one. I call this room the black mothership because it's George Clinton. I got it. Where did your love for spaceships come from? Did you saw track? Okay, okay, okay. I moved to Jersey in the 1950s. That was all of the movies that was around the days of Mars and the blebber. And I do remember Roswell incident when that went happen.

10:20I can remember, I'm about seven, eight years old, but I do remember the movie in Spaceship Land and Alien. It disappeared over the years, but now I'm one of the ones that actually believed that type of stuff. I'm told you convinced of that. I grew up in the South. I've seen flying saucers before. You know, I've seen the fly and talk. I've seen the reaction from it. Boots, you know, that's stories out. Boots and I was visited by one. Really? Actually light hit the car like mercury. We owe that. Toronto. Okay. What happened? Missed us talk. We ride down the street. We wouldn't even get in high either. That's the most people think we're probably high. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, we came through the border so you can't get high. You know, I mean, you can't get in high. But so we actually saw the light come down. I've a clear daylight like a laser out of the clouds hit the ground. We both, you want to say that we both saw it though. About another five minutes, it comes down through the trees. We own the country road now. And it comes down through the trees and splatter like electricity during the light of why I hit the ground is a block away.

11:27Then the next one was in the same block we were in on the opposite side of the street. One, two, third one hit the car. When it hit the car, it was like, you know, mercury in the thermometer. You know, I beads up and runs. Yeah. Like, you know, like oil and water and it ruled off the car like that. Street lights start going out. All the lights start going out. So we drove for about three minutes because it was getting real dark by telling me to get to the street that lived on. We didn't know what they all have. We sat in the car for like five minutes. My granddaughters mother came out to, she was young and said, y'all look like y'all seen the ghost. We just sat there in the car and we didn't say nothing. We didn't say nothing. She said, I'm going to bed. Now, think this, she said she's going to bed. Now, when this first happened, the weirdest thing about it was we saw this light in daylight. And we didn't recognize this for another 10 to 11 years. I had, I thought about it. We saw this in daylight. Why was the street lights going out?

12:29Why was there my door essential? Since she going to bed, that means seven o'clock in the evening. Yeah. We got there like nine o'clock that morning. We didn't realize that until like I said, 10 years, 11 years later, I called boots and said, what time do we get there? He said, we just the studio. I said, I'm going to get there by eight or nine and I said, never nine or ten. He said, yeah, I said, why was the street lights going out? If I was to call lights on and why was Barbara going to bed? I ain't going to say what he said. We get off this **** man. What are you trying to, because he knew I was right. It was some time travel time missing. It didn't even occur to us. I never wanted to talk about cause you sound stupid. Talked about everybody knew we was getting high. So you know right away, anybody going to bleed that ****. So we never talked about it like that other than, yeah, I believe in spaceships.

13:29I bet you have you and Boosey did some deep hypnosis. You all would remember being abducted. That's what I said. Oh, I know I bleed that too. I've got to abduct you. I don't need to know that man. You all got to abduct it and then they put you in. I'm pretty sure that would happen to me. I ain't trying to find out that much. How was he just that far? I thought that I was running away. What happened? Oh, man. What the **** do about it? Is it some anal problem? I thought they do anal problems. Oh, yeah, that's my problem. They might have happened to me. I thought that's why I got this. Oh, Lord. Free your mind. Free your mind and your ass will follow. They might have sent me. They might have put your nose **** in my mind. I love the saying free your mind and your ass will follow. It sounds funny, but it's actually a serious philosophy. Back in those times, because they're the Beatles and all that knowledge, information start becoming the part of rock.

14:29And so we was time for us to change. We wasn't in Motown, they had left. So we had to change the theory of the cute dance and singers with suits on. Plus, we was in our 30s now. That's **** only works when you're in your teens and early 20s. You got to, you know, for the new kids, they don't want to yell ass up there. You know, floating with them. So my thing is get characters. Be a character. Characters don't never get old. Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, been here for all of us. You don't even identify them like where they can get old. So we decided Dr. Funker's side star child, Mr. Wiggles or nose, all of that. And Bootsie, we didn't have to do because his name, he was already a character being a Bootsie. You know, he wanted to have another name. I don't know Bootsie's it. You already Bootsie. You need to stay Bootsie. You already have Bootsie. He dressed like a Bootsie, even before he was in the group. He just looked like he should have been in the group, you know. And so he was already a character. The easy to make him the glasses, the bass. We just designed that.

15:30So yeah, we pretty much knew where we was going by time. We got the spaceship. We put it in a new we can go and go with a lot of acts. We could take the pallette, the brides, whoever else, Felipe, when they left the spin as he came with. Juni Mars and for no higher players. It was one nation on the groove and I was, I'm on anyway. Wow. We didn't realize we was offending the current power structure. You know, the people that promote the shows, record labels, radio stations. All of them, we had everybody on our side, like the radio station DJs, they promoted our shows. That's how we stayed close with them. We didn't have to pay all the cost. They, they were the, they were the promoters. So we had that locked up and they had this radio station. They had the act. They could easily go to the building and say, I got this package. Let me bring it into Madison Square Garden. And once we did that, we had too much power. You know, cause nobody can tell us what to do.

16:30And we didn't misuse it, but for their concern, it was misuse called they couldn't control this. You know, when Neadeep came out, they weren't even ready for that record to come out, you know, trying to give us that right to get a line. And we actually could go to the stations and say, here's the new record. Here's the new record. And we give it to them. They play it and make it pick it. And the company wasn't ready for that. They wanted somebody else's record to be that spot. When we had like that, I guess that's a threat. We thought it was a hell. We thought it was helping, but you had a sense of independence out of disrupting the system. Yeah, that's what was happening. And if anybody else tried to do that, we'd like that later on in life. That's what it was. But we was when they sent the groove and we thought we was bringing you a motown. The thing is, they don't want them all to town. Yes, right. They don't know how to get off the dance floor. They got five records out each week. There's only, there's getting played. They don't want that one no more. And we was, we was coming with that. I will not move.

17:30We got more with George Clinton, the Godfather Funk, when we come back is to breakfast club. Good morning. No. I wasn't gone. I was late. I was just dead fine. I was late. I was never bad. I was late. Right side. Right side. Right side. You're the best, right? You're the best. You're the best. I'm the best. Oh, get the hells out... Right side. Red light. Yeah, right. We stop now

18:40Morning everybody is DJ and V just hilarious shall remain the guy we are the breakfast club Loan roses here as well. We still kick it with the godfather of fun George Clinton Lauren You know it's crazy though. I felt like doing a ton of y'all were making these songs though There was like such a movement behind back people's art, and I think that's where it's all the men It's got a problem, but yeah, but you were just looking at it as like a release like the people need this like we need to be able to get on a spaceship and I really believe that that's that we like that. Yeah, I mean, I've already believed that that but there was so Natural with that and when no post this is some I believe But I'm not saying that Rock and roll and blues I remember when that was my mother my father But the fact that by the time we got big it was England right and all of that it I mean I mean I mean it didn't They just good they won't dispose of it. It took Eric Clapton to make me know that I hadn't paid enough attention to Robert Johnson. I didn't I knew to record, but I didn't know How good that was when I saw how much respect he gave Robert Johnson did not realize we wasn't doing that

19:48For our musicians here, so when I started doing the blues in funk songs I made them real dramatic, you know like maggot brain That's like blues as you can get with no bass and no drums. I made it black Blacker than black because I had to catch up from what I had missed by not paying attention to say to Robert Johnson's and the fact that now blues is So you sound like a European music. Yeah, we gave that away because we move it. We don't call on to our artists Once they get two or three years old, we're going to another one and In the other day after pasture You don't have too many classic they used to do with jazz. That's right They don't even do it but jazz anymore But we're doing it now because we bring it back in we say an Afro futurism black and proud We we actually say in it and other people saying it for us And we're trying to preserve culture and we trying to preserve culture like you got to hold at least for hip hop

20:49You got to hold the snoops up in high regard. You got to hold the JZ's up You got to hold it all of them you got to hold you got all of them up 50s all these old art you got And once it's doing it, they don't know me and From them he was 5 14 15 round was all he's been bad like that I was doing saying that before anybody was Had to know to say it my kids and people around me was saying he was cool, you know You know, but after wow you everybody's beginning to realize no, he's just cool It's a Anybody agree you can say that without any thought about it But you have to do that for the culture for the music itself because he doing the music It's been he was with us right from the beginning Wow, we've rated in Detroit. We recorded the same place same people and everything you know Just you know different past you know, I was doing what I was doing it wasn't the time You know, but I knew all the time and I always said And then rock him was my

21:52For rapping. I mean, there's a lot of great rappers. I love a lot of them But that was the beginning and then for me early in the game wide-hosts too because that's two different generations too I don't know just what rock him did raping from the beginning and Eminem has been for a long time If some more way back then all the way through to now he's maintained what I thought he was going to do Anyway, I didn't realize you can be able to handle the politics because that's a hell of a road that we had to come through But the fact that they in a beautiful him drain 50 cents that all the people don't realize the the connection don't all that had to take place But that to happen. Yeah, the industry was not was not Smiling at that they had to be very scared of what they might But they're all nice and they all remain friends hard to do in this business They make sure you're not friends Then make sure you miss up ones Do something to the one or the other that they fall out with you. It's hard to do that

22:53Why why is that the industry for because that's what they do They make sure you don't have that kind of connect To with each other and stay that way and they have a friendship that Survives some few things that I've seen them go through That's that was You know that's a lot of politics in that. So how do you avoid that as a black person? How do you avoid the black crazy? You know Hey People know people know I got high Yeah, yeah, yeah, I never got highs. I was pretending to be man cut it out man You know You might be right they should tell me you stood at I'm just saying what they said it used to hide crack in the studio ceiling and stuff I Swat somebody told me that I was in the studio one day and somebody said man George Clinton used to record and hit you

23:55Thought I put it up there. You know, cuz that's that's thing and I ain't never been afraid to say that Yeah, yeah, that's part of my thing. I went through that party adjourned here, but I'm here happy. I ain't mad at that either That's right. I made that decision and when you do that you You start up with the man with your drinking smoking hot whatever I'm gonna get fucked tonight And if you if you succeed you got You did All of those things go together but the minute you can admit it and that was part of my journey I ain't got any matter. I ain't doing it no more. I ain't better. Nobody's good. I ain't gonna leave my But I ain't mad I can dig it. I called everybody have a version of that. I mean everybody come whatever the area you in It's gonna be a we call it trendy chemical substance What I was trending They're gonna be out there for you and you got the dance with that wealth is over. I

24:58Ain't guilty I'm looking at I'm having fun looking at the places that I didn't recognize because I was under the influence I'm the damn only venue when I was under the influence. I'm seeing this place for the first time So that's how you walk into New York today you like wow And I ain't afraid to say because Only thing I relate to when I was coming through was where was some bacon so Oh, where was something you know, I'm related to it like that and that ain't nothing to be ashamed of Oh I mean hang on I ain't gonna give you no you're not a cook You know I have a microwave I don't believe you okay No, you know, you know, you know, it's like putting chitlins and microwave Use the cook it as a microwave I can't go get there Yes Mr. Clean get my reason not to do drugs before we leave because you make it sound fun

25:59They fun okay, I mean it's fun, but it ain't fun in the But you're doing them anyway if you don't do the they go sell them to you They all the stuff that you get now prescription wise that's right. It's the same stuff. They was selling on the streets They just made it legal so they can get to tax money. That's right. It's basically the same drug Oh, no, it's all of that. That's right. So but the computer's going is the next drug though. You're gonna be able to People know I'm talking you gonna be able to download Whatever design you want in a minute That's gonna be the best whatever how you want It's funny watching him try to sense it It's done The

27:18You I thought it anyway. I thought you. It's George Clinton, man. We love you. We value you. We appreciate you, my brother. Thanks, sir. You're having a clown. It's a breakfast club. Thanks.