QLS Classic: George Clinton Part 2

Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio.

What's Up Everybody, It's unpayvill the Team Supreme. For this classic episode of Quest Love Supreme, we're speaking with the incredible, the One, the Only, George Clinton, the parliament Funkadelic. Last week we reissued part one of this conversation. Now in part two, did a deep dive and asked these sorts of rappit ble fan questions that make QLs week. This was taped in mid twenty twenty during those early days of the pandemic, so Team Supreme was still learning how to.

Get along virtually and in general.

But the quality of the conversation is amazing. Make sure you check out all our interviews with Booty Collins, Larry Blackman cameo and the late George Brown cool Gag. QoS loves bringing you that phone and it gets no better than George Clinton.

You mentioned Boosie.

I just wanted to ask you since we had him on the show and he told some awesome stories about you.

But one of the stories he mentioned.

Was something involved y'all creative process in the was it the Bermuda triangle? He said that you used to do that, but he never knew why that place and to like be creative, can you please?

You went fishing in the Bermuda Triangle.

Yeah, yeah, you know that. We was the only one after the Mothership connection, you know.

You know the whole thing was we went to Bemani and to hang out and the number one Bemani Road and everything I saw all of the fish advertisement. Mister Wiggerdworm was a lure that was collecting information for the Motivooty affair. Wow, he didn't know what we were talking what I was doing. You know, I was just gathering the topics, you know, from that topic and.

It all came together pretty good.

You know, we was on a roll.

You had no fear of drowning and the Bermuda Triangle at all.

Oh, I mean, it's all I need to fear. That gent everywhere we wanted. He tells you that we saw spaceship. He tells you something happened to.

Yeah, he told us about this.

Now that's for real. I mean we drove up there from Detroit after finishing the album, got there with and went by Gary's house.

It was like ten o'clock in the morning. Now we just got there.

We saw a light that looked like laser, you know, or light, but it was a straight being and I said, you see that? He said, what was it?

Now?

I don't know.

Five minutes later, we get off the highway be going down the country road. The same light sounded like two blocks in front of us, right through the trees. That hit the ground and sparked like like you know, electricity on the right side, then on the left side the highway, and the third time it hit the car right on the driver's side where I was sitting. It beat it up like you know, mercury out of the thermometer, you know, it.

Beat it like oil and water, you know.

That consistency, and rolled right off the car. What the hell?

And at that time that what's.

Weird about it that we didn't realize this for years? The street lights was going off. Now I remember the first time we saw this light. The weird thing was that you saw light in daylight right right, and you can see you can see a street of light in daylight. That was the weird to stay. But when this when it happened, when we hit the car, the street light was dimming, A car had its lights on the back of us. I looked behind us and by the time

We don't realize this. I don't. We don't talk about it. I realized this for years.

My daughter said, what yelling like, y'all seen the ghosts? She said, give me, kids, I'm getting ready to go to bed now. That should have let us, you know, you know, let us know that ten o'clock in.

The morning, she's going to bed at seven o'clock at night.

We did not realize that for years that that had taken place like that.

That time he last and.

I called boots of them? What time did we get there? When we was coming from the student and he remembered. And then when I told her what the barbarella? What was she doing? She's going to mean that same thing, I said. We never thought about that for years.

That's crazy.

Trendy chemical substances.

What people about it. We had just come across the border. We had just come across the border into Canada, so we didn't have no trending chemical substance.

You have Canadian trendy chemical.

Had Yeah.

Really believe that we are the only beings of this level in this entire galaxy.

No, but the fact that George Clinton's all aliens means everything is perfectly correct in the world.

I I believe everything he's saying. He thought I see them before he did. He saw them.

They're there. Let me ask you, so, what is what drew you to? I mean, you know, next to sun Ray, I don't know any other black figure in music that deals with oh, with the exception earth Fire, that deals with afro futurism. And you know, I'll say that, And

Concurrent, like that's of everything.

But how are you able to get into because I think Richard Prye once brought up the fact that, you know, a lot of black people aren't into science fiction because we rarely see ours, like we're not painted in the future and a lot of this production. But you were our vision of an Afro futurist society.

So what what brought that on?

Like what made you not just want to make people shake their ass and dance like most people, Like most people live in the present, I feel black music, whereas you're talking about I think, I think Star Trek.

I think Star Trek. I was addicted to that by the time I saw Star Wars. That was like a cowboy and western movie that was like for kids, but I liked it.

It was for kids, but already was into the mother Ship.

Theories and the sci fire that that Star Wars had more stories. So I was always into that. And when it came time to make a record, I want to do a funk opera. When that's when we started thinking about. First we did Chocolate City, and one time I saw put black places where they weren't ordinarily seen. That was that was the cool thing to do. So the next one, I say, put them in out of space. You didn't see no black people, nobody but Aurora, see was the only one you saw out there.

But what about you see this dude out there on the spaceship riding.

There like it's a Cadillac. That's all of a sudden, it's a place to be, you know. Mothership connection, that worked, you know, So then the Clones is the weirdest one. Now you want the story.

Clones was the second one after Mothership.

I got on a train. I got on a train in Dallas, Texas. There was a book on this train. This is the first day this train is running at Dallas between terminals, the very first day. The book is on the on the seat. Nobody's on the plane train for me. I picked up the book and Steve Swanson has docked on spaceships over fifteen hundred times, blah blah blah, but he could never get used to these trains at

Yeah, I assure you that Smokey Robinson was not doing that.

What he did, know, what he used to do. He used to take kids books and do all the nurses on the nurse around the rap songs from them sound right.

It was just it was another version of that.

Though, speaking of which I know, I know that you are a massive fan of sly Stone. I have two questions about Sli and I've been you know, as of this recording happyeople later birthday. You just celebrated your seventy ninth birthday, and usually around your birthday time, I'll spend a month while I'll do nothing but dive into the p funkology of your work, so especially Quarantining.

I've probably watched at.

Least at least ten of the concerts between seventy six and the mid eighties, like at least four times each. I have a question though, about the p Funk Earth tour now knowing what role Slide plays in your life as a mentor. You you've definitely been on record about how witty his songwriting was, and his and his arrangements and whatnot. But you know, at that time during the p Funk Earth tour, you know, the torch has definitely been sort of passed and you're clearly now the alpha.

Or the leader.

And you know, in nineteen seventy six, I think that's when his heard you Miss Me while I'm Back album was out, which you know, right creatively.

That he didn't do that. He didn't do that, and somebody else did that.

I get it, I get it. I get it with a wink.

But I want to know, how do you think that was psychologically?

Because the thing is is that usually.

When you're when you're when you are a maverick of that level that he will, usually you're supposed to have a really good history's showing that you can have a good eight to fifteen year run where you're clearly the leader, like jay Z has had a fifteen to.

Twenty year run Prince had.

You know, I'm gonna obsess some Prince fans as far as the genius level like he's had that Street Slye. Yeah, guy, I'll give him from a whole new thing to about small talk. So maybe seven eight years, but clearly, in nineteen seventy six, here's the person that should be a maverick and he's kind of like in depth to you, like he's in an opening position, and I know that that was your hero. Do you think that psychologically that

It may have, it may have, but at that time we were you know, we were doing other kind of drugs into that at that time, and you didn't. You didn't, you didn't have to contemplate like that.

You know.

It was less trending for sure, you know. And it was hard to actually, you know. And he was undoubtedly that motherfucker. All the ship that he had done, he may have felt a little bit. He'd tell you, he'd tell you, in a minute, you headline this time, let me headline, now you headline next week. You know it's not on the stage, but just in socializing when you have to be the start, he'd asked you, and let me be the start right here.

Really, you know, you don't know, No, he's that.

Kind of real everybody know that you're doing letting me show time here and let me look good.

And you know it's some funny ship.

Because you have to say, yeah, you can, but don't do me harsh, because he can do your ass harsh when he wanted. Yeah, so you have to say I'm gonna.

Be starting next week and he left.

I love motherfucker to know how to get his But you know.

First of all, I just want to clarify because the thing is, this is about the fourth time you mentioned drugs. But I almost feel like for you it's more of an enhancer. No, but I don't see it in that. David Roughing sort of doubt like.

Was it was.

I was about the right.

I think for you it's more like a creative juice thing than it was. Or either that or you just hit it well.

I hit it well, man. I thought that I was too too, but I hit it well.

But I was going through because I wasn't doing what I wanted to be doing.

So I mean, I couldn't get out of that.

I was satisfied with my own self, but it really wasn't when you look back at it. It took a long time for me to just say no, let me come up and do a medicaid pro Let me get that and do That's hard to do when you get caught up in fighting for the rights and make music at the same.

Time, you can lose your energy.

You know what I'm saying.

You can get ciphers.

So but let me ask I'm not advocating. I'm not advocating, but let me ask you if you were let's say half clear. Okay, let's say that whatever whatever you've done between the stuff with Timothy Leary all the way to you know, I saw the Chelsea Clinton Chelsea Clinton crack pipe story.

Damn you you've been watching a lot of it, Dude, your whole life hold on Clinton's make.

Especially.

Okay, you tell the Chelsea Clinton crack pipe story?

Clear, clear that up? Man?

Yeah, I'm sorry, sorry, Okay, tell the story?

Well which one did you?

So?

Basically, Chelsea Clinton goes to a first p funk show and you know, his last name is Clinton, her last name is Clinton, and they're like, hey, guys, take a photo together. And George was sort of on the spot and had a pipe in his hand, and he decided, yo, perfect, it's not going to look cool with a crack pipe next to the first daughter. So he hit it, but he had to hide it by fisting the crack pipe, which was burning his hand.

And that photos in People magazine.

Wow, they know?

Did the Clintons know the real story behind?

Okay?

I just mean I just didn't know if you had actually interacted with them, No, they didn't know.

They didn't know.

Then her and holler Field gave me a birthday cake on the stage.

Well wow, and while we own drugs that you actually doing the bump on the the munch colar color the placebo versus placebo syndrome, where like, uh.

Is that you?

It looked it looked pretty convincing.

Yeah, it looked pretty convinced. No, I didn't do that, Okay, I was. I was.

I was pantomiming, though, Okay, don't.

I don't even know if you know the first time I ever smelled secondhand smoke?

What kind of.

Yeah, the sea word, Oh yeah, that's your state. Yeah it was.

It's like a skunky type thing.

Yeah.

I walked into George's room one second and I took with the second hand smoke, and I thought I was going to die.

I ran to everyone like.

So how did you get clean?

George?

Like, how how did you? Because we looking at you now, I mean you look you yes, yeah, how did you? How did you get clean? What was that process?

Like?

I got a good wife first of all, that was a good help.

But after you know, I got sick one time, and it don't take me one time to get sick. Yeah, cause I thought I was superman, I guess, but I got sick one time and then I realized, damn you you're seventy two years old. You seventy two seventy one rate, and I said, no, you got you got a lot of work to do. You get I came out. I never looked if what you realize you have enough time to rest. Been in the hospital a couple of days, and you realize you have enough time and the rest.

Noord it was yeah, just the fact that it was we got a new album from you, and it sounded current, but it didn't sound like you were pandering, like trying to do it kids, trying to catch up.

There it was, but it was still you.

That was the hard thing, the balance that being up to you know today and what we were about. But I had my grandkids in the group, so they know, they know what's going on today, they know what was going on with us. So they helped me bridge the things and I can put the concepts in it, and they helped me bridge it with their friends, you know, and we got such a crew now they was killing before the pandemic thing happened. We just playing with the

I was going to ask you about producing the Chili Peppers, because you produced them, how did you.

Land Bricky Styly? Yeah, and the party plant.

They were they were you know, they wanted to be Funky Deli. They you know, they put their work in so it's easy to work with them. You know, they was already for Caadelic fans and they knew what they wanted to do.

But they wanted to do it punk. They wasn't trying to be sick.

They could actually play slick music, but they went out of their way. They played some really good they make erase it. They wanted it to sound like punk. They was kind of like Garcia them, you know, they didn't want to learn it no better. I mean, plead them. They actually like jazz music, right, They wasn't trying to play it, you know what I mean, Hey, hello, he could actually really play, but he went out of his wave.

Yeah, he went out of his way to No, you.

Ain't saving that ship.

I didn't get my question out because we got sidetracked by.

Can you please tell us? Can you please tell us the David ruffin Sly story.

It was a precursor to Clinton story.

Yes, just the question is commercial for quest of Supreme enough.

That that was the fun of me.

That's that's that's some superstar drug stuff there. You know, once you once you've been a star and you're down, you don't realize that you're a star no more.

Especially if you drank your drugs.

And and I felt that we was a typical, the three of us was a typical of that particular thing at that time. We was going to see a friend of mine who's the dealer who loved us, who will give us anything we wanted, and so we just had to like play cool and let him do anything. But David wasn't in and no, you know, moved to be being nice to him. He was, he was, he was still a temptation, but he.

Wasn't in his mind right.

Yeah, you know, So we tried to get him not to ruin it so we don't get out dope, and he's like.

And slide trying to He's trying to referee, telling them no, George gotta he's right there.

You got to listen to the juge, I said, boy, if you could, we had a picture of the three of us here trying to do this. You know, this is a funny ship. I don't think it's a funny, man, Let's go get the ship.

Fuck it.

It sounds like the scene in Boogie Knights with the fire.

I know exactly what that is. This the story with the real to real tape with Sly.

Oh no, no, that's.

No, that's another story. Thought, this is the whole story. No, no, that's I meant the real tape.

Yes, oh man, No, that's the dope dealer that he had the dope dealing.

He the I'm gonna let you keep my real.

This is real to my album. Give me some dope one credit, you can hold the album. But it wasn't nothing on the reel. So we do that a couple of times.

But I'm getting scared. I'm getting scared.

So you know, I said, no, I don't ain't nothing on the tape. Man, I tell the dude, ain't nothing on the tape.

It ain't nothing tape.

Yeah. So I mean this, after we did it two or three times, the dude tell me, don't you have to love him? Don't you just love him? Nobody was getting mad at nobody can get mad at it.

You know that it must be a metal not for nothing. And I said this to Bootsy too.

I was like, y'all are like medical marvels, Like not only do you look the way you do, but you also your memories are like perfectly intact, Like what.

Did you I understanding because he reminded me of I forgot.

I put all this sh in the book.

Yeah, but the words you was like, oh yeah, I know what you're talking about, like it was yesterday.

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I forget. Yeah, yeah, that was some funny ship.

Go ahead, what is your question?

Oh?

I was just going to ask you of all the just the lyrics that you've written. You know, you were a big inspiration to me as a as an MC because you would have just all these amazing plays on words and these puns and you know, this fishtail begins with most fishtails in like all that stuff.

You just did really inventive stuff with language.

And I just always wondered, did you have like a journal that you would write this stuff in or would it all just be off the top. What was just the writing process for your lyrics like I had?

People would probably you know the band members the keen Up. Anytime you heard me say something or laugh and I hear something and I repeat it, he would write it down and all I have to do is say it, and he would in the studio.

When I get ready to go in the student, he just give me.

A list of things that have nothing to do with each other that I said, and and then we get a concept. We didn't start throwing puns at it and using like I said, using the little smokey Robinson of you know, pun on top of pun, but.

We had two more to it to make it absurd.

You know, we use synonyms, antonyms or harmonyms, it didn't matter. We just used all of it. If it sounds the same, we throw it in there. And and we can actually get especially with Bootsy, we could say anything the boots and if he said in that boy, you know, it would.

Actually work, you know, like.

Be my beach right.

You know he says some of the stupidest stuff and the dumber it was the funny it was if you said it because he had that overtone like Jimmy and the.

Whole walking on your boat.

And I had and all that stuff.

Yeah, yeah, oh my god.

So is he making that up at the microphone? Is there's just a list of We've been feeding it.

To him in his boom.

We just said to him and he said after so he laying if the knick a bill was fun, but I would be doing it to Boogie, would be doing it to And once we got a concept, we can just say anything. Now a song like Ryan Stone Rockstump Monster with Dub Baby Babba, I would write those parts all the reality.

I asked him this question.

Now I got to ask you probably you know in the history of all the songs that you've written. I don't think that to be alive in nineteen seventy eight when that song was that its most popular. I've never seen it, and I was seven years old at the time. But if a seven year old knows that song, then you know it's something. Why did you guys just not call that song wind me Up? Could have just called

Call it wind me up?

He was a rock star monster for doll Baby.

That was a that was a toy.

That was a toy called boot Billy made by to make us the funky things to play with. That was a whole concept.

You want to as a toy, but not as the as the hook.

Okay, no, no, the toy.

But then he got scared. I forgot if we got so big.

I told him, it's gonna be hard to live up to this, you know, So don't don't equate yourself with being this character, because way it's way bigger than you're gonna possibly because we was on a roll then I had done it with we love to funk you funking style and said you can talk about yourself and not believe it. The main thing is, don't need this ship because if it works, you're gonna be in a hell.

Of a whose position to try to live up to it. Just do it and even long. And that was hard for.

Him because, like I told him, the boots got bigger, the glasses got bigger, everything get bigger till this too heavy to carry?

Part two of this question. Part two of this question. Do you think part of him kind of wanted to sabotage this boot was made for funking because that album was the complete opposite.

Oh that's when that's when he went out.

Yeah, that's what he Definitely he wanted to control and I let him.

Have control him of that album.

It was it was different, though he wasn't.

The same, Yeah, but the thing was it was so like ah, I always wanted to Like I listened to it. I appreciate it now forty years after the fact, but back then it was I was like, wait, something's different about this record than the other three?

And what did he say?

No?

No, no, I mean I never asked him about it, but I think as I got older, I was thinking like there was a point where Boots he could have actually overshadowed the entire p funk.

He chose not to.

He had started, we had started to let him headline the shows. That's when it had got to that point, the way he was that you know, at the time when they scared him, he answers scared of him, he got shingles. That's when he got this tingle on his very first date by himself. But at the same time, you know, we had the political business of the trolls was entering the picture trying to tear the part, and it was getting too big. There wasn't gonna be another motown.

Yeah, right, you're on the same label. I forgot that.

Speaking of clones, always wanted to know what were your thoughts on all of the p funk music that didn't come from the p funk camp that was obviously so derivative of the p funk sound. And I'm talking about I'm talking about gat Band, I'm talking about joy Stick by George George. I mean, the thing is that you scared us that really really Yeah.

I told you you know your you know your thing that one close, reach for it, reach for it. Yes, yeah, I.

Said, damn, did you steak up and do a record with them or something?

I felt like it was gonna get me to be a genre I wanted it to be.

You know, especially Ohio Players.

They were like that. They were like one of the punkiest ones, you know, but them and then Prince you know him, like Stevie, they was inclined to do pop music, but they could be punky as all hell, you know, and you know, they just knew that they could get away with doing the pop music and that's where you know, the money was at.

Or you could do wide a variety of songs.

But all of them, Prince and Jimmy Jam at the time, all of them that was funky Rick then all of them was beginning to be, you know, a funk Gendre Irwin and Fire was popping at first, but then they started embracing it as funk after a while.

You know, we asked Philip Bailey, what was his thoughts on Let's Take It to the Stage.

He said he'd never heard of it. Philip Billy said, he we played Let's Take It to the Stage room. He had no.

Clue that he was being, uh, this record sort of not. I took it his plateful ribbing. Yeah, did anyone did any of those groups ever try to approach you? You know snoofists and slipping the flamily bricks and smooth crazy say that's fucked up?

You see? Was cool?

That was?

You know, No, nobody never said that.

It was you know, only people we mentioned with people that we like, you know, And I think that's what a lot of the people to the distant thing when they started dissing each other.

That was like playing the dozens when I was.

In school, and you start getting paid for it. You know, that's what you know, a jail house rhyming. You know, Once that became pop, once that became the music. Okay, I saw that that that makes sense, especially when I heard somebody like rock Kim.

You know, that's just like, damn, you can do it. That's fucking good.

And then I didn't realize we had mother right there. In our town, eminem. He was fifteen years old and we didn't even.

Pay attention to him. He was like slimy shady.

On our ass, and we knew him. We knew he was bad, but we had no idea that mother was all bad. We knew he was bad, but we watched him just like right, not knows raining the studio?

Right while we're there, can you tell us a print story that we don't know?

You? You weren't probably you were.

For before we got on Pasty. He sent me a tape.

He sent me a.

Tape he wanted me to work on. He sent it to the and so we told him we didn't want to be responsible for the tape. Send it to the studio the engineer. Let the engineer get it set up. I would go in there and do a do a party. I ain't trusted, you know, doing nothing with his you know, his tape. I'm gonna go be responsible. So we get to the studio and I'm getting ready to put my part on it.

And it was called cookie Jar.

Oh okay, we had already did a cookie job, but it was different than that.

The engineer put the tape on backward.

You know how you roll the tape off back when some people roll the tape off tail tail out, and so when he put it on, he tried to clean the tape to get him some you know, clean the tape is to get him some clean, some space. But it was tail out. He raised half of the song on the tail end of the song. So I gets to the studio and he's looking wild and scary, and.

I wouldn't even go in the studio.

I said, I'm not going I'm not even going in. I want this to be I was not. Yeah, I had nothing to do, but this is the first time I had interaction with him, you know, and I know you know, I would have got blamed all of that. So I'm not going in there y'all and telling what happened and let.

Him know that I was nowhere near.

Oh my god. And hopefully.

No, they never they never got a chance to do it again. We heard the beginning of it was good, but about a minute it happened to the song that goes blank, and that was the only one he had of it.

Man, damn, I'm glad.

I let's let's prow some water out for that.

That's not the story you wanted to hear.

Okay, did did he ever play you when you did We Can Funk for Graffiti Bridge?

Did he ever play you the original We Can Funk?

Uh?

Huh?

He did?

Well?

Yeah, I liked it.

I like that that that and so psychedelic side, both of those he played me both of those.

Yeah, he told us that.

He told us to go crazy on it and and do you know what we do in me and Gary just with the lunch on it, and then he mixed them both together.

Have you heard the long vision?

Yeah?

I got it?

Yeah, ah for y'all crazy.

Actually, you know what I was shocked.

What's weird is that you're technically the Weekend Funk that you're on on Graffiti Bridge is technically the base of it is still the eighty four version, which to me speaks more of how far I've headed Prince's time.

Prince was the fact.

That he could send you a real that he worked on probably in nineteen eighty three, and it still works for nineteen ninety and you know, still works thirty five years after that fact, you know, I mean once once it was finally released back in twenty and seventeen, it still sounds, you know, fresh and right.

Have you ever. Have you ever heard of Paradigm?

No?

No, wow, you didn't.

I've not heard of that.

Check that one out him and just him and myself.

Really, Okay, it's on.

It's one of my records.

Okay, this is not with TCL is on it right?

No, no, no, not that, it's not.

No tcl's jokes.

No, but.

It's on how late I think.

You know what it is? It is? It is? I did hear it.

I heard it, and it was It came out in ninety six, ninety.

Seven, I think no, no, no, no, it came out in two thousand.

There is There is a song that while we were still working on Voodoo, you sent D'Angelo.

So it was like ninety eight ninety nine. It was a CD.

It was a cassette that he played us. I don't know when it came out, but you sent a song to him that was you and Prince and I think the vocals were various feeded to sound cartoonist.

There is I don't know who the title of the song was.

Check it. Check out this google paradigm.

Okay, I will do that.

Uh.

I wanted to ask you a question about the brides of Funkenstein and how you came up with the concept to put them together the song Bertie is just I love that damn song. What was the what was the concept of putting them together and then versus what in your mind as a producer was going to be the difference between them versus parlay?

Okay, and that took that we did.

Neil Bogart asked for a group after we were successful at Cattle Blanka, and so we gave gave him the.

The Brides of Funkenstein.

That was kind of that was dark for him, you know, he was bubblegummy. He thought that was a dog. He wanted something really simple, the grass Parlet.

So we took those two.

Girls, Lynn and Dawn and gave them to Atlantic. We did the whole album and that album was actually done for Julia Phillips. She did Close k Counters, the girl that produced Director there. She she wanted a disco version of Remember they were doing soundtracks of all the shows, all the big so she wanted a version of that. So we did a Warship two shot for for you know,

So gotcha?

Was Neil a traditional label head?

I meant like, yeah, all right, But I'm saying, though, are you going to him plan uh do that stuff?

And he has an opinion on.

It or is record?

Give me a three minutes and thirty second version of You're Fish and I'm a Water.

Now, he's not just letting you do what you want.

He pretty much let us do what he wants. But he but he do that and in the beginning he knew what kind of group he want. Once we got there, we could do what we wanted with him. But he was so good at being a record man that you tried to give him what he wanted, you know, because you know he's going to put everything in the world behind promoting it. When I said I wanted the spaceship, he just got me a bank and they and they got together and they I was able to get the spaceship.

You know.

He was on Cameo Parkway, he was you know, so he was from that school of records. He knew how to do from the cameo Parkway version.

Then Buddha.

He was like God.

He was like the bubblegum king.

So by the time he got the Castle Blanker, he was getting this shot.

He could do pretty much what he wanted, and he did it.

He was a real record man that spent everything on promotion.

He was a promotion man.

That's why I liked and I knew I could do a concept called mother Ship or you know, and even give me the prompts that I need to, you know, to promote the record.

He understood that.

I should have asked this question at the beginning, because you're the You're the you're the you're the north star of this whole stratosphere. But how taxing is it two maintain personalities and deal with business because you're you're dealing with over twelve groups and.

Across like three or four different labels.

Yeah, it's everyone has their record deal and you know, you gotta you.

Know, calim and Funcadela was the original w Tang.

George. George was the original.

So how how are you maintaining.

You know, at this member and that that member makes your payroll gets in time.

And we left that at out at the bus.

Station and getting getting to the gigs on time, and one of the light rigs went out, or the drummer someone of the o d backstage like, how are you.

You gotta deal? You got to be everyone's father and collaborator.

And and still be free.

And go on get on drugs and go on to your wife?

Right?

How not? How? But why? Why would you ever want to do that to yourself?

That was my mission?

That's my mission. I mean, that's I started this at thirteen, and I wanted to be that, you know in this business, and I never changed them. When I got motown with my aspiration Bill spectrum of my aspiration, Jimmy Hendrix my aspiration, you know, and then whoever else come in and.

Do it hard that becomes my aspiration.

When I hit Slide, that was my Beatles turned me completely to pug out. That's what. Oh my god, I wanted to a funk opera once I sawd Sergeant Pepper. You know from a songwriter standpoint that that was impeccable. You know, when the lyrics was nonsensical and but melodic instill you had a mother doing arrangement like big band arrangement on a rock and roll band.

They had a concept that worked. Cream.

All of those things influenced me.

So are there other genres?

Are there other genres of music that we don't know that you're into?

Like how big is your jazz?

But Go Go, Go Go Go?

What I was about to ask about your relationship with DC, because.

Go Go Go Go Go Go just had it a little harder than funk me because Go Go is uh go Go is religious.

They don't want that to get out of d C.

No, No, I mean the d C people wanted to get out, But I'm saying that industry don't. That's that's something that's some that's some other kind of uga. We call it uga booga. You know that. I mean that works. I don't care how big a star, but Go Go band get up on stage before you. You measine that.

You better hope they don't play your record Go Go.

Better than you. Okay, I didn't see that happen. No men, Chuck, Me and Chucks we worked together before he was calling it Go Go. One of his first songs that he did was I don't care about the COVID when you're hot too much? When you're hot, your hot. Tiki was playing with us then and played there with them, and that was they grew for years before they became, you know, a go go band, the Soul Search you.

You know what.

There's there's an interview that I heard from you in nineteen eighty.

I think this is when.

Nineteen eighty what's out, Oh, Parliament's Tumbipulation.

You did a month long residency.

I think you were promoting during a month long residency at the Apollo Theater.

Yeah, we kept up.

We kept the theater open. They was getting ready to close it down.

Yeah, I was gonna say, could you talk about how does one do a month long residency at the.

Power We needed someplace to rehearse the new theatrical show called Popsicle Stick that was a Trumpipulation album, and we needed someplace to rehearse the pelap papers with us. That's when he was Uncle Jam's army, So we needed someplace to rehearse, and they.

Needed to keep the theater open.

Because they was getting ready to tear it down. We did a stunt there. Bob Marley played there after us and James Brown played up there, and that we kept it open. Froze our ass off because they didn't have no heat in.

Yeah.

I was what I say.

Now, now it's nice and furnished, and yeah, it's really no more rats.

But back in nineteen eighty, what was it that was the labor of love? Was it?

It was almost it was almost closed it And like I said, it was we hadn't been opened that much. And I forget the people who owned it at the time. There was some hustlers. There was some hustlers on it, but they kept it alive.

I'm rappid fire now, I got it. I'm headed back to the sixties. Is it true?

I heard a rumor that you are one of the background singers on Barbara Lewis's Hello Stranger.

No, that's not you.

No, okay, I always loved I always loved that song. Pat Lewis a friend.

Of mine who's pretty much singing on everything I did.

She was one of the hot button soul.

Yeah, she's saying on all of them, Dion Jackson and Barbara Lewis, all of those songs that sounded like smoky.

Oh okay, okay. I asked you this when I was doing the DJ set. So're you're telling.

Me that some random guy came up to you and said, I can play guitar. Pretty good if you give me twenty five bucks and just for kicks, you decided to let him see what would happen?

Yeah, that takes a lot of nerd and takes a lot of nerd.

And so that first.

Note that he hit on, get off your ass and jam is him.

That's shrill.

Yeah, wow, that is my favorite shrill noise of all time.

He kept our attention from that's real all the way to the song with Phinney's.

So, is that you guys acting?

Is that you guys reacting to him as you because you hear either, I don't.

Know if it's lin Marbury said, god like like you hear.

Yeah, it's almost in sample ology. Yeah, that her reaction is almost.

As much as a sample. That's what he was playing. So you guys are laughing at what you're hearing, and literally it just all went down at once. Ship. The song wasn't written beforehand.

It's just like, all right, play anything, Yeah, no, just a track.

We didn't ship. God damn.

I didn't want to get in the way of that. That's why I made it so simple. You know, don't say nothing, just ship goddamn, get off your hand.

And then he left and you never heard from him again.

We wanted to talk to him because I gave him fifty dollars.

I wanted to give you more, man.

I wanted to ask you about your work with Outcasts and the Dungeon family because they were certainly you know, a fruit, you know from your tree, you know, something from the p Funk family, And you did a synthesizer on uh on stan Conia. But then you also did another record wasn't as well known, but I loved it. It was called Black Mermaid, but it was on the Society Soul Out. Yeah, do you remember anything about those sessions?

And I was like, I'm like, they reminded me of Parliament, Funk and del too, because all of them were the outcast, Dungeon Family and Goodie Mob. They was all together at that time and they hadn't separated into those so I didn't know who the record was going to be, you know, but all Sleepy and all of them, big Boy and all of them, they were, you know, they just come down the dark.

You know.

I stayed I pretty much lived in dark, you know, under Dallas from the Climax things, and so that was like I love that. My part time in.

Atlanta Yeah, that old old Dungeon family. They had a bunch of good song.

How did you get up with? I was going with more King of your hip hop cribs. You and Kendrick Lamar on Pimper Butterfly? How did that come about?

One of my grandkids said that he wanted to do a song with me and that I should do it with him, and he was he talked the same ship that I told. He knew what that meant. But when I met him, he was He's a smart kid. God damn. I mean, you know, he.

Went to school and he's still had the street thing.

You know. He was like well aware, you know, and I know most of the people from Compton, you know, and he was here was a whole nother energy from that and he's really he put he put work in your mind, you of like you like Beyonce, like Prince, They put work in, Like Michael Jackson put work in. He's another one of those people that that put the work in.

Did you say at one point you had the babysit the jack when you were I don't know if I heard that right. You were a staff writer at Motown, and.

No, I would saying baby said it was Carrie Gordy.

Oh, okay, carry who was.

When they were when they were yeah Carrie, Yeah, when they lived in New York. When when we worked at the Brill Building.

Oh Carrie Gordon, Wait, you worked at the Brill Building.

I worked at the Brill Building sixty two three.

What was that like?

Joe Joe Joe Bett was there. I did not know that Joe Bett was on the ninth floor.

I never knew that till you were running to Carol King and Niel said, Terry Goffin, Yeah all of that.

Dude, no one you saw. No wonder your lyric game is so tight.

No, I would don Kirshner, Jesus.

Christ cold pits. Really you ever hear?

Jean Red?

Yes, cool in the game.

Jean Red cool. Okay, yeah, Jean Red, Cecil Holmes, Buzzy Willis. We all worked together before they went to work with Neil Bogat that Boodha. We all worked for Jean Red. He did cool in the Gang, the Soul Sisters, and there's and Charlie Fox.

Jean Jean was that one. That's Penny Ford's.

Brother, Penny four formerly a Snap And yeah, that's her brother, well of.

Her own Rights. She used to be on Told Experienced Records.

Yeah, she's she's on our album too.

Wait when did she joined? When did Penny four join?

She was on one of my albums. She's on the on the Paisty Park album.

Really yeah, this is I got the power voice.

Yes, that's her, I got the one.

That's her.

You know you know everything we were talking about. You just don't know.

Okay, okay, this is the This is another question I had in reflection. The Chronic Man was such a flag planting album of your legacy. You damn near produced it yourself. Why have Why have you and Doctor Dre? Like and listening to it? I was like, Yo, why hasn't George and Doctor Dre just made an album together? Because he clearly made The Chronic as an audition love letter to you.

I don't know.

I would like to see that happen too.

I worked with Cube and Snoop too.

Snoop all the time.

You know what I'm saying.

But you know, have you have you and Dre ever talked about Hey, let's.

Get the We never we never had a chance to kick it, you know, we just state no, we.

Haven't make it happen to me?

We got to make that happen.

Make it happen, man, I would love.

To do that.

Jesus Christ.

Men, it's such a captain obvious moment.

Wow, heat the bridge, manat the bridge.

I'll beat the bridge three questions and then I'll stop.

Can I ask a dumb question before you ask your real smart one?

There's no such thing as as dumb questions.

Because I know he's answered it. But I just wanted to.

I just want to, really wanted to know what was what the you mentioned your life changed with the copyright stuff and everything, but visually, when did.

Your life change?

Because I feel like I saw you on at the Roost jam in La like years and years ago, but that was the first time I saw you in a suit with the hat looking fine.

I thought it was I thought it was tik Yo. When he walked in the door, I was like, wait, teress wearing a suit.

Oh my god, that's George clad some real ship.

Yeah, I had to. I had to go through that period for a minute, a minute, you know, justice playing up for a second. But then as soon as I did that, C told me that man put the costume back on. That what made you do it?

Because you what made you do it period in the first place.

Well, I'm just figured it it's time to change again. I've been changing people that you know.

I think it's a new dude.

They did, Yeah, we did, Okay, Okay.

I have a question about the twenty grand in Detroit. Is there any truth to the rumor that you yep?

I did question out yet?

Is there any truth to the rumor that you got butt naked? Yep, I need question out answerest Gary Gordy's table or Dina Ross's table.

I didn't pee, I didn't.

I heard that, Okay.

I just I pulled wine. I pulled wine on my on my.

Head, it dripped down my body, so it appeared that I peed on the drink.

I can't even imagine Barry Gordy and Dinah Ross at a Funkadelic shell.

They used to call it slumming when whenever we was at twenty grad you put on your jeans with holes in them and patches that said fuck you, and you go slumming them with pefo. That was the thing.

They have mink song and jeans with holes.

And they would be they would be coming down to get funky.

But the thing is is that Hendricks could not sit. I mean, who knows if he would have finally broken through the other side had he lived. How are you guys in facing black people trying to sell this radical concept and how did it work?

Because we were too black for white folks, too white for black folks. But the people that Life Us stayed with us forever. You get they went slowly, but you built slowly. But the one that came with you stayed forever. But it was too It was definitely too too white for black folks, and there was too black for white for the most white folks. But like I said, the fans that Life Us was a cult, and they still was. I mean, I got them out there. My age right now still want to put on a diaper.

A specific choice to keep Funkadelic.

The more kind of rock side of what you're doing in Parliament, the more r and b kind of your soul side that.

Was intentional but coming to one nation under group.

Yeah, we get out of we get out of sink every once in a while.

I mean, so that the Funkadelic members feel a certain way like yeah, wait a minute, this sounds like parliament.

No, they was all on all the records anyway, we was on everybody was on both records, so it didn't matter.

So when songs get released, are you like, okay, this is definitely gonna like at any point, was One Nation Undergroove about to be a Parliament record or you were just.

Like no, that was that was straight from the moment we cut it. We was cutting from Funkadelic. Junior had just got with us, say on One Nation. Okay, Junior had just got with us, So we took the equipment

How do you know when a song is done Because a lot of your songs are maybe eight to nine miniature choruses or many parts that add up to a bigger picture for any of you.

Comic Dog is like twelve cores.

Like I was gonna say, if you, if you, if you just type in atomic Dog edit, I'm certain that you'll find someone's version of the song and which you'll hear parts of the song that you never knew existed before. But like with you, it's just like any idea works, Just put it on tape and it'll.

Find a home.

Or like, how do you how do you structure what goes here for eight bars?

And I have to change my theory on that lately because they they got snapchats and short songs now and tiktoks, so they can't be long songs too much no more. So I have to like make ourselves stop otherwise I just I'll just be going created crazy. And then I know now that they can edit and take parts out, so that really makes me, you know.

No, But I mean you're the originator of that, like, because you know, if you tell somebody sing not just needy, there's eight parts you can choose, and there's eight hooks.

And we all know which one.

That's what. That's what Prince said. He said, man, you got eight songs in the deep. He said, you can sample them each part and make a whole song out of it.

Yeah. Absolutely, that's what made it great.

How many grand babies do you have, mister Quinn.

Man, I'm count them up so I remember that I got to I got quite a few.

Okay, he's working. This is this conversation is long overdue. I thank you, thank you, thank you.

Thank you.

Do this.

Let's do this, man, we will do this.

And congrats on your your freedom and your your legacy.

Thank you very much and getting your ship back for real.

If you find if you got anybody that really wants to join in on getting this stuff, let me know.

Hey, I'm on it.

I'll be calling okay, yes, and I'm Pep Bill answer to Stephen pan Tickeolo. This Quest Love Supreme, Grand Imperial Guide himself, George Clinton.

Thank you very much. We will see you in the next go around. The Quest Love Supreme.

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