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2/6/2007 What’s up?  I feel great. I’m getting my hair braided.  Your latest album, Expressions, has been out for about nine months. Are you happy with how it’s doing?    It’s highly slept-on, like the majority of my projects. That’s one of my more slept-on albums.  Why are you slept on?  I’m slept-on because I speak complete and utterly profound truth. I speak complete truth. I’m the real deal. Being the real deal means I’m a first and the first don’t normally get the spotlight. The ones who come after get the spotlight.  Do you think your messages go over the listeners’ heads?  If I’m too abstract for people, wow. In fact, I’m a little too simple for people. I’m simple. I don’t use big words, I don’t use big metaphors and I don’t talk in crazy slang that you can’t understand. I speak straight and I talk to the people how you would talk to your son or daughter or to another family member. I speak direct.  Your music has a real message in it. Does that turn people off?  I guarantee you it’s that. People don’t want to look in the mirror. They don’t realize they need to get some Windex and wipe the mirror clean.  On “Funky Dudley” off Expressions, you tell us how Dudley got funky. What keeps you funky today?    I stay funky because I dwell in the fonk. I followed some of the pasts of our forefathers like George, Bootsy, the Ohio Players and James Brown, Rest in Peace. They taught me to just be me. Whatever comes out of your mouth at the time, just say it. Whatever phrases and slang and patterns and rhythms come out of the mouth, that’s funk. It’s not something that’s premeditated. It’s something that just happens.  How much of your music as Dudley Perkins is spontaneous?  Lately I’ve been writing a lot because I’ve been trying to pinpoint the direct. I’ve been trying to clean it up a little bit so I can hit the masses with the message. Before I was just happy to be putting albums out, but then I realized that I’m bringing these messages and they’re not being heard. That has to do a lot with the negative spirits in this world. I’m trying to break through. That’s what good music does. It breaks through.  Who turned you on to funk when you were younger?    It just came to me. One Christmas my cousin Jojo got a radio for Christmas and one of the cassettes had George Clinton and we listened to it all night along with “Burn Rubber” from the Gap Band and from then on it was history. I was born that way.  How did you react when you heard about the passing of James Brown?    It didn’t shock me like, Oh man, he’s gone. It hit me like he made it. It was really more joyous. It was more like a happy feeling. If the Funk Master has gone up to Heaven, I know things are going to get better for us because I know he’s going to go to bat for us.  On “Me,” you say, “Please excuse my background singers. They’ve had a little too much to drink.” Are you those background singers?  Yeah, that was me. (laughs) That’s when I used to drink alcohol, poison. I’d be drunk and slur a lot and I wouldn’t be able to handle my business correctly because I would have alcohol in my system. I had to clean that up completely.  Did something specific happen to make you give that up?  I used to drink a lot. I would drink tons of alcohol for awhile since I was 15 years-old. When I went to Desert Storm, I was also drinking a lot there. The military allows you to drink. They encourage it. I ended up being a drunkard so much to where my liver would hurt sometimes. The last couple of years, my friends and family were telling me I was going to kill myself. Then I was in Amsterdam and I would see people jump out their cars and yell out, “Declaime!” then they tell me I needed to stop drinking. Those were people I didn’t even know! I took the hint real loud. I just put the bottle down completely. I’m not even a social drinker anymore. I had to do it for my body. The clarity and energy I’ve gotten back is so great. I’ve been able to get rid of a lot of things in my diet, like animal products. I’m putting more greens and vegetables and fruits in my diet.  Have you noticed a change in your music since you’ve given up the alcohol?    It’s sick now! (laughs) It’s always been real, but it’s super-duper now. Now we wake up souls, straight up, one after another. One by one, two by two, we’re just waking them up. Plus I’ve been working with new production from Georgia Anne Muldrow and the new music we’ve been making together has been beyond belief.  I could see you guys going well together.  There’s a reason now. I was fighting for my life with the alcohol. Now I get to really, really be into my music and really mean it completely, 100%, whole-heartedly. I guess I was just writing these messages and writing these words without really knowing the complete effect I was having on people. Now that I look back, I’m kind of like, Wow, I was saying all that stuff? I must have been tripping! But you know what? Now I’m going to trip even more. I’m not worried about this industry. I’m going to work on records until the day I die and until we get it right.  They can sleep on me all they want. I am the most slept-on artist in creation, in history, period, straight up, in all forms and genres of art. That’s a big, egotistical brag and boast, but you know what, I’m getting sick and tired of people sleeping on me. Listen up and pay attention to the divine forces and the spirits that call people to be creative. This dude is being creative right now and he’s trying to find a way to get everyone out of the muck.   I look at HipHopGame and I look at all the artists on there. Are they actually trying to save the babies? I’ve been to Desert Storm and I’ve fought for this country. I don’t know why because Bush wouldn’t fight for me. Are these artists really trying to heal this earth? Big ups to Jay-Z. Unload that bank account in Africa. Do it now. Unload it. Babies are dying in Darfur and what are we doing over here? I know we got a little mixed blood over here, but those people over there are our people also. That goes for every race, every continent and every country. Every people and every person who needs help, we need to lend a helpful hand, truthfully. We can’t just speak it. Don’t just give to show that you’re giving. Give from the bottom of your heart.  It doesn’t even have to be monetary. A lot of people give money. We need to give love and everything else will fall into place before we build these wells or send food to feed the hungry. We have to give love first and after that, the whole machine starts to work. Let love get the rust out. Get it cleaned up. I’m not faking the funk, homie. Sleep on my albums all you want to. I know I’ve been there and I know how my ear is. I know I pick some of the coldest beats and I know I have some of the coldest producers in the history of man.  Did your time in Desert Storm inspire “That’s The Way It’s Gonna Be”?  I’ve been training myself to stay off the boob tube lately. I don’t watch much, but I have a big ol’ open heart so I get to feel these things and see these things in my dreams. One thing I get in my dreams is that the babies are crying. That’s why I sing these songs. It’s a domino effect. In the past, when the man tried to open his heart up, they shot him in the heart or they tried to make his heart seem like lesser than a man. Look at Bob Marley, John Lennon, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. They’ll shoot you down when you say, “We are all one” and when you start using quantum physics in its truest form.  Are you worried about that happening to you?  I’m not worried about anything happening to me. I’ll lay down my life kindly and gladly for this. I already proved that when I fought in the war. I crossed oceans and was in Iran for no damn reason. I put my life up for that. I’d do it for the children and the babies. I wouldn’t hesitate on that.  What was your experience like in Desert Storm?    I got to witness and see what this country is really about. I got to see the conspiracies and secrecies of this country and how the countries work together. I got the chance to realize that our government does work with other beings in other spaces and other places. I know that and they can try and get me on that, but I know it. I saw documents on it. I saw captain’s logs. I’m a black dude. I was snooping through the white man’s office. “Why does he get paid more than me?” I’m going to check that out. Lo and behold, they have the procedures on what to do if there’s a UFO attack. Why would they have that? They have a very great intelligence of crop circles and why the crop circles have been increasing in shapes and designs lately. These are the last days, homie. They’re speaking to us right now.  Was that your inspiration for “Last Days”?  I’m truly doing this for a reason. I’m not watering it down anymore. Everything I’m speaking right now is the complete, sober-minded, clear third-eye truth. I’ve studied also. I’ve studied theology and religion and I’ve studied them for years. I’ve put a lot of Buddhism in my life. A lot of the agents speak through me. That’s just being real. I’ve channeled some weird things in the past. The 2012 stuff came to me in my dreams. I had to peep it out myself. 2012 is the end of the structure, the end of the beginning. Luckily I have this funky music to tell it with.  One new artist that is for the babies is Saigon. Are you familiar with his music?    I’m very familiar with him. In fact, one of his homeboys, Hip-Hop Since 1978, was supposed to get us together to do some music. I did a bunch of research on dude and it never happened. If somebody wants to work with Declaime, just come and work with me directly. I got beats, hooks, harmonies and melodies and it’s all God-given. I got someplace to be and I got someplace to go.  When I interviewed Saigon in November, he said we were in our last days as well.  They are. Saigon’s a good guy. I did my research on him. I haven’t really listened to hip-hop in a minute, but he’s one of the few that’s speaking the truth along with Immortal Technique. They’re just showing the truth through hip-hop. Unless you’re talking about something that’s so out of reach, they can’t grasp it. They love something out of reach but they can’t embrace the divine vibration patterns of earth right in front of them. It’s like it’s too unbelievable and too easy, like it’s got to have a trick to it.  What are your feelings on the war in Iraq?  When I was over there, it wasn’t as bad as it is right now. A lot of babies are being killed over there. The guys who are fighting over there now are wearing sweatshirts and business suits and we’re going over there for oil. It’s never good to kill. Ever. Out of spite or anything, you must not take a life. It’s not yours to take. You’re borrowing it yourself. All these lives are being sucked away because the babies can’t get out of the way of a bullet. Grown men, play with the bombs yourselves and throw the bombs at yourselves. They need to get one big continent and say, “When it’s wartime, all the babies go to this continent.” Leave the babies out of it. Let these guys just go to war with themselves. Leave the lady going to the well to get water alone. Get the guy who wants to fight.  I think we should do it in sports. Each country gets their biggest dude like Rocky. You know how Rocky beats every race up? He beat up every race. He was mad at every race so he knocked out their biggest guy. Or play football. Or sing songs together. Every afternoon the whole world should sing the same song together. That’s a big dream, huh? You know how harmonious that would be?  You get what I’m saying. This is real. I have all these records out for a reason. I’ve dropped a lot of records since 2000. I’ve been on Tha Alkaholiks album and I’ve been on BET. I did the artist thing and no financial gain came from it. I hustle. It’s the messages that are coming through this vehicle right now. They got me on the hunt for false prophets. It freaks me out the voices I hear now. I have to be a true warrior of the light and utilize my music as one of my weapons.  I’ve been doing this for years and there are some people around now that might not normally be in my sessions. There are certain beings that aren’t supposed to be around me because they don’t have the same vision of peace on earth. It’s just me and really a few other warriors walking this walk with me. A lot of them are falling by the wayside right now. I got somewhere to go. I got something to do and I got some place to be. It’s a spiritual war with no funds and no guns.   Who do you see as your peers?    I don’t know. I’m not sure. I don’t have no peers in this. This is God. God tells me what to do. I acknowledge my ancients and their teachings, but we are all the same. Nobody is bigger or better than nobody else. I don’t want to put it out there that I’m bigger or better or that I know more than somebody else. We all know the same things and we are all the same. My grandparents are the same thing as me. We have the same thought patterns, just different technology. That’s all.  Your spirituality really comes through in your music, both as Dudley Perkins and as Declaime. How important is that spirituality to you and where would you be without that?    Dudley Perkins would not be here without spirituality. I would have moved on. Being on earth, I am in the spiritual realm. We all are. I have no choice in the matter. I have spirit in my heart. The twinkle in my eye is my spirit. Dark people have spirit. We’re born with spirit. Everything in the universe is born with spirit. The vibration patterns of this world keep us aglow and keep us here on this earth.  On “Inside,” you talk about how important music is in your life and how the girl you’re with can’t understand that. Was that inspired by a specific incident?    The whole album was inspired by a certain relationship, what went on in that relationship, why that relationship didn’t work and this new relationship. My baby’s mother and I couldn’t get along. It was mainly because our spiritualities conflicted. She was a complete Christian and Jesus fanatic and I study the Buddha because I like the creative way he was teaching. I had access to put out how I felt on wax and I was going to do it. The things that happened to me seem to happen to so many people so I was able to write on it to the point where it could touch on any person’s life. I didn’t leave anybody else.  At one point in “Inside,” you say, “There’s a war going on and I’m standing on both sides.” You finish the song by saying, “There’s a war going on and I’m standing on your side.” Can you explain that?  There’s a war going on inside. When you’re doing good and bad, you stand on both sides. In life, it’s either all or nothing at some point. There’s no in-betweens. It’s not hot and cold anymore. Being on “your side” means you’re walking with God. You’re not picking and choosing anymore. I had to decipher this song myself like, Whoa, there’s a message right there. A lot of the messages, I didn’t plan the messages at all. Those were the songs God gave me. When I look back on them, it’s way different.  How did the relationship with your baby’s mother inspire so many different topics on Expressions?  We were together for a long time and we had two children out of the relationship. It was a big part of my life, raising two children with another human being. Then I had to say goodbye. At the same time, I had to put it in the music. It’s expressions of life.  Without that relationship, would you have been able to make an album with such a wide range of emotions?  It probably would have been something different because Andsoitissaid was a different realm. Every year I have a different feeling. I was singing in church as a kid and that’s how Conversations with Dudley came about. I used to sing in the bathroom and listen to the Ohio Players, Smokey Robinson, Barry White and Michael Jackson. I used to listen to a lot of albums with soul in it.   How do you look at Expressions as a whole today?  I haven’t listened to it in awhile. I know it could have been better. I just didn’t have time to do it. I did it in three days. The purpose of the record was to deliver a pure message to open up hearts, like every record that I do.  Expressions was produced entirely by Madlib. How involved does Madlib get in the creative process?    He makes the beats and sometimes he puts his instruments on it. He just gives us the beats and we go in the studio and hibernate with them. Back in the day he would really oversee the whole project, but he’s so busy now because he has a bunch of stuff on his plate now. He’s really coming into his own right now as one of the greatest beat-makers of all time.   Madlib has been with you for a long time. How is it working with him?  It’s always been wonderful working with all those dudes, from Madlib to Oh No to Kankick, Medaphoar, God’s Gift, DJ Rhone, Wildchild…That’s my fam. The way we used to work back in the day was sick. We got blessed with a bunch of producers who were sick with it and really, really loved the music.   Are you ever surprised that even though you work with Madlib and J.Rawls, you’re still slept-on?  It used to, but then I had to think about the state of the world today. We’re at war. Somebody must be sleeping at the wheel. I don’t trip off of that anymore. I know I’m doing right and I’m doing it with all my heart, so I’m doing okay. I’m going to be here at the end of this.   Is there a particular type of beat or sound that you want from Madlib?    I want the beat that speaks to me so can speak back to it and I can have a little trip, a little walk, through people’s minds. I want a beat that you can really feel in your soul. They just speak to me. Sometimes they come out of nowhere.   The picture on the inside of Expressions shows the police arresting a mother as the child screams. What does that picture mean to you?  That picture just fit real perfect for the album. The first album, we had two police cars on fire. The artist who does the covers listens to the albums before doing the covers. A Lil’ Light had two police cars on fire. Violence is a big thing.  How did your mindstate change from your first Dudly Perkins album, A Lil’ Light, to Expressions?    On Expressions, I’m more comfortable with the messages I’m bringing and I’m meaning it more. I didn’t want to sing an album on A Lil’ Light. I did that one for fun. I didn’t take it seriously.  Were you nervous about how your fans would react to Dudley Perkins when you had only put out was Declaime music before?  I didn’t take it seriously as all. At first, I took it as a joke. I was like, This is funny. Then I took it home and I was like, I might have something here. I always do harmonies in my hooks anyways. I took it home and listened to it and when more songs came out, I was with it. I wasn’t worried about the fans. I don’t worry about what people think about it. I do my music for the divine spirit to catch a vibrational pattern in this universe. I’m trying to latch on to that.  Would you consider A Lil’ Light a success?  I think it was an accomplishment. I did it before anybody else did it like Andre. I did it with different flavors and styles of singing. I also had a video on BET as well.   Going from Declaime to Dudley Perkins is a very different move to make. When Andre 3000 did it, he got a lot of props while you’re still unnoticed on a national level. How do you look at Andre 3000’s success and do you think you can have those same fans?    That’s a beautiful album he did. For a minute, that was one of my favorite albums. I had already done that whole thing. It reminded me of me. I checked his history and the dude is an artist too, like me. The universe was pushing a lot of people at that time to sing a song from their heart. What’s mine is mine and what’s his is his. I just feel that my beats were laid a little heavier in the funk. When you’re on a label, some labels don’t really care what they’re putting out and they don’t put their whole heart into it. His label probably put 100% into him, plus that’s Andre from Outkast. They came out big.  What was it like working with J.Rawls on The Dank and Jimmy Show?    That’s my homie. I went on tour with him awhile ago. He kept telling me, “Let’s do an album. Let’s do an album.” Then I was like, All right, let’s do it. We had a week to do it and he got mad at me because I didn’t have any lyrics written. I was like, I’ll do it. I’ll get it done, watch out. That’s the homie right there. That will probably be slept on too.   This new project I’m working on is G and D: The Message. It’s with Georgia Anne Muldrow. It’s Georgia and Dudley. They can’t sleep on this one.  When will that come out?    We’re still working on it. We’re not rushing it.  What’s it like working with Georgia Anne Muldrow?    We’re actually producing an album. I did the same thing with J.Rawls, but that’s a hip-hop album. Madlib produced Andsoitissaid. Expressions, I produced that album. With Georgia Anne, we’re producing the album and we’re hitting every heart and we’re going to rip them completely open. We’re going to make sure every third eye is awake.  What do you want from Georgia Anne Muldrow’s production on G and D?  My beat selection on my albums show that I know how to pick beats. I’m a funky dude. I know how to pick cold beats. She has to be one of the coldest producers I’ve ever heard in my life. There’s no samples. Everything is played and the smacking of the beats is so sick. This is a 23 year-old female doing this shit. That’s why before J.Dilla passed, he mentioned her. Madlib has mentioned her and Questlove has mentioned her. They mentioned her for a reason and I’m going to show why they’re saying it when I do the next album which is completely produced by her. I have an album called A Storm’s a Comin’ and that’s coming out in March. She produced six cuts on there along with Madlib, Oh No, Flying Lotus and Usef Dinero.  What’s it like working with Georgia Anne?    Really, I just let her do what she does. She gets into this zone. She gets on that big-ass keyboard that’s bigger than her and smacks the shit out of the drums and starts humming a melody. I’m actually being produced like “do that again” and “lay that like that.” We’re really putting a foot in this album and showing both of our skills at the same time.  What about working with Usef Dinero?  I haven’t really worked with him. He just sent me the CD. He sent me some bangers so they ended up on the album. He sent me some heavy ones. People are sleeping on that dude.  How would you describe your musical growth since Illmindmuzik?    I’m a creative fellow. Every time I wake up, I grow up. I don’t tend to be a stagnant dude. That’s why a lot of my music is not heard. I’m way beyond what people try to do because of the fact that I do it for the Divine Spirit. I do it for God and He keeps me on top of my game. I don’t really fall into the category of a Serius Jones cold-type of individual. I’m not all about the streets and hip-hop. I really do have a message for all people in all genres of music in all walks of life. I am truly going to get this message done before I die. Nobody can stop me. The government can’t stop me. They wouldn’t know where to look for me. I am completely unlisted and I pay no taxes because I am not paid that way. My money comes from the hearts of people. They’re gifts.  What did you learn working with the Lootpack?  I learned how to innovate at a fast rate. I learned from Wildchild how to be left field and just rap however you want to rap but still be on point and have showmanship. Off of Madlib, I really learned under a master. Madlib’s a master to me. He taught me the power of penship and harmony. Without Kankick and Oh No and all them, there would be no Declaime. I would probably still be D-Loc. I rapped under that name when I was set-tripping.   You were on Tha Alkaholiks’ Coast to Coast. They’re known for putting up-and-coming artists on their albums. What did it mean to you working with them?  I submitted beats to Loud Records back in the day and Madlib was working on that album already. They wanted a beat off my demo. I met them a few times but I didn’t know them at all before I was on the album. Madlib and Kankick spit a verse and I became cool with them. I saw J-Ro in Switzerland recently. I never really toured with them or anything like that. I’ve worked more like with their little groups and other artists like Phil da Agony than I did with them.  I do different music from a lot of people. I don’t follow the norm of music. When Tha Alkoholiks stepped out the box and did something new from left field like that, that was like a breath of fresh air. All through LA was hearing it.  How was it making your latest Declaime album Conversations with Dudley?    That was different. I meant that album. I meant that with everything I had. Every single word I said on there I meant. I really sat down and constructed something that I was going to save, no matter what. Sometimes albums sound preachy, but I was speaking to the people as much as I can.  You had a lot of different elements working together on Conversations with Dudley. Is that your best album?    I don’t know if it’s my best, but the words I was speaking were some of the most profound words I spoke. A good album to me is a fun album that you can trip off of. It’s a full-fledged album. It doesn’t just have the best production. The artist and the producer was connecting on every dot on Conversations with Dudley. The music came out clear and there’s not a lot of background sounds or ad-libs like I do on my other music. It got slept on so much. People at Fat Beats like Carlos were saying, “You’re scaring people.” “I hope I do, and I must be scaring you,” is what I told him. A lot of labels don’t mess with me because of what I speak. I speak the divine light. There are a lot of people who love what I do. You are getting a sober-minded Declaime right now and I’m happy and powerful and I have a strong physical. I have strength right now.  Plus I don’t look at my music that way. Each album is another day, another phase. Hopefully one day all my music is one big book with different chapters.  What’s the difference between yourself and Declaime?    I’m a warrior of the light. I have to have a title for people to call me. Declaime is my superhero, a warrior of light to bring peace to everyone on the planet. Dudley Perkins is what my mama named me. That’s who picks up the kids after school and who goes to the grocery store. Declaime does shows and he’s the super-duper light-bringer.  Do you like rapping or singing better?  If you pay attention closely, I’m doing both on every album. Sometimes I just switch it up. Instead of a hook being singing, I rap and instead of a verse being rapping, I sing. It really just flows that way. It’s however I’m in the spirit at the moment.  Are you getting the right promotion at Stones Throw today?  I’m a singer and Stones Throw is a hip-hop label. It’s basically a hip-hop label because all the artists on there are hip-hop labels. When somebody like me and Georgia Anne Muldrow come through, they have to know how to put it through the system. You’d find our albums under the hip-hop section and not under the soul section. Georgia Anne gets hate mail about working with Stones Throw. It’s really getting tired right now. I won’t work with a label. I have distribution deals myself. I’ve had them since 2000, I just haven’t utilized them yet. I have friends who will give me a full-fledged P&D deal with no marketing plan and I can do that myself. I can do it myself as a label, which I’m starting to do now.  I haven’t really been doing anything since Expressions. My relationship with Stones Throw as dwindled to almost nothing. They have a lot of other artists they’re interested in and they’re trying to expand. I just leave Expressions alone and I don’t even trip off it no more. I leave Expressions alone. I think there’s no power behind Expressions anymore so I just leave it alone. The new project is way better than that now. It’s just like a new growth, another growth.   Are you reaching the audience that you want to reach?    I am, but I need to reach the ones that are asleep. I get tired of reaching the ones that already know. I love reaching them all, but some already know the structures of the universe. I want to reach the ones that are asleep. That would be the ones on TV all day, talking about their chains hanging low and doing coon music.  I’ll put it like this: the industry is so asleep. If you look at the magazine covers, they have men on the cover with big jewelry on, but they have the evilest, meanest faces on like “the world is just terrible to me.” Then when you open the Source, you see a foreign little girl named Sovereign on the front pages. I know a lot of soulful people and they can’t even get in the Source. Madlib can’t get in the Source but I’ve seen people from other countries who don’t know the structure and what really went on and what’s going on here in Babylon and they get in the Source and they get praised. That’s how asleep this world is. They’ll take a girl grabbing her “nuts” and put it in. She’s probably got good music and I don’t even mean to bring up her name like that, but I have to talk like I should have been talking awhile ago. I have to talk like how you guys want me to talk.  HipHopGame just wants Dudley to be Dudley.  I know this, but when I say, “I declare war,” it’s an all-out war. I got eight albums out on those shelves, homie, all with messages from God. I’m going to force them in their eardrums now. I have the albums to back them up. I have three albums dropping this year. I can back it up.  What do you consider a success for yourself?    Success for me is when a baby stops dying from bombs dropping out of the air. When we wake up and don’t let the government dictate our lives, that’s when I’ll celebrate. This is real. This is no joke. You can download the music. I don’t get paid from these records. I’m speaking for the people. We don’t have nobody speaking for us. I’m speaking to the people. We have nobody speaking for us, as people. I’m not talking about as a black man, I’m talking about a human being speaking on behalf of Mother Earth. I don’t care who listens and who buys it. I’m getting that message out. I’m going to drive down the street and do drive-bys with arrows of love. It’s a drive-by Cupid on their ass.  You don’t sound like you’d change your music for commercial success…  I got kids now. I have to be real.  How do you feel about statements when artists say they have to do club songs to get their audience listening so they pay attention when they drop their “real” songs?  It sounds like a cop-out to being real. A lot of people were born in churches and were spiritual. Everybody’s spiritual. It must be a cop-out or something like that. If you feel you have to speak for God, then do it. Don’t let nobody dictate and don’t worry about if you’re making it right then and there. God will make sure you’re cool. If you’re walking the path, you’ll be good. If you’re walking the streets homeless, you’ll find a water fountain. If you walk a little better, you might find an apple tree in somebody’s backyard. You’re going to eat and drink in this world if you’re walking with God. It don’t matter if you make millions of dollars. You can’t leave with that crap. And when you go and if you did manage to leave with it, what are you going to do when you get there?  What else are you working on?  I have another album with Beautiful Mind in England that he produced. That’s a full album with me and Georgia on lyrics. I have another album coming out called Dudley and Friends produced by Eric Lau with Georgia Anne Muldrow. Georgia Anne also has an album coming out called The Beautiful Mind with DJ Too Tall. The album with J.Rawls is supposed to be hitting the states now. My daughter is putting an album out now called something like Hip-Hop Soul Child. That’s coming out real soon. My daughter did an EP produced by Flying Lotus, Usef Dinero and Georgia Anne. I’m working with a few people on their projects. I’ve been keeping myself busy.  We’ve stitched it up to where we own this right now, with the funk, completely. We have too many records right now and each one of these is a landmine about to explode. If people want to work with Georgia Anne Muldrow, let me know. She’s got beats ready. No darkhearts need apply.  How involved were you in your daughter’s project?    I did some verses on it, but I wasn’t really involved in it. I would leave and come back and she would have done two songs already. You can peep her site. She’s got a song about me on there.  Funk plays an integral part of the music that is hip-hop. What do you think about the presence of funk in hip-hop today?  I’m on the phone with you. Georgia Anne Muldrow, Madlib the Bad Kid, Oh No and Kankick. We are who we say we are. We believe in who we are. How often does that come along? I truly am Declaime. Madlib the Bad Kid, look how he raps. Oh No, when you hear his beats, you know they’re tight. Go through his bedroom. He’s got a jumble of record stacks. This was for years before records were put out and Stones Throw. Madlib’s dad has a record out now too. It’s a takeover. It’s a Madlib Invazion. It doesn’t mean that we’re all going to be on the same battleship, but we’re in the same fleet. They can get me for what they need and I can get them for what I need. That’s family. That’s love.  What’s a normal day for Dudley Perkins?  I live in the mountains in Topanga Canyon. I live in a studio basically. My house is turned into a studio. I don’t really leave nowhere. I go down to get my health products at Trader Joe’s. I get up at 6 in the morning and I make a fruit smoothie with a little protein in it and a bunch of fruit in it. I do about 100 push-ups and some curls and a lift a little bit of weights. I take my vitamins and eat a big breakfast, eat a big lunch and eat a big dinner. I do a lot of music between that and usually Medaphoar or somebody will come through and we have a conversation on my side of the day or quantum physics or some religious topic. Really, I remain focused on the light all day. I use these words as a message all day.  I go on MySpace and send out messages of love. I go find ways to donate money to help people get clean water and all that. Right now Georgia’s parents run a spiritual foundation right now and they’re building wells with the Dalai Llama. Georgia’s peeps hang with the Dalai Llama. It’s no joke. They asked me if I wanted to meet him. I told them to just give him the message that I’m going to name one of my albums after him. It’s real spiritual over here. I’m working with Flying Lotus and his auntie is Alice Coltrane. I got to meet Alice Coltrane. I’m really excited about what’s going on right now. Eight albums isn’t that much. I don’t even own a car. I take the bus, homie. But I’m doing it and I’m doing what I’m supposed to do and I love my job.  What do you want to say to everybody?  Wake up. Don’t sleep. One light, one love, one God. No more wars. Stop killing the babies. Love your neighbor like you love yourself.  http://myspace.com/dudleyperkins http://myspace.com/desireedeloresperkins

By Brian Kayser

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