{"id":8346,"date":"2014-02-13T15:15:08","date_gmt":"2014-02-13T15:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stylusmagazine.ca\/?p=8346"},"modified":"2014-02-13T15:15:08","modified_gmt":"2014-02-13T15:15:08","slug":"heavy-fonk-and-high-vibrations-finding-peace-with-dudley-perkins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2014\/02\/13\/heavy-fonk-and-high-vibrations-finding-peace-with-dudley-perkins\/","title":{"rendered":"Heavy fOnk and high vibrations :: Finding peace with Dudley Perkins"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\"Dudley<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

by Harrison Samphir<\/strong><\/p>\n

Before I spoke with Dudley Perkins (aka Declaime), the emcee from Oxnard, CA, I was half expecting the sort of humdrum discussion a music journalist typically shares with an interviewee: those unambiguous conversations about new records, inspirations and touring schedules. After all, I thought, Dudley\u2019s been in the rap game for nearly twenty years. He helped solidify a West Coast hip hop resurgence with neighborhood friends Madlib, Oh No, DJ Romes and Kankick. There can\u2019t be a question he hasn\u2019t heard before.<\/em><\/p>\n

As it turned out, however, the interview \u2013 like Dudley \u2013 was anything but ordinary. Over the course of an hour we talked about his unique style, the universe and how sonic vibrations influence the way listeners think and behave.\u00a0Together with his wife, soul singer and songwriter Georgia Anne Muldrow, Dudley operates SomeOthaShip Connect, a California-based independent record label. His latest release is called <\/em>Dr. Stokley, an 18-track, funk-infused album released through the Mellow Music Group.<\/em><\/p>\n

Stylus: Thanks for speaking with me tonight, Dudley. I want to begin by asking you about Dr. Stokley<\/i>, but more specifically how it builds upon the style you\u2019ve developed over the past two decades?<\/b><\/p>\n

Dudley Perkins:<\/strong> Well Dr. Stokley<\/i> is a process, I guess. <\/i>I\u2019ve been doing music for so long and I haven\u2019t reaped the benefits from hip hop like some people do. I\u2019ve travelled the world but I\u2019ve never got to reap the financial benefits from hip hop. But a lot of people have learned from what I\u2019ve done. There\u2019s a certain way that I do music that people mimic a little bit. I\u2019ve actually brought a lot of cats into the game, so I\u2019ve been teaching cats certain ways and certain things. I\u2019m not a student of the game no more.<\/p>\n

Stylus: Would you consider yourself a master of the game?<\/b><\/p>\n

DP:<\/strong> I\u2019ve mastered my style that God gave me. I tend to be the first at things, I don\u2019t make music that sounds like anything else. I deal with the spirit a lot, so my music actually has a different energy to it. A lot of music and sounds on the airwaves right now have a sort of low vibration on it, and it can actually affect people\u2019s lymphatic systems, their spirit, and makes people fall for the okey doke, the illusion. A lot of artists go against their churches with what they say in their music, even if they don\u2019t have a church or religion or God. Music possesses your spirit. You go to a club and you hear the music, you start to dance! It\u2019s a possession. I\u2019m trying to learn more about the effects of the vibration in music, even before someone gets on the microphone.<\/p>\n

Stylus: So are you a religious person? What about spirituality?<\/b><\/p>\n

DP:<\/strong> No, I\u2019m not a religious person. But a lot of people ask Did you go through something in life to be talking that way and acting that way? and I say no. If you\u2019re going to speak to other people you need to greet them through the divine, through spirit, so that your guard isn\u2019t up and their guard isn\u2019t up so it\u2019s a mutual greeting. But the way the world is right now, it\u2019s so brainwashed, when you meet people and greet people with spirit, they think you\u2019re crazy. They think something\u2019s wrong with you. Over the years I\u2019ve dealt with that. I\u2019ve been religious in churches when I was young, I\u2019ve played the role of pastor and have studied the Bible. But I\u2019ve seen things in life that made me question man-made religions, philosophies and theologies. We\u2019re trained not to look up. I don\u2019t mean looking up for a second, I mean gazing, star-gazing. So we gaze at the television set. Back in the day, in the 1970s, a lot of inter-dimensional beings were traveling to this planet. A lot of the funk came out of that. You know, George Clinton talking about the Mothership? My name is Declaime, it means to speak in dramatic, poetic fashion with rhetorical effect during oppressive times. And that\u2019s what I do.<\/p>\n

Stylus: Only recently did I learn you were the subject of a documentary, so I watched Interplanetary Peace Talks<\/i>. I do a lot of interviews with musicians I never meet physically, yet I feel like I learned a lot about who from watching the film.<\/b><\/p>\n

DP:<\/strong> I\u2019m the homie that you know. Plain and simple. We\u2019re used to artists having this character, this act<\/i> that they follow, and you tend to follow and see that act. You\u2019re the viewer and that\u2019s the actor. And you become those roles. I\u2019m the actor and the viewer also, I\u2019m sitting right here with you watching that mess. I\u2019m just a guy that talks loud in the theatre, you know what I\u2019m saying?<\/p>\n

Stylus: Speaking of changing roles, what\u2019s it like running a record label and business with your partner?<\/b><\/p>\n

DP:<\/strong> I asked the universe one day, you know, I wanna do this, I wanna drop records, what I gotta do? When I asked that, it was years ago. Now I can drop a record in my sleep. I\u2019ve experienced prejudices running a business as a black unit, there are a lot more walls and doors for you, like a whole bunch of them. Especially as a black human right now who doesn\u2019t follow the norm which is to degrade yourself and degrade your people and your spirit.<\/p>\n

Stylus: What do you mean by that?<\/b><\/p>\n

DP:<\/strong> A lot of music that\u2019s being pushed out right now has a low vibration. Say I\u2019m the guinea pig, I\u2019ve put myself out there knowing that the norm is to talk drug slang and money, females, partying, dranks, drugs. My crew [Lootpack] used to fight against that, and I grew and evolved out of that. I\u2019ve come to a conclusion that it\u2019s possession. You can put words and vibrations and tones into people\u2019s music. It\u2019s like putting something in somebody\u2019s drink. Hip hop is controlled so much. I got this little thing \u2013 back in the days when rock and roll first started happening, the artists would get real famous and big, and then they would start going to the peace. They\u2019d start talking spiritual and get really deep with their music. Then when they started getting rich and powerful I started noticing their album covers changing, their concepts changing. They started talking about the devil. Even if the devil is real or not, or whatever it is, they started speaking in low frequency, in low vibrations. I\u2019m seeing hip hop do the same thing right now.<\/p>\n

Low vibration, you can feel it in your spirit. High vibration brings happiness and spirituality. Low vibration will have you contemplative, have you thinking about things you\u2019re not supposed to be thinking about. It\u2019s not a love <\/i>frequency. Look what they had to go off of: NWA, a lot of gang-banging music. This comes from melanated humans, black humans, right? Who are known for high volumes of spirit. Dancing to make it rain and stuff. They\u2019ve been duped to follow this thing to where their offspring lives in that fantasy, because they believe it. They\u2019re being pushed by the cats with the money. You can\u2019t promote love unless its positivity about something they\u2019re selling in their stores or filling up their jails. Love don\u2019t fill up the jails and don\u2019t fill the shelves of their stores. I get a lot of stones thrown at me about this. It\u2019s uncomfortable for me on Earth. I get these feelings and think this way and I know there are people who question it, and I hope they do. But it\u2019s a calling and they need to answer it. That vibration is very strong. What do you think the FCC is? That\u2019s the policeman. It regulates what goes out on the vibration. What does vibration ride on? Invisible waves, sound, that directly affects your system, to the bone. That vibration is powerful. Coming through your radio, that\u2019s power.<\/p>\n

Stylus: Interesting points, all. But what\u2019s next for you? Considering all this, how do you see your career developing from here?<\/b><\/p>\n

DP:<\/strong> I just keep growing. That\u2019s all you can do. It\u2019s weird now. You find yourself standing in this situation. When you speak peace, you can survive. Even if you can\u2019t financially come through and pay your bills or anything like that, you still will have your heart. You\u2019ll still survive.<\/p>\n

Harrison Samphir is an editor and writer based in Winnipeg. Email him at\u00a0hsamphir@gmail.com<\/a>\u00a0or follow him on Twitter @HarrySamphir.<\/a><\/i>\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 by Harrison Samphir Before I spoke with Dudley Perkins (aka Declaime), the emcee from Oxnard, CA, I was half expecting the sort of humdrum discussion a music journalist typically shares with an interviewee: those unambiguous conversations about new records, inspirations and touring schedules. After all, I thought, Dudley\u2019s been in the rap game for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[434,605,675],"class_list":["post-8346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-columns","tag-hip-hop","tag-mental-notes","tag-nonstophiphop"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8346\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}