Project with George coming out on Dec 20th… check out this recent interview on CNN.
Archive for November, 2011
Aleon Craft x George Clinton – Mothership: The Decatur Connection (Video / Cover / Release Date)
23.11.2011
In about a week we’ll be dropping a new project with George Clinton, the funk legend and a huge inspiration on my music. Mothership: The Decatur Connection will be out Dec 20th!
Check out “Make It Out” featuring images and clips from: Occupy Wall St, Iraq War, Oil Leak off the Gulf Coast, Japan’s Nuclear Explosion in Fukushima, Haiti after the Earthquake, Stock Market Crash of 2008 and Gaddafi’s Murder… “When Will We Make It Out?”
Aleon Craft & George Clinton – “Make It Out” by SMKA
Aleon Craft & George Clinton – “Donkey Kong” by SMKA
Mothership: The Decatur Connection is a collaborative project between funk legend, George Clinton, and creative, hip-hop/funk artist, Aleon Craft. Mothership: The Decatur Connection is a musical creation consisting of elements from… Aleon Craft’s Mothership Decatur, The Parliament’s catalog – including, Mothership Connection – and original recordings from both Aleon Craft and George Clinton. Paul Forrest & Justin Padron, SMKA-affiliates, are the chief producers behind the project and were tasked with taking all of the pieces from Craft and Clinton and creating something unique that reflected their style and vision. Mothership: The Decatur Connection is an exciting mash-up project combining two very different artists, both with an exceptional creative process. The project is presented by SMKA & Funkprobosci.com.
Craft’s 2011 project, Mothership Decatur, paid homage to Parliament’s 1967 release, Mothership Connection, fusing southern hip-hop and funk into his own brand of music called, Solar-Hop. After reaching out to Clinton, and explaining his desire to create a mashup project between Mothership Decatur & Mothership Connection, Aleon Craft learned more about the long history of legal battles involving copyright infringement and publishing embezzlement that George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic have relentlessly fought throughout the year. P-Funk, one of the most sampled groups in hip-hop history, has amazingly never seen most of the money generated from sampling due to copyright (sample) trolls and questionable legal representatives. After discussing the project in more detail both artists felt that this would be a perfect opportunity to create a unique project, and possibly help P-Funk and hundreds of other funk artists in their constant fight with copyright infringement.
George Clinton is currently engaged in major court cases that could critically impact the future of copyright laws for the entire music industry, as well as motion pictures and related media
Grooveshark Presents… Stankonia Sessions: A3C Edition – Hosted by SMKA & Royal Flush
During Atlanta’s recent A3C Hip Hop Festival (Oct 6-8th), Grooveshark teamed up with the legendary Stankonia Studios and the production teams SMKA and Royal Flush to create an exclusive mixtape. The project features original songs from artists playing the festival as well as some hometown heroes, and will be available November 16 to stream for free exclusively on Grooveshark. The tracks will be accompanied by several behind the scenes videos featuring the artists and production teams creating the songs from start to finish. Artists who participated in the project include 9th Wonder, Killer Mike, Ying Yang Twins, Freeway, Aleon Craft, Fashawn, Thurzday, Rapsody, and many more. In addition, exclusive BTS videos will be released from Stankonia Sessions. There was a video production crew filming all 3 days capturing behind the scenes footage of the recording process.
“There was an amazing vibe in Stankonia all weekend. Every artist that came through brought a great energy and unique creativity to the project. We spent 14+ hours in the studio each day and are really excited about the music that came out of the Stankonia Sessions during A3C. It was the perfect storm with A3C & Stankonia Studios and we are happy to be a part of it, and thankful that Grooveshark was able to help make it happen.” – SMKA
TrackList
1) “Heaven’s Door” ft. Joe Scudda, Termanology, Jon Connor & Marc Real (Prod. Royal Flush)
2) “Bitches & Drugs” ft. Killer Mike, Thurz & Aleon Craft (Prod. Royal Flush)
3) “Felling Free” ft. Fashawn & Phil Ade (Prod. SMKA)
4) “No Lies in the Verses” ft. The Kid Daytona, Big Remo & Jarren Benton (Prod. SMKA)
5) “The Journey” ft. Young Scolla, Rapper Big Pooh, Freeway (Prod. Royal Flush & Marc Real)
6) “Part of the Game” ft. 9th Wonder, Rapsody, Dee-1, & Thurz (Prod. 9th Wonder & Royal Flush)
7) “Shake It” ft. Ying Yang Twins (Prod. SMKA)
Q & A with Aleon Craft [via Drank & Dank]
16.11.2011
Chopped it up with the good folks from Drank & Dank. For the whole Q & A go HERE
Do you think to any extent that Hip-Hop doesn’t have enough songs like “Sunday” these days?
Not necessarily. I like where hip-hop is now. It’s all art, you know. I feel that if a person doesn’t like a certain sound, they should just choose not to listen to it.
How much does working w/ George Clinton help your growth as a musician?
Got the utmost respect for the funk! Working with George is motivation all in itself. I’ve idolized George for most of my musical life, so to work with that dude is incredible.
Will there ever be another Da Backwudz project?
SIGH….. at this point, I really don’t know. If it was up to me, there would be a few more projects from us.