Dudley Perkins:

Have you heard of Dudley Perkins, or Declaime? They are one in the same, and Dudley is one of my favorite musicians/artists. His album, A 'Lil Light, was panned (across the board) when it came out about two or three years ago, but it was one of my favorites. I believe Pitchfork gave it a "4.3 out of 10" thanks to Riff Raff. The album was neither rap, nor song-writing, just a loose hybrid of Madlib beats and quasi-mystical, crappy male falsetto mumbo jumbo. When Cody Chestnutt was getting mad props for his stuff, I was hoping that kind of low-fi home-produced excitement would carry over to this dude, but it didn't. I'll take this guy over Cody any day of the week. Check out his video for "Money" at www.stonesthrow.com, or his song "Flowers".

The coolest thing of all about this guy is that he's a Christian, albeit confused Christian, but nonetheless. Check out his rap stuff (under the name Declaime), which is all about God. His song, Heavenbound, is the definitive eschatological party track of the century so far! Other highlights from Declaime include a song written for his daughter, Desiree, that explains why he couldn't make it to the hospital when she was born, because his commanding officer in the military wouldn't let him off an air-craft carrier (or something like that), and also because it was raining. On another track, he gives a shout out to his "niggah Funkdoolah, from Vegas", possibly my all-time favorite shout out. This guy is basically a self-proclaimed, weededed Christian prophet with full rights to any of Madlib's unused beats, which makes for a very weird combo. I saw this photo today and thought that those interested in this blog should know about this guy. For me, the photograph confirmed everything I already suspected. Golly! --JAZ