You can just smell the sticky-icky

Play it: Dudley Perkins Expressions (2012 A.u.)
Play it: Madlib Dudley Perkins "Expressions" Instrumentals

In some respects, Dudley Perkins is like a stoned soul Wesley Willis, and his nearly nodding off musings are thick with the smell of the sticky-icky. On his last album (2003's A Lil' Light,) Perkins had a incoherent message about the end days of earth, and on his latest, Expressions (2012 A.u.) he's taking his cues from the Parliament's Mothership, which sounds less clinical crazy and more like intentional cartoon madness, a welcome distinction (but the 'end days' are still near in "Dear God," nonetheless.)

Perkins' loves seem to be laid out as such
1. Weed
2. God (in "Dear God" he tells God he's going to remain high until the end days)
3. Music
4. Woman (in "Coming Home" he confesses to a lover "I love you almost as much as this music")

While Perkins' hazy sentiments are interesting, would we really be talking about him at all if it weren't for Madlib's backing music? Madlib and Perkins go back to their work in the mid-90's with the Alkoholiks and then the Lootpack collective. Madlib has since worked with him on several projects (including his previous solo release) and as with all of them, his samples and beats steal the show. So much in this case, that Madlib's released the album stripped of Dudley's meanderings entirely (Madlib Presents: Dudley Perkins "Expressions" Instrumentals,) and I find myself going back to this instrumental version more and more over the proper release. The samples and instrumentation are straight from the classic funk/soul period of the 70's... it all goes down as some of his finest work, and that is saying a lot, considering how much work he do.

Madlib has got to be the hardest working stoned cat there is... for anyone that says weed kills motivation and work ethic, look no further then the Beat Konducta hisself, as Madlib has more balls in the air then a six-armed juggler. After sampling Perkins' release, do yourself a favor and listen to the instrumentals - you'll see a motor can sometimes travel better then the car itself.

More:
"Dear God" was NPR's song of the day last week

Previously:
Mad plays bass like the race card (Madlib/Quasimoto review)

tags: playlist, music, rhapsody, madlib, dudley perkins, rap, hip-hop, funk