Declaime

"This how we gonna eat/saturate the streets/you dark dudes can't compete/so wake up and don't sleep" is the chorus from "Hungry," off Declaime's latest album, and it effectively captures the approach to his career these days. Less than a year after last effort Holy Smokes (issued under his Dudley Perkins moniker), Declaime is starting to rapidly crank out albums much like his partner, the inimitable Georgia Ann Muldrow, on their SomeOthaShipConnect label. Fonk also marks a turning point for Declaime. Rooted in the knee-deep P-funk of former George Clinton understudy Quazedelic, the album finds the raspy voiced Declaime stepping away from his Dudley Perkins persona, which was often misinterpreted as a comic sideshow. Returning to the nom de plume that initially gained him notoriety via his collaborations with Madlib, his off-key singing only appears on the endearing "Dreamer" duet with Muldrow. Elsewhere, Fonk follows the political and societal critiques explored on Holy Smokes, but does so in a more pointed and direct way, subverting gang culture on "Gangsta," over what might be interpreted as a typical g-funk beat, and issuing apocalyptic warnings on "Dad," giving some context to Declaime's newfound urgency.