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For four decades, George Clinton has been playing dance music that blithely ignores all preconceived distinctions between funk, jazz, rock 'n' roll and hip-hop. Now he finds himself as one of the main contenders to inherit the psychedelic Pied Piper mantle of Jerry Garcia. "We appeal mostly to white kids now, more than ever," Clinton says of the ever shifting assemblage of P-Funk All-Stars he takes out on the road. "A lot of the Deadheads follow us around. I'm telling the company that we got to make sure we do something to maintain that audience. I mean, we ain't got to worry about not being black."
A younger generation of such highly individual black artists as Seal, Dionne Farris, Tracy Chapman, Des'ree, Terence Trent D'Arby, Ben Harper and Me'Shell NdegeOcello have collectively also made an impact, both critically and on the charts. In the best rock-'n'-roll tradition, these artists, in varying degrees, have drawn on dance music, funk, folk, poetry, hip-hop, blues and R. and B. to concoct their own strange, flavorful brews.
And then there's Hootie & the Blowfish. While lead singer Darius Rucker's blackness is often brought up only to be dismissed as insignificant--as often by himself and the band as by anyone else--the group also met with initial industry confusion over its interracial lineup. Today Rucker's symbolic importance as the lead singer in a staggeringly successful "white" rock-'n'-roll band is, for some musicians, enormous. Says Reid: "Seeing Darius Rucker fronting this band at the Grammys--for me it was a powerful experience."
"I'm glad [for Rucker]. He's a wonderful singer," says Little Richard, reflecting on Hootie's success. "And I thank God for those white boys being with him to help him get there," Richard adds, a knowing laugh reflecting his more than four decades in the business. "Because if they wasn't there, he probably wouldn't be there." Fair sentiment or not, it's one that is certainly grounded in rock 'n' roll's past, and present.