Parliament-Funkadelic Founder George Clinton Praises Kendrick Lamar in New Interview

FILE — In this undated promotional photo, Parliament-Funkadelic architect George Clinton poses in his signature eccentric eyewear and a rhinestone-draped fur hat. The 84-year-old funk legend recently made headlines after publicly praising modern hip-hop icon Kendrick Lamar, comparing the rapper's cultural permanence to Motown and The Beatles. (Courtesy Photo)

The godfather of funk is giving his ultimate co-sign to the current king of the West Coast.

In a newly published tribute for The New York Times Magazine's "30 Greatest Living American Songwriters" list, Parliament-Funkadelic architect George Clinton offered profound praise for Kendrick Lamar, placing the Compton lyricist in the same historical echelon as The Beatles and Motown.

Clinton, whose 1970s funk catalog was heavily sampled to create the foundational 1990s G-Funk sound championed by Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, did not mince words regarding Lamar's cultural permanence.

"I'll put it like this: He, along with Motown, Sly Stone, the Beatles — that kind of institution is going to last," Clinton told the publication. "There are a lot of slick writers out here nowadays with lyrics and things, but he writes with soul."

The 84-year-old icon, who directly collaborated with Lamar on the opening track of the rapper's 2015 studio album, "To Pimp a Butterfly," went on to compare that specific project to one of the most important soul albums ever recorded.

"It was like Marvin Gaye's 'What's Going On,'" Clinton noted. "And he's starting all over each time he puts an album out — he's like a brand-new kid."

For fans of '90s hip-hop, Clinton’s words carry the ultimate historical weight. Without Clinton's "Atomic Dog" or "Flash Light," the 1990s West Coast dominance would simply not exist. To hear him validate a modern artist with such reverence highlights Lamar's unique ability to bridge generational divides.

"He's a young kid, but when I met him, he sounded my age," Clinton explained. "He's like a psychiatrist on record — he talks about [expletive] that most people are afraid to talk about. He's at that point where he can move the conversation. Nobody will talk about these topics, and he talks about them so matter-of-factly that you don't even think, 'You can't say that.'"

Lamar, who recently set a new Grammy record by becoming the most-awarded rapper in history with 27 wins — surpassing Jay-Z's 25 — has managed to do what very few artists can: maintain a vice grip on both the older hip-hop heads and the new generation.

"Kids today, they want their new artist; they don't want their older brother or sister's artist or their mother and father's," Clinton concluded. "Kids don't like you after a few years. When you can go past that and have the next generation after that still talking about you, you're doing something."