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George Clinton, as we all know, the man behind Parliament/Funkadelic and one of the most sampled artist of all time, is not getting royalty checks from his oft-sampled classics because, as a Florida judge ruled last month, he does not own any rights to his recordings from 1976 to 1983. As a result, he is now embarking on a campaign on Indiegogo to save his studios. To raise the $50,000 he needs, he is giving away signed photos and t-shirts for donations as low as $35, and doing private shows and answering machine message for more generous givers. He’s also working to regain the rights to his records, which include classics like “Flash Light”, “Atomic Dog”, and “Mothership Connection”, which if you’ve never heard the originals before, you probably heard the samples in the beats somewhere…like from Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Daft Punk even.

If you want to check out the fundraiser, it’s on Indiegogo. Check out his fundraising appeal on YouTube after the jump.

Thanks to Prefix Mag

In the wake of Washington state legalizing gay marriage, Vlad TV did an interesting interview with Too $hort the other day about homosexuals, homophobia and his attitudes on gay people. While $hort admits to being homophobic in the 90′s, it looks like just having to interact with gays in every day life has mellowed him out and broadened his perspective a bit. And though he stays coy about the subject in general because “bad things will happen to you if you talk about it too much,” he voices his support for gay marriage and probably wouldn’t mind doing a song with an out in the open gay rapper, as long as it wasn’t a “gay song”. No word if Lil B had an influence or not.

See, this is why nobody bothers to check their calendars anymore…seriously, go check it now. You’ll see something useless like Groundhog Day on it and nothing about Dilla Day. Dilla Day? As you might already have heard or figured out, it is the birthday of J Dilla, aka Jay Dee, aka James Yancy, aka Your Favorite Producers’ Favorite Producer. And while he died remarkably a few days after his 32nd birthday, it is his birth and life that we want to remember.

There’s a few bloggers today what want to talk about how J Dilla today. Larry Mizell tells us about the moment Dilla changed his life. And Damon Joy also says that J Dilla changed his life. Ru Johnson takes a more neutral approach but gives his appreciation as well.

Several tribute shows are in the works, and there’s probably one in your town today. Dilla Day Detroit takes place February 10 in the Fillmore in downtown Detroit, featuring Busta Rhymes, Jay Electronica, Danny Brown, and Phife of A Tribe Called Quest. In New York, Donuts Are Forever 6 with Neil Armstrong and Prince Paul will be on February 19, at Brooklyn Bowl.

And if you like to celebrate in mixtape form, check out What if Jay Dee Produced PCP from Race Bannon. And here’s a tribute to Big Pun and Dilla, Cooking Soul’s Big Dilla, presented by 2dopeboyz.

The Sasquatch! Festival in the hinterlands of Washington state this year will have a heavy dose of hip-hop with The Roots, Childish Gambino, Shabazz Palaces, and araabmuzik in the lineup for the multiday music festival in George, Washington. The rest of the hip-hop offerings will have a heavy Seattle flavor, as Shabazz collaborators THEESatisfaction will perform, as well as Dyme Def, Fresh Espresso, The Physics, Sol, Grynch, Fatal Lucciauno, Metal Chocolates, Spac3man, and Scribes.

Also there will be Little Dragon, Girl Talk, Pretty Lights, SBTRKT, Charles Bradley, punk/rap fusion act Don’t Talk to the Cops, and soul R&B group Fly Moon Royalty, along with the headliners Jack White, Beck, and Bon Iver. The festival runs during Memorial Day weekend at The Gorge Ampitheater, tickets are available now.

Shabazz Palaces invites an interesting crowd. The duo, who performed last night at Yoshi’s in San Francisco before departing on an European tour in a few weeks, seems to straddle that line between indie rock and hip-hop only if you look at their audience, because their music is doesn’t sound like rock at the least bit. The avant-garde duo of Palaceer Lazaro (aka Ishmael “Ish” Butler) and percussionist Tendai Mariare has pieced together a theme of bluster, black power, african diaspora, jarring beats and psychedelia, and perhaps that last part is what brought together the two different scenes.

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Don Cornelius, creator, producer and host of Soul Train, the long-running black music showcase that ran from 1970 to 2006, has died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot. He was 75.

Cornelius, who was a radio DJ in Chicago when he created the television show, brought the show national in 1971 and was instrumental in exposing new black talent to the nation, most notably acts like the Jackson 5 and Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, and Barry White. He was also a special figure for hip-hop and even while having admitted not being a fan and didn’t understand the appeal of the emerging genre, acts like LL Cool J, A Tribe Called Quest, Kurtis Blow, and Run DMC were featured on Soul Train. Questlove pens an appreciation posted on okayplayer.com, and others, including those in hip-hop, share their thoughts on Twitter.

Also touring will be Black Milk, backed with live band Nat Turner, who will headline the Claps and Slaps tour. Opening are up-and-comers, Seattle’s J.Pinder and Dallas’ a.Dd+. Black Milk recently followed up on Random Axe with an release of an EP with Danny Brown called “Black and Brown”, while J.Pinder is expanding his footprint beyond the Pacific Northwest with an EP, Careless, scheduled for release on February 28.

2/25: Fête, Providence, RI
2/27: The Middle East, Boston, MI
2/28: Silk City, Philadelphia, PA
2/29: Knitting Factory, Brooklyn, NY
3/1: Shadow Lounge, Pittsburgh, PA
3/2: Grog Shop, Cleveland, OH
3/3: The Strutt, Kalamazoo, MI
3/6: Blind Pig, Ann Arbor, MI
3/8: The Great Hall, Toronto, ON
3/9: Subterranean, Chicago, IL
3/10: The Intersection, Grand Rapids, MI
3/11: Gramophone, St. Louis, MO
3/17: Chasers, Scottsdale, AZ
3/18: The Roxy, West Hollywood, CA
3/20: Velvet Jones, Santa Barbara, CA
3/21: Fulton 55, Fresno, CA
3/22: 330 Ritch, San Francisco, CA
3/23: Crown Room, Portland, OR
3/24: Fortune Sound Club, Vancouver, BC
3/25: The Crocodile, Seattle, WA
3/28: 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis, MN
3/29: Gabe’s, Iowa City, IA

Shabazz Palaces announces dates for a European and North America tour, starting a couple of weeks after their date at Yoshi’s San Francisco with Siddartha this Thursday on Groundhogs Day. On the agenda is a swing through the continent, starting in France through Switzerland and Italy. Coming back home, they land in Minneapolis, touring the Midwest, Canada, and finally two shows in the City of New York. If you haven’t checked it out yet, they also released their newest video for “Are You… Can You… Were You…? (Felt)” along with the announcement.

Here are the dates:

2/18: La Cave aux poetes, Roubaix, France
2/19: Stereolux, Nantes, France
2/20: Les Trinitaires, Metz, France
2/21: Strasbourg La Laiterie, France
2/24: Palace, St. Gallen, Switzerland
2/25: Stall 6, Zurich, Switzerland
2/29: Astoria, Turin, Italy
3/1: Circolo degli Artisti, Rome, Italy
3/2: Bronson, Ravenna, Italy
3/3: Studio 2, Vigonovo (Venezia), Italy

4/3: The Whole, Minneapolis, MN (All Ages Show)
4/4: Mad Planet, Milwaukee, WI
4/5: Lincoln Hall, Chicago, IL
4/6: Magic Stick, Detroit, MI
4/7: The Horn Gallery, Gambier, OH
4/8: The Shadow Lounge, East Liberty, PA
4/10: Lee’s Palace, Toronto, ON
4/11: II Motore, Montreal, QC
4/12: Iron Horse, Northampton, MA
4/13: SOB’s, New York, NY
4/14: Brooklyn Bowl, Brooklyn, NY

via Sub Pop

And we have competitive skater Donovan Strain to thank for that. Using two of humanity’s greatest tools, SCIENCE and DEDUCTION, Strain has pin-pointed to which day Ice Cube was talking about on his classic, “It Was A Good Day”, using clues in the lyrics and doing a little research, (ie, which days did the Lakers beat the Supersonics, was clear and had no smog, etc.) and he posted his methodology to his Tumblr. Aaaaand that day was… January 20, 1992. Trust me, the way he got to the date is more amazing that the date itself.

Thanks to Line Out/The Stranger

The prodigious LA indie emcee Blu and partner on the decks Exile came to rock 330 Ritch in San Francisco last night with support from Foreign Legion and Honor Roll Crew’s Spank Pops. And sneaking onto the stage was Aloe Blacc, fresh from a set with the Gary Bartz Project earlier in the evening.

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