In the video for his new single “Hip Hop Lollipop,” a version of “Club Funkateers” from his latest album The Power of the One, Bootsy Collins reigns over a kaleidoscopic funktopia. Fantaazma, a Hamburg rapper, raps and dances in front of clips of Collins singing the “Funkateers” chorus – “How much you got, how much you gon’ get?” Victor Wooten’s spectacular bass solo break, which is so hot that sparks fly off his instrument in the video, and also Branford Marsalis’ amazing saxophone licks, are featured in the song.
Collins welcomes Fantaazma to his club by handing her the titular hip-hop lollipop, and she soon transforms into a club-ready sparkly blue jumpsuit and begins rapping about funk, fusion, and musical progression. While Bootsy vibes in the club, Patti Collins, Bootsy’s wife, and partner, sings the memorable “messin’ with my mind” chorus from the original.
Collins hoped to release the song, which features Sly Stone and Victor Wooten, during Black History Month in February.
Collins recently detailed the production of Parliament’s Mothership Connection LP for Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums podcast. Collins unpacks the stories behind “P-Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up),” “Mothership Connection (Star Child),” and the group’s first gold song, “Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker)” in the episode, which also has interviews with George Clinton, Fred Wesley, and many more.
