Funk pioneer George Clinton will be honored at this year’s annual BMI Urban Awards ceremony organizers announced today (July 28).
The event, which takes place in September, honors the top Urban songwriters that belong to BMI, one of the oldest performance rights organizations.
Clinton will officially be named a “BMI Icon,” joining artists like James Brown, Little Richard, The Bee Gees, Willie Nelson, The Jackson, Al Green, rapper Reverend Run and numerous others.
His songs with groups like Parliament, Funkadelic and The P. Funk All Stars have been sampled by countless rappers throughout the years, including Dr. Dre, Outkast, Snoop Dogg, EPMD and others.
“Hip-Hop has helped keep funk alive,” Clinton told AllHipHop.com in a previous interview. “The parents finally started liking it because it had that P-funk in it. Then the kids started learning about the (original) P-funk. So you have two generations in Hip-Hop.”
In addition to being honored, an all-star group of yet-to-be announced artists will take to the stage to salute Clinton. BMI President and Co-CEO Del Bryant will host the event along with BMI Atlanta VP of writer/publisher relations, Catherine Brewton.
The BMI Icon awards ceremony takes place September 10 in New York at Jazz at Lincoln Center.