Dudley Perkins a/k/a Declaime is an eclectic rapper/songwriter who has had a number of musical iterations, from his early start in the 90s with the underground LA group Tha Alkaholiks, to his solo Madlib-produced releases under both aliases to the funk-soul-rap fusion collaboration with his former wife Georgia Anne Muldrow. Today Declaime is back doing what he loves the most and shares the visuals for his song "God's Grace" taken from his new LP The Last Stand.
The introspective track is a display of emotional vulnerability and acknowledgment of his flaws and shortcomings. Declaime bears it all and delivers an emotional performance with his distinct off-beat melodic flow peppered with funk-soul vocal stylings. It's an expressive display of his emotions and a different layer to the man's persona is peeled open as the track progresses. He employs the services of producers Ayun Bassa and Braxton Cook who cook up a downtempo, ominous backdrop ripe with pulsating basslines and reflective horns for him to pour his heart out. The video shot by mark4ord of Oxnard follows the artist as he tries to find his center and true purpose while drowning himself in a cocktail of herbs and alcohol. It makes use of some performance shots and a lot of slow-motion scenes with dazzling light effects that may be alluding to Declaime's frame of mind on the song.
"God's Grace" is taken from Declaime's new project The Last Stand which features names such as Latoiya Williams, Joseph “lovedragon” Liemburg, Juan Lobo, Braxton Cook, Ayun Bassa, and others. The project is the follow-up to the compilation project,In the Beginning Vol. 1 which includes the early works of Declaime and Madlib and was released earlier this year.
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