Today, funk legend Bootsy Collins shares the new single “Pure Perfection” from his forthcoming album Album of the Year #1 Funkateer, due out October 25 (the day before the funk legend’s 73rd birthday) via Bootzilla Records/Equity Records. In celebration of the new record, today all Starbucks locations will be playing the “Bootsy Funky Summer Playlist,” which was specially curated by the icon himself, featuring his new music and classic hits.
“Pure Perfection” oozes like a hot summer day. If there was ever a spiritual and sonic follow-up to the funk maestro’s famed “I’d Rather Be With You,” this might just be it. Alongside German rapper FANTAAZMA and rapper Giz, the track formally features “Bedroom Bootsy,” one of Collins’ legendary alter-egos, like Casper the Friendly Ghost and Bootzilla.
“Bootsy Collins is synonymous with funk,” states FLOOD Magazine who premiered the single this morning. “As such, color us unsurprised that his new track, “Pure Perfection,” is an ass-shaker of the highest order, a raunchy, slow and seductive jam melting in half-time thanks to Bootsy’s thizz face–inducing bassline and—pardon me—horned-up lyrics.” Read the exclusive here.
“Pure perfection is the light that you bring into this world, that light that stays lit, producing every boy & every girl,” shares Bootsy Collins. “Pure Perfection is the sunset, & the sound of the sea, it's all the watchmen that look after you & me. Pure Perfection is this day as it turns into the night. Teaching all citizens of the universe, to Funk not Fight.”
Bedroom Bootsy’s vocals whisper and growl, singing “I’m just an innocent bystander just standing by … waiting to wash your windows and get a piece of that cherry pie.” Seductive, irreverent, and above all, pure funk, “Pure Perfection” is another facet that shows what the funk legend has been cooking up in his home studio in Cincinnati, keeping the funk alive and refreshing his own creative spark with collaborators.
On his 23rd studio album Album of the Year #1 Funkateer the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer finds himself in a new position – that of coach and above all, producer. Crafting a sound that sonically runs the Bootsy gamut from bedroom Bootsy, to space-alien adventures to unexpected rock, Collins has drawn together a network of collaborators from Snoop Dogg, Dave Stewart, Wiz Khalifa, October London, Fantaazma and many more who light the fire in him and helped him make the album of the year.
“When I start on a project now, it's about getting the energy from people around me,” says funk maestro Bootsy Collins. “Then I proceed to gather transmissions from the universe to know what to talk about. It's important to me to see who the universe brings to me, and I've been really blessed that every time I want to do a new record, I get these incredible musicians around me, right on time. That's what this album helps me do—Transmitting & receiving with different musicians and artists that have the same desire I had when I was their age.”
This open-minded attitude has helped Collins reach new generations for more than five decades.
From his early work bringing a youthful vigor and refreshing James Brown’s backing band as a founding member of the J.B.’s and learning the Power of the One to his seminal work with George Clinton and the Parliament-Funkadelic universe, playing on most of their landmark albums over the next decade and co-writing such classics as "Up for the Down Stroke," "Tear the Roof Off the Sucker (Give Up the Funk)," and the chart-topping "Flash Light." He also led the side project Bootsy’s Rubber Band, recording multiple gold-certified albums and the Number One R&B hit “Bootzilla,” and began contributing to recordings by artists including Keith Richards, Iggy Pop, and Herbie Hancock. When Rolling Stone put together their list of the Greatest Bassists of All Time, Bootsy was ranked in the top five.
He collaborated with dance superstars Deee-Lite on their 1990 smash “Groove Is In the Heart,” provided the lead vocal on Fatboy Slim’s Grammy-winning 2000 hit “Weapon of Choice,” and acted as the narrator on Silk Sonic’s 2021 platinum album An Evening with Silk Sonic (he even gave Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak the name for their project).
The seventeen tracks on Album of the Year cover all the bases, from the silly Bootsy (on “Chicken & Fries”) to the sexy Bootsy (“Pure Perfection,” which uses a delivery that Bruno Mars calls “Bedroom Bootsy voice”) to the social commentary of “2Nite we Rise.”
The social commentary is true to Bootsy’s heart – he has spent the past year bringing his mission Funk Not Fight to SXSW, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Compton and his hometown in Cincinnati, with more cities to be announced. The Funk Not Fight project is a growing initiative that encourages peace, creativity, and anti-violence by creating community hubs that provide mental health resources and music studios, among other activations, still being announced.
Album of the Year #1 Funkateer - Track Listing
“Album of the Year #1 Funkateer” feat. Myra Washington and Bootdullivan
“JB’s Tribute” Pastor P feat. Harry Mack, Clyde Stubblefield, Fred Wesley, John (Jabo) Starks*
“Bootdullivan so Soopafly” feat. Ouiwey Collins, Kokane, and Daz Dillinger
“The Influencers” feat. Westcoast Stone, Wiz Khalifa, Dave Stewart, Snoop Dogg, and Fantaazma
“Bubble Pop” feat. Ice Cube, FANTAAZMA, and Brother Nature
“Fishnets” feat. Myra Washington, Kurupt, and Daz
“Satellite” feat. Dave Stewart and Brother Nature
“Ubiquitous” feat. Casper the Funked up Ghost and Kid Talk (Explicit)
“Hondo P” feat. FANTAAZMA and Snoop Dogg
“Chicken & Fries” feat. Soopafly, Myra Washington, BABY TRIGGY, and FANTAAZMA
“Anybody Out There” feat. Myra Washington and Brother Nature
“Pure Perfection” feat. FANTAAZMA, Giz, and Bedroom Bootsy
“Barbie T & Me” feat. Barbie T and Zillatron
“BeWild” feat. Alex Belle, Isis V, and Brother Nature
“Alien Flytrap” feat. Dave Stewart and Bootdullivan
“I.Am.AI” feat. Tobotius, I.AM, and Kid Talk
“Reach the Zone” feat. October London, Musiq Soulchild, and Bedroom Bootsy
“2Nite We Rise” feat. Da'Dreion Murrell, FANTAAZMA, ZGM Precious Praisers, and Casper the Funked up Ghost
*Newly added track
