when i first met Cory Henry, we hadn’t exchanged more than 2 sentences b4 he brought up ‘French for Cloud (cstbu)’. he connected w the song n a way that felt genuine. and i was happy bcuz i’d really wanted 2 meet him - he’s such a phenomenal player. like many of the tunes n my countdown, #14 is one i lie n wait 4 people 2 come around 2. it’s finally happening - more & more i hear the song being mentioned. it’s not that i find the joint particularly special - i j think it’s funki af; and func is dead. no 1 plays it. they play over it - past it - they play w out it. it’s j so odd, tbh…that every1’s face squinches up w the same delight when they hear funque, but no1 produces it. the elements r there, but there’s no impetus 2 assemble the pieces and raise those spirits. it exists n other forums, now. funk has a way of taking every single thing that exists and making it a smaller part of itself. funk is nature. you can live with it, within it, but you cannot know what it is. all at once it commands its backdrop and its entrance, its lilt and its exit. it’s no coincidence that at the very peak of socio-economy and war that funk n musical form was born. u need trauma and means 2 code it. if u wanna taste it’s musical height, pick up a stone like the rubble that lies at the foot of the great pyramid, and remember that at 1 time Bernie Worrell, Junie Morrison, George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Peanut Johnson, and the inimitable Garry Shider shared studio & stage. they brought Af-rui-Ka up thru the western soil and rubbd it on me. sum ppl say i’m ahead of my time - idk - i don’t think about time that way. it all happens at once, past/present/future. i let others divide it up. and i give thanks to Johnny Dodds, Charlie Christian, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Skip James, Billie Holiday, Thelonious Monk, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Sly Stone, Chaka Kahn, and Dayton, Oh. for shining like beacons n the midst of the storm.