With funk music legend George Clinton sitting within arm’s length, Mayor Bill de Blasio couldn’t help but break into song at his Thursday press briefing.
Hizzoner showed off his pipes while crooning a cappella with Clinton, First Lady Chirlane McCray and Dante de Blasio, the mayor’s son, in their version of “One Nation Under a Groove.” The singing stunt was in promotion of the next “NYC Homecoming Week” concert, on Friday night at the Forest Hills Tennis Stadium in Queens, where Clinton will be one of the marquee performers.
De Blasio introduced Clinton as one of the most influential artists of our lifetimes.
“If you love Outkast, well, thank George Clinton, if you love Talking Heads, thank George Clinton,” de Blasio said. “All of them are great artists, but if you think they were not fundamentally influenced by George Clinton, I’ll play you the tracks to prove it.”
Clinton, 80, started the Parliament-Funkadelic collective in the 1970s, credited with influencing many other hip hop groups down the road.
Clinton is headlining the Queens concert tomorrow, Aug. 20, at the Forest Hills Tennis Stadium.
“I’m glad to be here and a part of this,” Clinton said. “As a matter of fact, we need to do some funk ourselves.”
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards didn’t join the mayor in a tune, but came on to talk about what this concert means for the borough.
“I am so excited about the homecoming concert and I look forward to seeing all of our Queens folks out there,” Richards said. “This is really about the Queens comeback story, it’s been a rough 18 months for Queens [with] over 8,000 residents lost to this pandemic.”
Saturday will be the last day of “Homecoming Week” with the big “We Love NYC” concert at the Great Lawn in Central Park featuring Paul Simon, Jennifer Hudson and Bruce Springsteen.
Visit the mayor’s website for more information.
Meanwhile, check out the mayor’s singing (beginning at about 17:56)…
