Expressions

Dudley Perkins — a/k/a Declaime — was there with Madlib from early times, including a Lootpack-adjacent guest verse kicking off Tha Alkaholiks’ Coast II Coast in ’95. A stream-of-consciousness rapper-turned-singer with a raw, wavering, casually off-kilter voice like a significantly more chill ODB, Perkins hit his stride here with a Madlib-produced LP that was unafraid to let the idiosyncratic, all-posi side of g-funk come out to play. Perkins shows off a neo-soul depth with the joyful enthusiasm of a singer who’s more about upfront, spontaneous energy than melismatic chops.