“Uh, what’s happening CC?
They still call it the White House
But that’s a temporary condition, too.
Can you dig it, CC?”
(Lyrics from Parliament’s Chocolate City LP)
Back in 1975 when George Clinton and the P-Funk band Parliament released Chocolate City, a tongue in cheek musical parody on the African American population majority of Washington, D.C. it is doubtful if any of those listeners thought a black man would ascend to this nation’s highest office.
“There’s a lot of chocolate cities, around
We’ve got Newark, we’ve got Gary
Somebody told me we got L.A.
And we’re working on Atlanta
But you’re the capital, CC”
(Lyrics from Parliament’s Chocolate City LP)
No doubt, today’s Hip Hop youth prone to believing conspiracies such as Tupac still being alive are probably declaring that the often sampled, 67-year old, multi-colored hair George Clinton is a prophet of sorts. Chocolate City would go on to reach number 18 on the Billboard soul LP charts in 1975 and later hit #91 on the album charts. “Chocolate City”, the title track and first single, reached #24 on the black chart and #94 on the Billboard Hot 100. Prior to Parliament’s use of the moniker Chocolate City local D.C. Radio One’s flagship station WOL-AM regularly referred to D.C. as “chocolate city” because of the preponderance of African Americans making up the capital city’s population.
“Hey, CC!
They say your jivin’ game, it can’t be changed
But on the positive side,
You’re my piece of the rock
And I love you, CC.
Can you dig it?”
(Lyrics from Parliament’s Chocolate City LP)
The year 1975 was an eventful, if not sometimes turbulent one, in the U.S. and abroad. John N. Mitchell, H. R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman were found guilty in the Watergate cover-up and sentenced from 30 months to 8 years in jail; the South Vietnamese surrender Saigon and the remaining American POWs are evacuated back to the United States effectively ending the Vietnam War; President Gerald Ford escapes two assassination attempts in one month; home videotape systems (VCRs) are developed in Japan by Sony (Betamax) and Matsushita (VHS); the Altair home computer kit allows consumers to build and program their own personal computers; Saturday Night Live premieres on NBC; the current median household income (in current dollars) is $11,800; a first class stamp is 10-cents and the federal debt is $541.9 billion.
“Hey, uh, we didn’t get our forty acres and a mule
But we did get you, CC, heh, yeah
Gainin’ on ya
Movin’ in and around ya
God bless CC and its vanilla suburbs”
(Lyrics from Parliament’s Chocolate City LP)
This particular year also was cause for African Americans to celebrate small but important gains: Arthur Ashe becomes the first African American to wins the British Men’s Singles at Wimbledon; the Morehouse School of Medicine (Atlanta) becomes the only black medical school established in the United States in the 20th Century; General Daniel “Chappie” James of the Air Force becomes the first African American four star general; The first black owned television station, WGPR, begins broadcasting in Detroit, and Frank Robinson becomes the first black Major League Baseball manager when he takes over the Cleveland Indians.
“Ah, blood to blood
Ah, players to ladies
The last percentage count was eighty
You don’t need the bullet when you got the ballot
Are you up for the downstroke, CC?
Chocolate city
Are you with me out there?”
(Lyrics from Parliament’s Chocolate City LP)
In retrospect the iconoclastic cover art stands out even more so, because it displays images of the United States Capitol, the Washington Monument, and the Lincoln Memorial in the form of a milk chocolate medallion. The trickster-musician Clinton and his sidekick co-writers (Bernie Worrell and Bootsy Collins) are probably winking at one another in a knowing way–particularly since the mainstream press and the Obama cabinet have patterned the President elect as a 21st century reincarnation of the great emancipator Abraham Lincoln.
When the second executive order of the Emancipation Proclamation was issued by Honest Abe in 1863, it is highly likely that even he believed (or wanted) a tall, rangy, Senator of African ancestry with a non-Anglo name from his home state of Illinois, would in a little over 135 years become the President of the United States.
“And when they come to march on ya
Tell ‘em to make sure they got their James Brown pass
And don’t be surprised if Ali is in the White House
Reverend Ike, Secretary of the Treasure
Richard Pryor, Minister of Education
Stevie Wonder, Secretary of FINE arts
And Miss Aretha Franklin, the First Lady
Are you out there, CC?”
(Lyrics from Parliament’s Chocolate City LP)
Maybe George Clinton and crew in their own cosmic, otherworldly, way knew something in 1975 that the rest of us Americans are only understanding today.
“A chocolate city is no dream
It’s my piece of the rock and I dig you, CC”
(Lyrics from Parliament’s Chocolate City LP)
