G&D – Black Love & War review: Passionate expression of African-American music

G&D are singer Georgia Anne Muldrow and rapper Dudley Perkins aka Declaime – solo artists, a married couple and co-founders of the label SomeOthaShip Connect. Black Love & War further solidifies the duo’s long-term collaborative partnership.

Muldrow’s earthly sound trades in avant-garde R&B, afrofuturism and memories of Minnie Riperton. Perkins’ unorthodox rapping can swerve all the way from Mos Def to Gil Scott Heron to Andre 3000. When they come together, extraordinary things can happen. Black Love & War is a passionate expression of African-American music, history and rebellion.

Protect Yourself sees Perkins demand his 40 acres and a mule; 187 takes the California Penal Code number for murder – an urban synonym for murder — and turns it into a call to slay all slave masters and oppressors. Backing up their righteous messages, G&D tinker with a variety of classic sounds.

The Battle, for example, combines mean 1970s funk with space-aged synths. It might not quite match Muldrow’s excellent 2018 album Overload, but Black Love & War is a gripping mix of innovative musicality and rebellious doctrine.