George Clinton's musical career spans two distinct realms. The first is physical: during the 1970s, he led the groundbreaking funk/soul collective Parliament-Funkadelic to intergalactic fame and fortune, recording more than 40 R&B chart hits. The other is spiritual: Clinton's myriad compositions have exerted an immeasurable influence on American music, in particular shaping the sound and swagger of hip-hop. The fulcrum between these two realms is "Atomic Dog," the second single off Clinton's 1982 debut solo record Computer Games. Though it ended up being his final hit on the charts, the song's multi-hued, multi-hook approach to funk updated Clinton's style for a new decade and lives on as one of West Coast hip-hop's most recognizable samples.
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