Bootsy Collins Announces Collaborative Compilation Album on His Birthday, Spotlighting Emerging Artists

“Funk Not Fight! Spreading Hope No Joke,” the funkadelic high priest Bootsy Collins said of his latest endeavor to incite change and spread hope through the power of music.

On his birthday, Wednesday (Oct. 26), Collins announced Funk Not Fight, a forthcoming collaborative compilation album.

For the project, the multi-Grammy-winning funk legend has teamed up with an array of guest artists and supporters—Lettuce, Buckethead, Zapp, Triggy, Syleena Johnson, Tommy Davidson, and more— with the purpose of spotlighting emerging artists. Budding rappers, poets, singers, and instrumentalists can submit their music to be featured on the album.

In partnership with the Bootsy Collins Foundation, Syncr, The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus, Apple, Spotify, and more, the money raised from Funk Not Fight will go towards foundations and nonprofits dedicated to “helping turn the tide of violence and unrest in our communities.”

A teaser for the album’s title track was released upon the project’s announcement. Check it out, below.

No official album release date has been made public.

In celebration of his birthday and the Funk Not Fight news, Collins also released a special Birthday Bootsy Extravaganza episode, launching his new Apple Music radio show. It features guests Morris Day, Bruno Mars, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Flea, and Sheila E as they celebrate the legend’s big day.

With the help of Silk Sonic—the soul-funk project fronted by Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak—and their 2021 song, “After Last Night,” on which Collins offers his musical chops, the artist made it onto the Billboard Hot 100 charts for the first time in his nearly 60-year career.

Listen, below, for the groovy song stylings that made Collins a funk torchbearer and solidified his place in music history.

Photo by Stephen J. Cohen/Getty Images