Georgia Anne Muldrow has been a busy woman ever since she started putting out music in the mid 2000s, but she has really been on a roll over the past year or so. Last year, she released her album Overload, and followed that up with another album this year, VWETO II. That wasn’t enough, though, because she now comes back with another album, this time with her partner Declaime. Performing as G & D, they release their first duo album in six years, Black Love & War.

For the album, Muldrow handles most of the production duties, but they do get a few key assists from the like of Oh No and Mike & Keys. The sound for the album is going back to the duo’s trademark “fonk,” a term they coined years ago to describe a mix of old school funk and G-funk, mixed with plenty of psychedelic music to taste. To put it bluntly, this album is soulful and funky, but also very experimental with it’s production and songwriting. Declaime leads the way on the mic, providing the main ideas with his rhymes, but Muldrow is there as the X-factor, weaving in sung melodic elements in the background, singing hooks and choruses, and dropping rhymes as well. As you might gather from the title of the album, this is a project dealing with the current political landscape. Working your way through the album, as the title implies, you get both messages of war and love. By war, I mean that they are spelling out the various ways in which those that are in power are waging war on the people, dividing and conquering and keeping them down. This might sound bleak, and it is, but G & D are also giving us messages of love and hope, talking about the tools we have to build bridges of love and make the world better going forward. The key here, of course, is balance, and G&D do a great job of maintaining that balance as they deliver this politically charged fonk over the course of the album. The only drawback to the album is that it seems to be missing that special moment to push the album over the top, an anthem that we could all sing along to. That said, there is plenty to challenge and inspire listeners over the course of the album.

G & D are a couple of musicians who know how to brink the fonk, and they deliver once again on Black Love & War. They are more than aware of all the bad shit that’s happening right now, but they also refuse to accept that this is the way it has to be. This is music to inspire us all to do better.