The multi-colored dreads, natty beard, popping eyewear, druggy cosmonaut attire, emcee position out front of a swaggering posse of relentless in-your-face funkateers—it’s impossible not to be familiar with the idea of “George Clinton.”

As a musician, producer, actor and all-around bad mother, Clinton’s been associated with everyone from Prince to Snoop Dogg to Michael Bolton to the video game Grand Theft Auto and, even though he just got a haircut, he is a household name and the face as fun. Still, somehow the man is underappreciated.

George Clinton plays Tipitina's on December 28-29, 2013.

You might not know it from your local record store or even the hippest of WWOZ DJs, but Clinton is responsible for a plethoric body of booty-moving work as groundbreaking as anyone this side of James Brown or the Meters. Funkadelic’s most fertile period (1970-75) produced seven albums that spastically bounce between spacy psychedelic weirdness, deranged social polemics, absurdist song delivery, bass acrobatics and fiery textural experimentation—all without ever giving up an ounce of their leader’s trademarked full-bodied funk. And that’s not to mention the parallel production by its sister group, Parliament.

Musicians get it. After all, Clinton is one of the most sampled artists of all time. But nobody’s going to a P-Funk show at Tipitina’s for any such history lesson. You’re going for, wait, what is it again? If you forget—or start to wonder “Can You Get to That?” or “Mommy, What’s a Funkadelic?”—then let the songs point the way. No matter how much one may “Hit It and Quit It,” the boys will be “Good to Your Earhole.” It’s certainly the place to get “Back in Our Minds,” and, remember: “Free Your Mind and Your Ass Will Follow.”