Editor’s Note: This article was developed using AI assistance to repurpose content from our original episode, Seth Neblett on Parliament-Funkadelic Women & 'Mothership Connected,' and was subsequently reviewed, fact-checked, and edited by the Queue Points team to ensure accuracy and voice.
Cover for Mothership Connected: The Women of Parliament-Funkadelic is published by University of Texas Press.
Think about the albums that laid the foundation for hip-hop as we know it. "Flashlight." "Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)." "One Nation Under a Groove." "Atomic Dog." Now ask yourself: who was in the room when those records were being made? Not just the men whose names ended up on the marquee, but the women who helped write the blueprint, brought the key players through the door, and held the whole thing together behind the scenes. That question is exactly what Seth Neblett set out to answer in his book, Mothership Connected: The Women of Parliament-Funkadelic, and on this episode of Queue Points, the conversation cut all the way down to the bone.
Seth didn't arrive at this story from the outside. He was born inside it. His mother, Mallia Franklin, known as the "Queen of Funk," was a founding member of Parlet and one of the most important connectors in the entire P-Funk universe. His godfather is Bootsy Collins. His babysitters were members of the Ohio Players. Parlet rehearsed in his grandparents's basement in Michigan. And when his second-grade school pageant came around, his mother showed up with six or seven members of Parliament in tow. "One Nation Under a Groove" was the number one song in the country that week. For the other kids' parents, it was a moment. For Seth, it was just Tuesday.
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Seth Neblett on Parliament-Funkadelic Women & 'Mothership Connected'
In this episode, Seth Neblett discusses his book Mothership Connected: The Women of Parliament-Funkadelic, highlighting Mallia Franklin and the women who kept P-Funk’s mu...
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But growing up in that world also meant a front-row seat to the less glamorous truths. The exploitation. The silence. The Black women who powered one of the greatest musical collectives in American music history and walked away with almost nothing to show for it.
"Every hit record, at least from 1975 until 1983 with 'Atomic Dog,' was either co-written or co-produced by somebody Mallia Franklin brought to Parliament-Funkadelic. And if she hadn't done that, what would have happened to hip-hop?"
Seth Neblett
Seth Neblett (Image by Apollonia Kotero)
That's not hyperbole. Mallia Franklin introduced George Clinton to Bootsy Collins. She brought keyboardist Junie Morrison into the P-Funk fold. She was the only Parlet member with a formal contract at Casablanca Records, because label president Neil Bogart made it a condition: whatever girl group George was putting together, Mallia had to be in it. When she started asking questions about money and speaking up on behalf of the whole group, the powers behind P-Funk quietly began limiting Parlet's opportunities. Squeaky wheel, meet grease that never came. And as Seth made clear, that story wasn't unique to P-Funk. It echoed across decades of Black music.
"The pimp persona you spoke of is often carried throughout the generations. As recent as Lil' Kim with Biggie, they always had somebody pulling the strings. I look at Parlet as a template for a lot of female groups that came along after them."
DJ Sir Daniel
What makes Mothership Connected more than a Black music history deep dive is the permanence of what it accomplishes. These stories, many of which Seth witnessed as a child, had never been formally documented. When Parliament-Funkadelic was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997, not one of the women who helped build that sound was invited to the ceremony. Not one. Jay Ray put it plainly:
"This is literature now. When researchers in the future are talking about the history of Black music, or the history of Black women in music, your book is part of that."
Jay Ray
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The conversation also surfaces a detail that quietly rewrites music history: Mallia Franklin introduced Dr. Dre to Roger Troutman. She was working with Death Row Records, and she picked up the phone and connected the two. The result was "California Love," Tupac's voice over that unmistakable talk box, and G-Funk as we know it. Roger Troutman himself confirmed the story in an interview, describing a 'female friend' who made the call. That female friend was Mallia Franklin.
It took Bootsy Collins, sitting across from Seth at dinner, to finally push him over the line. You've already started some of the work. You know the story. You write it. Mallia passed away in 2010 at 57, before the book was finished. Seth completed it for her, and for himself.
"If my mother's story is not known, then the sacrifice of my childhood I felt would be in vain."
Seth Neblett
Mothership Connected: The Women of Parliament-Funkadelic is published by University of Texas Press. Use discount code UTXPCA for 30% off at utpress.utexas.edu. Also available on Amazon. Find Seth on Instagram at @sethamillion and the book at @mothershipconnected.