Doodlebug of Digable Planets and P.T. Swope III, Esq (referred to as "Thomas" in this interview) have released a graphic novel titled The Epic of Heaven & Earth Association. The serial graphic novel features original paintings by Kim LeDee and additional illustrations by Godhead the General and is now available for purchase here.

Doodlebug and P.T. Swope III sat down with Rock The Bells to talk all things "Heaven & Earth."

Doodlebug, who also goes by the moniker Cee Knowledge, says that he always illustrated his own comic books as a youth.

"My mom was a school teacher, so she'd always bring these empty composition books home," he says. "I always loved comic books, drawing and writing stories, so I'd make my own little comic books. I called them 'Tyco Comics Group' because I had my little Tyco racing set. My mom still has some of those comics in her storage."

Cee says that this is his first official graphic novel that he's self published and that he has actually been writing it since the late '90's.

"Me and my writing partner, Thomas, met in the late '90's in DC, and we were collaborating on some other things, and we wrote this book together around the late '90s/ 2000. We wrote the story and met up with the sister Kim LeDee who was good friends with Thomas at the time. He asked her to illustrate the story, which she did gladly. She created these huge oil paintings and we took digital photos of them and started to try to develop a story."

Cee says that they encountered obstacles and lost crew members, but ultimately it was the down time that the pandemic provided them that allowed them the opportunity to move forward.

"For some reason we came across the old files and we saw that this stuff was good and it was a perfect time to bring this project back to life, and so we did," Cee remembers.

"In the last few years we began to put the things in motion to get this to where it is now," Thomas interjects. "One of the things to me that was remarkable about it is that over that period of time there's become this official version of Hip-Hop with Sedgewick Avenue and Kool Herc, which is all exactly what happened, but it's an official version that's interesting to hear from all three of us. Cee is an artist, I was a partner in a company that did advertising in the music business and Kim was a graphic artist at Howard. Each of us had a different perspective on Hip-Hop, and its politics, and the business, which is reflected in the work."

Thomas goes on the speak about how some of things were left out of Hip-Hop's official story.

"There are some things that are left out of the official story that are in our story," he says. "Just like Martin Luther King is on McDonald's cups for Black History Month, that's not how he was celebrated when he was alive. He was viewed as a trouble maker and a nuisance. It's the same with Hip-Hop. Both African Americans and non African Americans were averse to Hip-Hop at first. It wasn't widely accepted like it is now, and writing from that perspective I think resonates with a lot of people. Other things were happening like the CIA facilitating the importation of crack. We document that in the end notes of the book, because even though it's a novel and we want people to have fun, we want them to stumble upon the end notes."

The story of The Epic of Heaven & Earth Association contains many elements of real life and actual history woven into its fictional story. "We start the story in the 7th dimension, which is Africa with the importation of Afronauts to planet Super Market where they are exploited because of their possession of the 12 Jewels," says Thomas.

When explaining sampling, Funk, and Hip-Hop, Thomas describes the novel's narrative. "Everyone thought the Funk had died when Dr. Funkenstein [George Clinton] did 'Atomic Dog'," he says. "Through the powers of microcosmic funk fission George was split into 15,000 separate funk units that were then manned by specially appointed Afronauts. In Earth language we know that would be the 15,000 times that he has been sampled."

Thomas says that there are no references to race in the story. "All human beings originate in Africa, and are Afronauts," he says. "They can choose to be involved in greed, hatred and delusion, and that will then cut off their oxygen supply and therefore we portray them with blue faces. The Afronauts are just natural human beings who choose to live in accordance with the laws of nature."

According to Cee Knowledge, this is part one of a series of novels and that a podcast is forthcoming to support their current and upcoming works. "In the podcast we will combine current real news with fictional characters. Like this Ron DeSantis versus Disney thing. Our first podcast broadcasting from the seventh dimension will be a debate between Mickey Mouse and Ron DeSantis. We are voicing them over and creating a conversation that we think they'd have with each other. We break down the issues between them with humor, but we mix in some real shit. We will bring back people like Frederick Douglas in our future episodes."

Cee Knowledge says that the novel is self published mainly to retain creative control. "We thought about Amazon, Kindle and all that but we want to have creative control over our narrative. The only place where you can purchase it currently is on our website, or at a Digable Planets show. We may add it to mainstream outlets in the future."

As far as new Digable Planets music, Cee says that they are talking about it. "We are talking about it more seriously than we than we have in the last 15 years," he says. "A few prominent Hip-Hop producers have offered to work on a new project with us. It's a very serious possibility that will do new music."