Idolator
Every once in a while, Idolator reaches into our vast record-collection vaults for a feature we've imaginatively title The Vault. Today's entry is from our peoples Peter Rubin, a magazine vet and retired b-boy:
After rapper Del the Funkee Homosapien's debut via a weird cameo on Ice Cube's AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted—but before he got his citizenship to the Freakshow Nebula—he ruled a certain segment of early/mid-'90s hip-hop with a hemp-stainedly iron fist. And while his second album, No Need for Alarm, is one of those let-the-tape-rock-'til-the-tape-pops subterranean classics, he really shined on his 12" B-sides, when he brought in various members of his Hieroglyphics crew to wreak polysyllabic havoc over beats that can only be described as "aggressively loping." The tracks were way too weird for what passes for hip-hop now, but back then they were orgonzo (orgasmically gonzo! we just made that up!) for pause-tape nerds like us.
A few years back, Elektra helped us all out (and presumably jerked Del out of even more money in the process) by collecting some of the classics on The Elektra Years: A B-Boy Handbook . That's probably out of print by now, too, but because we love you we're offering a peek back. If you get a chance, go see Del in concert. He'll probably invite you backstage and kick your ass at a video game that hasn't been released in the U.S. yet.
Del the Funkee Homosapien - The Undisputed Champs (featuring Q-Tip and Pep Love) [MP3, link expired]
Del the Funkee Homosapien - Burnt (featuring Hieroglyphics) [MP3, link expired]
SPECIAL IDOLATOR VICE-VERSA BONUS:
The Shamen (Pep Love & Jay Biz) - Anesthesia (featuring Del the Funkee Homosapien) [MP3, link expired]
Comments
Wow Im so happy to see this on here, it is one of my favorite CD's.
"The Undisputed Champs" is a great song
Cheers
i absolutely love this dude! why is this guy not a billionaire? why does anyone know who 'the game' even is? why does puffy not live in a cardboard box when del is out there making records? as far as i am concerned, 98% of all hip hop is an also-ran.
Once in a while I am reminded why Idolator is the most underated of all the Gawker media sites... I guess this is my way of saying "Nice Job". 'nuff respect.
BTW, that preceding comment really makes me want to make some sort of "Lucas With The Lid Off" joke....
wow, i've never heard one of those before! nor am i familiar with a certain suzanne vega song about someone who lives upstairs from you. also, i have never seen a 1986 coming of age movie featuring a young corey haim. also brand new to me: jokes that rhyme my name with 'mucus'
Nice try, but I refuse to come up off any of my Lucas records. They're the soundtrack to my zany antics.
mistadobalina mistabobdobalina mistabobdobalina
Please, nobody throw anything at me for bringing up the obvious, but I just wanted to mention the awesome Deltron 3030 project with Dan "The Automator" Nakamura...and of course the trippy verses on a certain four-piece animated group's debut album.
Sweet. I love Del.
There are times when I think Del is the epitome of what Kool Keith could have been if he wasn't so obsessed with pornography and smearing shit stains on the walls. And how is it they both have Dan the Automator in common yet never did an album together? Opportunities lost.
Also: Handsome Boy Modeling School, since we're talking about Dan the Automator... Del does several cameos on that too.
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