DEL THE FUNKY HOMOSAPIEN – Eleventh Hour – 2008 - Album review
HIGHLIGHTS: Workin It – Str8t Up & Down
SOUNDBITE: “..Your whole style’s revolting/ Insulting/ You cloud my intelligence/ As if things you say have any relevance/ Just because you say it with eloquence”
RATING: 2.5/5
Oakland native, founder member of the Hieroglyphics collective, co-founder of Hiero Imperium Recordings, Golden-era hero, cousin of Ice Cube, possessor of one of the most distinctive voices in hip-hop and all-round lyrical scientist, Del is legendary. Unlike this album. Yes, I’m afraid his Eleventh Hour is not his finest. It’s been roughly eight years since Del’s last two full-length works - weirdy computer game-noise sampling trip-out Both Sides Of The Brain and the backpacker-friendly collab. Deltron 3030 with Dan The Automator – a double whammy that he followed with a cameo on the first Gorillaz album in 2001 and work on the Hieroglyphics LP Full Circle in '03. Since that time he’s been under a punishing schedule to – er - change the spelling of ‘Funkee’ to ‘Funky’. Work must have been non-stop. Oh yeah and of course he’s been working on Eleventh Hour too, which is mostly self-produced (like Both Sides…), features what are apparently lots of computer game noise samples (like Both Sides….) and frankly sounds a bit like 13 outtakes from Both Sides…. So quite a lot like Both Sides Of The Brain then but with less variety in musical style, tempo or rhyme topics (a lot on Eleventh Hour are battle rhymes) and without the impact of Both Sides because we’ve heard it before. In other words – competent but lacklustre. Only two tracks really have anything to say for themselves – single Workin It’s battle rhyme over and intense widdly synth and the livelier and the actually pretty good battle rhyme Str8t Up & Down over a funkier break and distorted synthy clavinet thing. Having sensitive creative tendencies myself, I’m sure this isn’t the sort of critical response that Del would hope for but hey - what can you do? Still, that’s what your own label ‘s for isn’t it – you don’t need anyone to believe in you if you believe in yourself right! Wrong!. This isn’t being put out on Hiero Imperium but on El-P’s Definitive Jux label instead – presumably because El-P has the belief in this album that I lack. The bottom line is, firstly ‘Are there any tracks that would move the crowd if they made it onto the wheels of steel?’ – the answer is ‘ Str8t Up And Down’ with a good wind behind it and secondly, ‘Irrespective of the answer to the previous question – would I want to give this album repeated listens?’ er – apart from the two tracks mentioned in ‘HIGHLIGHTS’ ‘no’. Still everyone’s allowed an off-day now and then – especially a legend. Hopefully now he’s done two albums in the same style Del will get bored and get some new beats and hooks or preferably get someone else to do the beats so he can focus on rhymes. You can probably expect that around 3030. Which brings me neatly to rumours of a new Deltron project. It has three main ingredients – the beats – responsibility of Dan The Automator (completed 2006), - the scratches – responsibility of Kid Koala (completed 2006) and the rhymes – responsibility of Del ‘What rhymes?’ The Funky Homosapien (not yet ready). I think I see a pattern emerging.
Out now.
RELATED LINKS
Listen to Del The Funky Homosapien – Eleventh Hour
Del The Funky Homosapien - Myspace
definitivejux.net
Definitive Jux -myspace
hieroglyphics.com
Hiero - myspace
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