Less Than Zero
Del the Funky HomosapienNs latest album is priceless, literally
Like more acts every day, Del the Funky Homosapien (formerly spelled “Tha Funkee Homosapien”) has decided to release his music for free. The longtime alternative hip-hop legend—of cult solo success and Deltron 3030 and Gorillaz fame—is even giving away his new album, Funkman. Starting April 7, fans can download it via ?delthefunkyhomosapien.bandcamp.com, where they can also stream nearly every Del record, including his 1991 debut, I Wish My Brother George Was Here, and the N93 classic No Need for Alarm.
So why is he doing it?
“To make a long story short, people arenNt buying records,” he says. He believes his fans are as jaded with the music industry as he is, and to prove that his heart is still in his work, Del isnNt charging for Funkman. “This is not a mixtape. ItNs a real album,” he continues. “No strings attached. Just like, ‘Here, listen to this and see if this donNt open your eyes.N I got other albums sitting around. ThatNs what I do every day.”
In fact, just before our phone interview, Del had fallen asleep while working at his keyboard.
“I donNt even go to bed,” he laughs. “I donNt move from the same spot. INll be in the same spot all day every day, workinN on music. Seriously, thatNs all I do.” Using the computer program Ableton Live, Del now constantly builds songs from loops, beats and stray rhymes. He has even unleashed raps through Twitter, though fans wonNt hear them on a future recording. “TheyNre miscellaneous,” he says. “When I write a song, I usually want everything to go together. I want the rhythm of my flow to somewhat match the rhythm of the beat. I want some sort of marriage between the lyrics and the music.”
That marriage has always helped DelNs rhymes go down easily, no matter how dense or absurd. Though his cousin Ice Cube helmed I Wish My Brother George Was Here, which yielded the fluke hit “Mistadobalina” when Del was still a teenager, No Need for Alarm firmly established him as his own weird entity with his own weird friends (the famed Hieroglyphics crew) and, more important, as the eccentric uncle of brainy West Coast backpack rap. Since then, his albums have grown darker, from 2000Ns Both Sides of the Brain to last yearNs much-anticipated Definitive Jux follow-up, Eleventh Hour, but he can still be relied upon for dirty, wordy flow crammed with creative putdowns and revelations.
Along the way, he has rapped with Dinosaur Jr for the Judgment Night soundtrack, done a cartoon guest turn on the inaugural Gorillaz hit “Clint Eastwood,” and dreamed up a dystopian future for Deltron 3030, his concept-album collaboration with producer Dan the Automator. HeNs even got a Best Of, though it was the work of his former label Elektra and he wasnNt involved. Despite his initial unhappiness with it, he admits, “They did a pretty good job. They got some songs that are pretty hard to find.”
Following an eight-year lull that he attributes to a “psychopath” girlfriend whoNs now fortunately an ex, Del is proud to be prolific again. ThereNs even a new Deltron record in the works, which is fitting since the first one envisioned a world consumed by corporate greed.
“Oh, yeah, I knew all this stuff was gonna happen,” he says of the current economic meltdown. “Not to get too on the political tip, but certain things historically are just known. So INm not really hella shocked by it. I knew all this was gonna happen with the record industry, too.”
The next Deltron record will focus on a major collapse of technology that leaves Earth stranded in another Stone Age. As for the faltering music industry, Del has made sure to take the reins when it comes to recording and releasing his music. And as anyone who has played a Tony Hawk video game knows, DelNs music can find its way into any medium.
“INll do anything,” he asserts. “Whatever avenue it could go in . . . I know people need music for anything—birthday cards, anything. INm not above it. ItNs not like I feel like thatNs beneath me. I love all music.”
And with that ex out of the way, Del is again free to pursuit any avenue he pleases. “If youNre working against a force for a long time,” he says, “you get used to doing that. So when that force is away . . . ItNs like INm a superman now.”
Del the Funky Homosapien with Mike Relm, the Serendipity Project and Bukue One at the Glass House, 200 W. Second St., Pomona, (909) 865-3802; www.theglasshouse.us. Thurs., April 9, 7 p.m. $15.
