Deltron Zero and Automator

I'll get off my ranty political soapbox for a bit. Sorry. I got to foaming at the mouth. DOWN BOY!

I just learned that Del the Funkee Homosapien is about to have a new album out (11th Hour) - he released a DVD early because production still hasn't wrapped up on the album. Also found out that there's going to be a follow-up album for Deltron 3030, which was sleeper bombshell that snuck into my library and continues to detonate solid beats and rhymes sending waves of audio joyness into my noodlebox. Dan the Automator, which some of you may know, is a SF-based DJ/producer that has masterminded some of the more recognized concept trip-hop space apocalypto rap out there, and was responsible for laying the tracks and production of Deltron 3030.

I was lucky enough to be in Oakland when rap was coming into its own, before the wave of mindless gangsta rap swept over suburbia and provided Dave Chappelle with enough "white boys rollin' thug life" material for years to come. I'm thinking of the skit with the black white supremacist, and Dave's supremacist character calls a group a white kids in car, which is bumping some heavy g-rap thumps, "a bunch of n***as" (I ain't saying the word now, people...you just saw what Michael Richards did...the wound is still fresh), and the kids are like...coool!

Anywho, it was in 89-92 and everyone was rapping. Ice Cube was still putting out solid albums - think "Death Certificate" - and in 91 Del (who is a cousin of Cube) released "I Wish My Brother George Was Here." You may know one of the singles from the album: Mistadobalina. Then there was Hieroglyphics, which was an amalgamation of a hefty crew of Oakland rappers who banded together to save costs on production, in order to launch their solo careers...Del was one. Casual another...Opio, A-Plus, Snupe, Tajai...

In my opinion, Del has had the most staying power, or maybe it's just that I get more from his lyrics. In any case, it's been about 15 years, and Del's still putting out music that continues to stimulate. He's not getting stoopid loot like Will Smith, but then again, he's not dropping "Gettin' Jiggy Wit' It."