Del The Funky Homosapien – Eleventh Hour

Coming out of Oakland, Del and his Hieroglyphics posse altered the art of rhyme in the early 90’s, earning respectability from a hip-hop culture so closely associated with the east coast. Though not at first. Del’s humorous and bouncy rhyming meter resembled nothing of his cousin Ice Cube’s gangsterism, instead suggesting a nineteen-year old with a skewed take on day-to-day living. Fast-forward to the modern day, and Del is an indie-rap superstar, earning much of his reputation with the left-field conceptual album Deltron 3030 and as a rapping cartoon character courtesy of the Damon Albarn’s Gorillaz. With his latest record, Eleventh Hour, Del pulls his head out on the clouds, and offers a release more in-tuned to his early records: heavy on the bottom-thick funk and over-fascinated with braggadocio. It’s still a thrill to hear his rubbery cadence paint absurd vision of being Del, and while not as intriguing as previous albums, a B grade from Del still sets the curve everyone strives to attain.