Del Tha Funkee Homosapien “Bubble Pop”

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Prior to where he is today, Del tha Funkee Homosapien paid his dues as part of his cousin Ice Cube’s Da Lench Mob, with Cube even producing Del’s debut full-length I Wish My Brother George Was Here. The single off that record, “Mistadobalina”, makes it clear that Del was on some different shit, but it would take some time for people to catch up to him. I caught up with him at a Hieroglyphics show—Del came out wearing a beanie with floppy ears, ate a hoagie and nodded his head, while Casual and the Souls of Mischief took their turns on the mic. He also blinked his eyes to the beat, never skipping a bat while he mowed down his sandwich. Upon his last bite, he picked up his mic and set the crowd off with the mere utterance of his first few words. That’s the kind of magnetic energy Del has, and it is the ingestion of herbs and fungus that have helped open up his mental processes to a cosmic universe nobody in hip-hop has ever gone. The mainstream is always talking about Ol’ Dirty, and don’t get me wrong he’s dope, but Del set the “out there” bar and continues to raise it with each rhyme he writes. Add to that that without Del and Hiero, many of the other MCs on this bill maybe wouldn’t of even had a chance to do the good shit that they do.

— Alex Roman

DEL THA FUNKEE HOMOSAPIEN WITH ACEYALONE, OHNO, THIRSTY FISH, DJ ORATOR AND MORE AT THE VAULT 350, 350 PINE AVE, LONG BEACH. 7 PM / $20 / ALL AGES. WWW.VAULT350.COM.