Del The Funky Homosapien: Golden Era

Del The Funky Homosapien: Golden Era
Del the Funky Homosapien experienced commercial success with his 1991 debut album, I Wish My Brother George Was Here but then was largely absent from the rest of the decade until his 2000 album with Dan the Automator, Deltron 3030. Deltron 3030 became an underground hip hop classic with its futuristic space opera lyrics and airtight production. He remained on the radar by collaborating with Gorillaz in 2001 on their self-titled debut before disappearing again for nearly a decade. Lately Del has been satisfied releasing pay-what-you-want albums on his website but 2011, sees him return to the CD format. Golden Era is his first hard release since 2008’s disappointing Eleventh Hour.
Largely what made Eleventh Hour disappointing was its fairly raw beats. Unfortunately the beats have not changed much on Golden Era; they are still far from the lush production of Deltron 3030. “Pearly Gates” beat is so raw and repetitive that it actually gets annoying and no amount of Del’s charismatic flow can save it.
Luckily, many of the more mediocre beats can be saved by Del’s flows. There is nothing special about the beat on “Upside Down” but Del manages to slip in similes like “I generate more heat than the earth’s core” that draws a smile.
What always amazes me about Del is his ability to say so much without saying anything at all. At the end of “Upside Down” all you have learned is Del thinks he is a good rapper; there are no revelations in the track, only braggadocio and tricky wordplay. Yet despite saying nothing at all, his ability to put words together is still of the highest caliber. Listening to Del’s flow is like listening to Charlie Parker play the saxophone or Slash play the guitar. His syllables seem to flow so naturally together that you can sometimes get lost in the sounds that he is making and lose the meaning completely.
That is the true magic of Del yet his game is at the highest level when he is musically accompanied by beats of the same caliber. Unfortunately, beats of that caliber are sorely missed on Golden Era and the album ends up feeling like another mediocre effort from Del.
Rating: 7.3/10
MP3: Del The Funky Homosapien “Upside Down”
Buy: iTunes or Amazon