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Profile: DEL THE FUNKEE HOMOSAPIEN

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DEL THE FUNKEE HOMOSAPIEN
JV & The Hip-Hop Alien Has A New Bag of Funk

By Chris Faraone
Photography by Mike Graffigna

Bay Area alt-rhyme godfather, Del the Funky Homosapien, was never susceptible to peer pressure. In fact, he never had peers at all. As the ringleader of the Bay Area's seminal Hieroglyphics crew, Del brought the posse aesthetic to underground rap and spawned a culture of alt-hop fringe players in his wake. In the near-decade since his last solo record, Del has assisted acts ranging from the Grammy winning Gorillaz to the indelible Handsome Boy Modeling School. Always unpredictable, he recently jumped from his homegrown Hiero Imperium imprint to New York indie outfit Def Jux for his latest album, The 11th Hour. We waited until his fall tour ended to make an attempt at understanding how both sides of his mind operate.

YRB: Are you through with your tour?

Del: Yeah, it was hard. This one was two months I've never gone out that long. I figured it was a good idea to just knock all of this out now.

YRB: You've had some health problems over the past few years that make touring difficult, but you still hit the road whenever possible. How do you feel when you hear new artists talking about how much of a pain in the ass it is to tour for a couple of months?

Del: To each his reach, so I don't know. Something big for me might be nothing for somebody else. I know cats who love being on tour as long as they can they're like, 'Fuck going home.' This time I was sick the whole time pretty much bad food, bad conditions and hardly any sleep. Some people love eating Taco Bell for every damn meal that's not me. I like to eat healthy.

YRB: You've always gone about things in a very anti-establishment way. You've never followed the pack stylistically. Is that how you were as a kid kind of a loner who did things your way?

Del: I've always been rebellious, but I don't go out of my way to go against the grain. I just have my own way of doing stuff and it works.

YRB: It's been a long time since your last solo album. How have you changed stylistically since Both Sides of the Brain, and how did you go about making this record?

Del: I decided to cool out on the freestyles and start making something that can resonate with people a little bit more. I wouldn't say it's completely literal because that's boring but for the most part it's less on trying to show how stylistically dope I am and more trying to communicate with people.

YRB: Without beating around the bush what took so long for The 11th Hour to drop?

Del: Just problems in life the crabs in the bucket theory and people talking shit. I had a couple of relationships that were just ridiculous; a couple of people tried to hold me down and keep me from doing what I need to do. I just had to handle that, which took quite a while. It's these hoes, really. I'm not trying to be a pimp or spend hella time doing that. Everything is reflected in the album, even though I'm not specific about anything that I'm talking about. That's one of those situations where you either feel me or you have no idea what I'm talking about. I tried to keep most stuff on this album on the ground though.

For the complete story get ISSUE 82 "THE FASHION ISSUE"