Rating:
  Review Date: March 11, 2008
  Website: Del Tha Funky Homosapien Website
  Label: Def Jux

Del Tha Funky Homosapien “Eleventh Hour” Album Review
Whenever I think of Del Tha Funky Homosapien, I think of my trip to the University of Michigan. Back in ’97, my homie E and I took a road trip to Ann Arbor to holler at some young ladies that were students there. We got in late Friday night, kicked it at some keg party, and woke up the next morning to attend a football game. A couple hours and a half bottle of snuck-into-the-stadium Captain Morgan’s later, I found myself wandering aimlessly around campus – unsure where my friends were or how to find them.

Then out of nowhere, I saw a kid yelling and pointing at me from a second story patio with a beer in his hand. “Del!” he shouted, “Del Tha Funky Homosapien!” Still a little shook from the rum, it took me a minute to realize that he was referring to my shirt – a long-sleeved yellow tee with Del’s face screen-printed on it. “You know Del?” I hollered back. “Do I?” he replied, “Come on up brotha!”

The door of the two-story house was open, so I accepted the invitation and entered. I walked down a crowded hall, ducked under some cat being hoisted up for a keg stand, up a staircase, over a kid passed out cold on the hard wooden steps, and through a dirty-ass bedroom onto the patio. “Del!” the stranger said laughing, “Del Tha Funky Homosapien!” With nothing else said, he handed me a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon, passed a joint of some of that dirty brown broke-college-kid doo-doo schwag, and threw in Del’s “I Wish My Brother George Was Here” followed by “No Need For Alarm.”

For the next four hours, we chilled on this kid’s patio drinking Pabst, smoking dirty weed, and hollering at every person who walked by. We barely spoke, didn’t even exchange names, and just listened to Del Tha Funky Homosapien CDs over and over. Around 10 p.m., I looked down to notice my lost crew passing by. I gave the kid a dap, took a beer for the road, a ran ahead to catch my friends. As I looked back to throw him the peace sign, my unnamed friend threw a victorious fist in the air. “Del!” he shouted, “Del Tha Funky Homosapien!”

That was over a decade ago. I’ve barely thought of the experience since. But a couple days ago, when I got my hands on an early copy of Del’s “Eleventh Hour,” it all came rushing back. Thoroughly evolved yet just as unique as ever, Del somehow managed to bring back that feel good vibe that hip-hop was to me back then. While the album is not overly conscious, the lyrics not overly intellectual and the beats not overly bumping, there’s something about this album that just feels good to me.

Most of the songs on “Eleventh Hour” are just plain old battle tracks in which Del calls out and makes fun of a variety of people. Bubble Pop is a comical track intended to poke fun at rappers and the groups of people who gather around them. The following verse is aimed at mainstream hip-hop’s materialistic women:

Yeah I go coo-coo for afro puffs/
And blue jeans where the massive ass be stuffed/
I come to see lovely honeys – that’s what’s up/
Not your money hungry hos that be fast as fuck/
Your ass is stuck in la la land/
Then next morning talking ‘bout how dry I am/
Tell people I’m mean – damn right I am/
But what you like so bad/
Is that I’m like your dad/
A ho will compromise/
Themselves for pleasures they want at the time/
Do anything for anybody/
Now you tell me who’s really sorry/
Used to have an appealing body/
Til you let brothas ride the wheel off the trolley/

We all know a couple of them, right? Other tracks are wittier, and rely on speed and abstract flow to demonstrate anger or annoyance through humor. Foot Down allows Del to lash out at adversaries. The following verse is aimed at those cats who always try to start shit at a show:

Here we go again y’all against all who get off/
Pissed off at D-el like their situation is his fault/
Bitch all you want – my people is up in the front/
The smokin’ blunts and you get the hunch /
They ain’t gotta be told more than once/
Bridge over troubled water we fenna bubble harder/
Sayonara – I don’t harbor bad feelings ‘cause I know karma/
It’s like a boomerang so fuck a finding who’s to blame/
Now maybe you should change man I ain’t playing your stupid games/
So I shook you, I don’t use your name/
But I know all the spots you used to hang/
But I don’t really booster bang/
I used to that was a youthful thang/

Del’s “Eleventh Hour” offers imaginative beats, lyrics and production while somehow recapturing that fun feel-good vibe of hip-hop’s golden era. While not groundbreaking or classic in nature, this album is an enjoyable release from one of hip-hop’s most unique, creative and longstanding underground emcees. I highly recommend picking up a copy. Peace.

Related:
If you’re feeling this album, you should check out other Def Jux artists such as Aesop Rock “None Shall Pass”, El-P “I’ll Sleep Better When You’re Dead”, or C-Rayz Walz “Chorus Rhyme”.

Album Track Listing:

1. Raw Sewage
2. Bubble Pop
3. Back In The Chamber
4. Slam Dunk
5. Situations
6. Naked Fonk
7. Hold Your Hand
8. Foot Down
9. I’ll Tell You
10. Workin’ It
11. Last Hurrah
12. Str8t Up And Down
13. I Got You
14. Funkyhomosapien