EMCEE 101: DEL THE FUNKEE HOMOSAPIEN

Man, what can I say? Cousin to Ice Cube. Founder of the Hieroglyphics crew. One of the early emcees who helped create the rhyme sound of the Bay Area.

His delivery is commanding and charismatic, cartoony but equally tough and a bit raw. Add this to his absurdly complex rhyme patterns and command of vibrant pop culture infused wordplay and you have one of the best sounding emcees to ever bless a piece of recording equipment.

Del has a brash fun melodic delivery that, at times can overwhelm a track. But over a solidly produced sparse track…you’re guaranteed to experience some sonic induced joy.

When listening to Del, don’t dissect or search for some great hidden meaning to life. Relax and listen to Del’s masterful sense of wordplay and sound. Del has a way of distorting and exaggerating the sounds of words to create complex melodic patterns that places appropriate emphasis for a clever point or beautiful image (many times both at the same time!).

What I really love about him is his great sense of timing and speed. Del’s flow is slow and clear enough to let the listener hear every word he says…but he still manages to keep things commandingly intense with his deep voice and variance in tonal pitch.

It’s very easy to get caught up in the speed of an Emcees delivery…but, in our modern world of Internet rap lyric databases, it all doesn’t mean a thing if an Emcee’s words and emotions cannot be conveyed in their original form: that of a rap song.

When Del is at his best he is able to seamlessly deliver rhymes on all levels.

Below are two of my favorite Del tracks. I’m sure there is no coincidence that the power of “Catch a Bad One” and “Offspring” beat productions comes as much from their silent pauses as the melodic arrangements. With these moments of silence, Del’s able to really let loose with his powerful rhyme deliveries.

I’m not sure who produced “Catch a Bad One” (help, anyone?) but El P, who also delivers a few rhymes on the track, produced “Offspring”.

My favorite Del rhymes from “Offspring”:

I'm very interplanetary and vary with various experiments.
Gregarious with verbals for your merriment.
What El-P tell me to use,
the beat di-ffuse, you lose and get played like a mood.
I'm rude revolting leave you molting. No thing –
Compares to my compadres.
We'll take it to Broadway.
It's beautiful the execution flawless.
You all wet, soggy groggy when you saw me.
But I never tire whenever I adjust my thrust.
Females blush I bring the California gold rush.
Your flow sucks, your stamina can't endure.
I manicure the lavender amateur landed words. You haven't heard?
Cannabis analyst add a twist to my manuscripts.
I'll have you sent to the showers.
Me and El-P, is superpowers like the US and USSR.
Blow you like the Deathstar.
Leave your chest scarred like Sagat.

[MP3] Del :: Catch a Bad One
[MP3] Del feat. El-P :: Offspring

Muttpop Bob