Last Updated September 1st, 1996
DEl tha funky homosapien, Father to Hieroglyphics
Without question, Del is one of the most talented Mcees in the business. His style has been mimicked to straight-out ripped off, and yet, he continues to amaze with his numerous amounts of styles, and sounds for your earphones.
I have met people who consider Del to be "too weird" for their tastes. They always bring up the fact of Del's openess to various drugs, almost always citing his interview in "The Source" where Del stated using 'shrooms as a way to elevate himself. And yet, the fact that some publications have labeled Delvon a "hip-hop hippie" have fogged many people's minds as to whether or not Del actually posesses any true hip-hop skills. Of course, if people would get over Del's semi-light-hearted debut of I Wish My Brother George Was Here, and peep his back-to basics sophomore effort, No Need For Alarm, they would realize that Del is a force not to be recokened with in the hip-hop world.
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A Lil' History. . .
Del started off writing lyrics for his cousin Ice Cube's crew, "The Lench Mob" around '91-92. Many of the Lench Mob songs give Del credit for lyrical contributions, among other things. One example is the 12" for Lench Mob member, Yo-Yo's hit single, You Can't Play With My Yo-Yo (Elektra, 91), where the following credit is given: "With the funky hip-hop punch from Delvon, The Funky Homosapien".
Del felt it was time to break off "contributing" and go out and do his own shit. With the help of his cousin Ice Cube, Del dropped his first full-length album, I Wish My Brother George Was Here, in 1991 on the Elektra Recording Group label. Singles such as "Dr. Bombay" and "Mistadobalina" propelled Del into the hip-hop spotlight. In addition, Del's newly formed crew, Hieroglyphics, began to get the recognition it was aiming for. The "Hiero Face" was plastered on everything from the inside sleeve of Del's album covers, to all the videos he published for that album. However, Del wasn't too pleased with the end result of his freshman album. "[I Wish My Brother George Was Here]", states Del in an interview with "The Source" magazine (Feb., 1994), "That whole function was really Ice Cube's idea and I just went along with it".
As a whole, the hip-hop community had mixed feelings about I.W.M.B.G.W.H. Some felt it to be just too corny, while others thought it was the flyest shit out there. And yet, there were some who recognized the fact that Del had lyrical talent, yet his obvious Parliament/Funkadelic-inspired beats (Courtesy cousin, Ice Cube), did seem a bit played. Del, not please with the album himself, took matters into his own hands, and completely severed his relationship with Ice Cube (production-wise), for his next album, to be titled, No Need For Alarm (Dec., 1994).
"I [took] matters into my own hands, me and Hieroglyphics, you know what I'm sayin'?", states Del from that same "Source" interview. No Need was a complete Hiero-project; members of the crew lent vocals as well as production skills in the hope of making the end-all album to kill off all "wack mceez". And so they did. Although notably darker in tone, Del's lyrical talents had increased so dramatically in the 2 years between his albums, that many-a-fan were shocked, to say the least. Del's beats were also mindbending as well.
Production ranged from tracks done by Del himself, along with the aid of Hiero members: A-Plus, Casual (Who produced my all-time-favorite Hiero song, "No Need For Alarm"), as well as Hiero's manager and lead-producer, Domino. Of course, the rest of Hiero had Del to thank for bringing them into the hip-hop world.
Del's first proteges, Souls of Mischief, saw tremendous success with their first single and album, 93 Til Infinity. Next out the gates came Casual with (yet another) ground-breaking album, Fear Itself. And last but certainly not least, straight outta Houston Texas, came the smooth-kid of the Hiero Crew, Snupe, with his debut album, Like It Should Be. Of course, there's tons of heads that can't be forgotten such as Pep Love & JBiz who are an ever-ready force in the Hieroglyphics Imperium. The list goes on and on.
Hieroglyphics is a force well-known and respected in the hip-hop world. Del's empire continues to push on in originality and innovation. It is him who Hiero Heads should give thanks to, for conceiving and baring this hip-hop crew known as, Hieroglyphics.
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