Born Teren Delvon Jones on August 12, 1972, in Oakland, California, Del tha Funky Homosapien counts renowned gangster rapper Ice Cube among his cousins and launched his career alongside Ice Cube’s backing band, Da Lench Mob. Unlike Ice Cube’s grim, violent style, Del frequently infuses his work with humor, a quality still rare in most rap. Elektra/Asylum issued his 1991 debut, I Wish My Brother George Was Here, which Cube produced and which, like much rap of the era, drew heavily on Parliament/Funkadelic samples from the 1970s.
His 1994 follow-up, No Need for Alarm, marked a clear musical shift once Cube stepped away from production duties; the P-Funk influences gave way to a more sophisticated, nearly jazzy approach. Despite this adventurous turn, the album sold poorly, leaving Del without a new release for another four years. After parting ways with Elektra, he linked up with fellow rappers Casual and Souls of Mischief to release his third project, Future Development, in 1998 on their label, Hieroglyphics Records.
The year 2000 brought two new efforts: the solo album Both Sides of the Brain and the self-titled debut from side project Deltron 3030, a collaboration with the Automator and Kid Koala. Eight years passed before another full-length solo record appeared, yet Del stayed active through guest spots, among them his contribution to Gorillaz’s self-titled debut, where his vocals powered the hit “Clint Eastwood”—a track he later folded into his own live performances. In 2007 he signed with Def Jux, which issued the long-awaited Eleventh Hour in March 2008.
A year later he joined Artifacts member Tame One and production team Parallel Thought for the collaborative album Parallel Uni-Verses. The three-disc set Golden Era arrived in 2011, containing one newly recorded album alongside two projects previously available only in digital format. Del reunited with New Jersey beatmakers Parallel Thought in 2012 for Attractive Sin, an album that blended his West Coast approach with their rugged East Coast sound.
