Del tha Funky Homosapien, born Teren Delvon Jones on August 12, 1972, in Oakland, California, entered the scene as the cousin of gangster rapper Ice Cube and began his career backed by Ice Cube’s group Da Lench Mob. Unlike Ice Cube’s darker, more violent approach, Del infused his rhymes with humor, a quality rare in most rap releases of the era. Elektra/Asylum signed him and issued his debut album, I Wish My Brother George Was Here, in 1991; Ice Cube handled production duties while Parliament/Funkadelic samples supplied the sonic foundation typical of early-nineties rap.
The 1994 follow-up, No Need for Alarm, marked a clear shift once Ice Cube stepped away from the boards and the P-Funk aesthetic gave way to a more refined, jazz-inflected palette. Commercial indifference greeted this sophomore effort, leaving Del without a new release for the next four years. After parting ways with Elektra, he joined forces with Casual and Souls of Mischief to deliver Future Development in 1998 on their shared imprint, Hieroglyphics Records.
Two projects surfaced in 2000: the solo album Both Sides of the Brain and the self-titled debut by Deltron 3030, a collaboration with the Automator and Kid Koala. Eight years passed before another solo full-length arrived, yet Del remained active through guest spots, most notably contributing vocals to the hit “Clint Eastwood” on Gorillaz’s self-titled debut—an appearance he later folded into his own live performances.
Def Jux announced his signing in 2007 and issued the long-awaited Eleventh Hour, an atypical release for the label, in March 2008. The following year he joined Artifacts member Tame One and production outfit Parallel Thought on the collaborative album Parallel Uni-Verses. In 2011 the three-disc set Golden Era appeared, pairing one newly recorded album with two earlier digital-only projects. Del reunited with New Jersey-based Parallel Thought in 2012 for Attractive Sin, an album that fused his West Coast sensibilities with the duo’s gritty East Coast beats.
