Didn’t intend the text in that drawing to mean that it stinks, but that’s a matter of opinion anyway. Morning breath really does stink though, that’s just reality. And nobody says it better than Del, something of an expert on the matter:

This fool’s breath, I mean so bad it’ll melt your ice cream / They say don’t say nothing if you can’t say nice things / Sittin too close to him it burned, like my eyes sting / I try to be subtle, hand him a stick of gum / I was a victim of breath on him / Running his yap about what set he from / Gotta get some gum gotta get him some

If a song was on the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 soundtrack, it should officially become the collective property of all mankind, as that game was a gift to us — it fell from heaven. So now it is yours, even though, I guess by my logic, it already was. Whatever.

syn⋅er⋅gy
–noun, plural -gies.
the cooperative action of two or more stimuli or drugs.

This post was brought to you by the letter “b” — for bud, bush, beasters, and of course, the best way to chase it down, beer. Soundtrack provided by Del the Funky Homosapien, with one of my favorite drinking/smoking/throwing-my-life-away-to-drugs songs, “BMs”. That stands for “Bob Marleys”, not “bowel movements,” by the way.

Del and Tame One - photo via nahright.com

Riding the tail end of Del the Funky Homosapien’s latest wave of manic output comes Parallel Uni-verses, a collaboration between him and original Artifacts member Tame One, featuring New Jersey duo Parallel Thought on the boards. The production on the album shines, doing two legendary emcees the justice they deserve. The songs are pumped full of that classic New York hip hop old school flavor, but that well-worn sound is tainted here by cynicism and a harder edge. The majority of the beats are dark and moody, which is a refreshing take on funk/soul inspired loops that tend to be more upbeat.

At times, like in the song above, the tone is almost reminiscent of The Cold Vein, if El-P had set his production sights on the 1970s as opposed to 2070.

In many ways, the album’s sound is an appropriately updated version of early 90s hip hop, without any cheesy gimmicks or lame digital effects, instead relying on incredibly proficient, classy production — a result achieved only through the combination of Parallel Thought’s atmospheric instrumentation and Del and Tame One’s timeless lyricism. It’s as much a trip down memory lane as it is a conscious assertion that neither of these rappers have fallen off.

Del might very well be the hardest working man in hip hop today. In just over a year, he’s put out three full-length albums. 2009 saw two entirely self-produced online-only releases, and both really give the impression of a guy holed up in a studio by himself, working constantly for no real end aside from simply creating for the sake of it. And that commands a certain level of respect on its own — this guy really treats hip hop as an art, as a labor of love even, and his personal connection to it is really what keeps driving his music.

Automatik Statik just came out in late September and is an interesting album by all accounts. Fans’ take on it has been something of a mixed bag, and understandably so, as after a first listen you don’t quite know what to make of it. However, if you listen closely you start to understand the album a little better — this is Del having fun with rap, keeping things light and enjoying himself more than anything else.

The beats are catchy for what they are, but they are admittedly pretty shallow. The production is fairly stripped down here as the focus of this album is absolutely on lyrics and flow; in fact, it sounds a lot like he’s just freestyling his way through most of the songs. While that might not make for the most polished work he’s put out, it’s impressive in its own right and it’s great to see such a veteran still driven, still practicing and still having fun with his craft.

One last note… on one track Del mentions how he’s left psychedelic drugs behind, which is interesting considering this album seriously benefits from a marijuana influenced ear canal due to its break neck abandon and total disregard for normal attention spans. If you’re not feeling it the first time, go back to it after swallowing some pot smoke — the haze will be lifted, ironically enough.

Del will always be my true love — if only just because of Deltron 3030, which I have stipulated must be buried with me in my last will and testament — but his crew of lesser known hoodlums and ne’er-do-wells, the Hieroglyphics, put out a couple of the most consistently enjoyable hip hop albums of the past decade. “Classic” is one of my favorite songs — the rapping and production are frantic and emphatic, but the song’s intro also shows the crew’s playfulness.

HOWEVER… the mixing of the album is a little wack here — the intro is actually at the end of the previous track, so here are both. What a tragedy.

You mo’fuckers are gonna get me thrown in jail