Del Tha Funkee Homosapien disappoints yet again in his latest Vancouver attempt. I feel as though I should like him… and I do! His collaborations with Handsome Boy Modeling School, Gorillaz and Deltron 3030 are wildly original and borderline revolutionary. Yet his live shows are lackluster and just plain boring. I couldn't much tell one song from the other, nor did anything really stand out or catch my funkee ear.
However, all was not lost that rainy Thursday evening. Halifax import Josh Martinez opened and put on a great show. High energy, accompanied by hype man and mc in his own right "Evil" (www.myspace.com/evildraftdodgers - check him out), a bass player the respected DJ Moves not to mention a guest appearance by Moka Only. Martinez sporting suspenders and a straw fedora was ready to entertain and entertain he did. Opening with classic, "another day"(buckup princess '03) and keeping the party going with songs like "BC Trees" (buckup princess '03) and "Fight or Fuck" (underground pop '07) which he celebrates the young man's ambition to get laid and disparages his ambition to fight. But lets go back to "tha funkee homosapien"…real name Teren Delvon Jones…Being that this is the 2nd time I've seen the man live and the 2nd time I've been disappointed, I conclude I'm not a big Del fan. Frankly I find his beats and flow boring and while he might be a *good lyricist, he's not a *great lyricist. These qualities, combined with his oh so casual stage presence, add up to an overall boring show. He dropped the kitschy crowd pleaser "Mistadobalina" and introduced some songs from his soon to be released album "11th hour" but unless he's rockin' with Dan the Automator or the 'ol heiro crew, I'm not a fan. Sorry. I really wanted to like him, I did, and I do respect him, especially since he started his own label "Hieroglyphics Imperium Recordings" but I just don't dig his solo stuff. I should add, a crowd full of people would surely disagree -Sidebar: this was one strange crowd…mostly 20 something whiteboys in cool hats and sneakers trying their best to dance and trying equally as hard to get wasted. They were a weird rowdy bunch, but super into it.
I think what disappoints me the most is Del's strong desire and belief in originality (a belief I share and aim for as well) and his complete unoriginality solo and live. As one of my friends put it "maybe that's his originality – he puts on boring hip hop shows – really pretty original."
If you are a Del fan, "11th hour" is likely to drop at the end of this year. Keep an eye on Josh Martinez, he's always up to something, and MC Evil who has a new album coming out tentatively titled Howl and who is starting to get widespread acclaim, building a name for himself here in the Canadian Scene.
Upcoming city happenings: 07/25 –guru jazzmatazz @ commodore /// 07/26 – Stinkmitt @ Section 3 /// 07/27 The Simpsons movie opens /// 07/28 –Lantern Festival @ Trout Lake /// 08/08 –Subtle @ Richards on Richards /// 08/18 – Michael Franti & Spearhead @ Malkin Bowl
