Del The Funky Homosapien

Bio:Cousin of renowned rapper Ice Cube, Del began his career writing lyrics for Cube's backing band, Da Lench Mob. In 1991, with the help of Ice Cube, Del released at 19 years old his first solo album, I Wish My Brother George Was Here. The album was a commercial success, largely due to the popularity of the hit single, "Mistadobalina". Ultimately Del, who was not pleased with the limited musical range of the album, took matters into his own hands, and severed his production-artist relationship with Ice Cube for his next album, No Need for Alarm.

No Need for Alarm also saw the introduction of the famous Oakland clique Hieroglyphics, whose original members included the widely acclaimed Souls of Michief, Casual, Domino, and Pep Love. No Need for Alarm was a bold move on Del's part as it allowed him to develop, display, and solidify his unique style as an MC, and also helped to expose both the regional Oakland sound of hip hop, as well as the freestyle based, "golden era-97" style of hip hop being expanded at the time.

In 2001 Del collaborated with pop-group Gorillaz for two songs on their debut album, both of which became singles: "Clint Eastwood" and "Rock the House". In their cartoon-based videos he is portrayed as a ghost. Del later commented in an interview on the success of "Clint Eastwood" by saying to the interviewer that he actually wrote the song with the book "How to Write a Hit Song," a book that he bought with a coupon his mother gave him. After the song went platinum he gave the plaque to his mother.