Great Homosapien, Mediocre Songs

Del the Funky Homosapien has made a name for himself over a long career. Since his debut in 1991, he has dropped over 12 solo LP’s along with several group efforts. On his latest album, Attractive Sin, he teams up with Parallel Thought and slaughters each track with a verbal assault. Parallel Thought infuses a New Jack Swing into the mix, giving it a nice chill soundtrack for Del to flow over

On the track “Charlie Browns,” Del drops the line “My voice sounds like Charlie Browns teacher / Can’t reach ya brain through the reefer,” talking to the youth of today, regarding their lack of knowledge of where they come from. Later on the track he goes on to refer to himself as “the hip hop Yoda.”

On “Blow Your Mind,” Del states that his “method is methadone” and it is gems like that which make the album enjoyable to listen to. You will find, sprinkled in his rhymes, several pop culture references and even a few nods to his cousin Ice Cube, but one thing that you won’t find are many choruses. Some songs seem to go on forever even though hardly any of them break the 5-minute mark.

Del is a master lyricist, but at times his flows get a little long winded, and if interrupted with a hook or chorus then maybe they wouldn’t seem as overbearing.  A simple fix like that would take this album from being mediocre to fantastic.

Parallel Thought, on the other hand, does an excellent job on the production of Attractive Sin. The soundtrack is a veritable Delorean, taking you back in time to the age of Jazz bars and speakeasies. “Ownership” is the perfect example, strip away the vocals and you have one hell of a blues jam band. Parallel Thought tries to make every track stand out and are the perfect counterbalance to Del’s rap style.

Attractive Sin is an album that showcases Del the Funky Homosapien’s wordplay and his ability to rap better than most MC’s out there today, but as a whole never reaches the full potential one would expect from a veteran. Even with Parallel Thought’s beats and rhythms it’s easily forgettable. For those die hard Del fans out there this album is worth the casual listen, but it will leave you yearning for more, because you know he is capable of much better.