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We may never know what tomorrow has in store, but thanks to the gleaming insight of Dan the Automator, DJ Kid Koala and Del tha Funkee Homosapien, collectively known as Deltron 3030, the distant future is brought into a grim-looking view. Picking right up where they left off, the hip-hop supergroup doesn’t skip a beat after more than a decade of little to no musical output as a collective. And as if being creative in hip-hop’s traversed soundscape wasn’t hard enough, Deltron 3030 successfully orchestrate yet another awe-inspiring, dynamically constructed and masterfully conceptualized rap-opera. Your ears and imagination will be thrusted into a time capsule and sent hurling into the far-off land of the post-apocalyptic future in which Deltron 3030 are your tour guides.

First of all, addressing the elephant in the room, after taking a look at the track list… Joseph Gordon-Levitt is in the intro. Come on, who doesn’t like Mr. Gordon-Levitt? As B.o.B recruited Morgan Freeman to host the intro to his sophomore album, Deltron 3030 invested in some Hollywood talent to add an interesting note to this already quixotic creation. But the intro does more than just hook wary listeners in with a dose of modern familiarity; in fact, Joseph Gordon-Levitt incites the eerie atmosphere and details the beginning of the end of the time of Event II.

“One by one the banks began to collapse again. Politicians were running out of flocks to fleece. The middle class had faded into irrelevance. Anarchy had started to peek its head out.”

Yet as Joseph Gordon-Levitt notes in his desolate monologue, a glimpse of hope arose as Deltron 3030 returned after a decade-long hiatus (see what they did there?) and ventured to save the day once again.

Then with all the hype that could be pumped in such a complicated, hazy musical structure, “The Return” features an almost angelic quality symbolizing the heroes’ majestic return. Del tha Funkee Homosapien begins his monologue detailing his perspective on the world as he saw it and what happened that led the earth to be the way it was. But not before belting out an echoing and pleasingly memorable,

“It’s Deltron zero…and Automator!”

Turning the pages that are the tracks of Event II, Del the Funkee Homosapien constructs intricate verses replete with SciFi-esque storytelling and graphic images of a future world. The beats find themselves as dynamically challenging as ever. Incorporating genres across many scopes, Dan the Automator composes these instrumentals in ways no other producer can. And I say composes with direct intent to the manner in which the producer makes his music as such diversity in sound can only be worthy of being deemed as compositions rather than plain old beats. Electronica hinges on heavy rock influences while those rock influences float above funky alternative hip-hop undertones, all while incorporating genres like classical, funk, grunge and other styles of tomorrow. In between these complex compositions, Kid Koala lays down cuts adding to the lyrical value of the tracks (hear the painfully moving sample on the hook of “Agony”), as well as adding just one more level of depth to these brimming songs.

Other features include the oddly-used yet entertaining Lonely Island crew, fellow Hieroglyphics member Casual, common collaborator Damon Albarn (of the Gorillaz), and other actors, chefs and worldly singers and musicians. Indeed the track list is as inscrutable as the music is, yet each featured artist/actor/other personnel adds a bit of spice to Event II in their own unique way. All in all, these intriguingly atypical features just build up the structure that this album has, upon final listen, so artfully constructed.

As did Deltron 3030’s eponymous debut did, Event II feeds on a marvelous semi-fictitious perception of what the future may hold for the world. Yet, despite the ash and billowing smoke, when the dust clears, Deltron 3030 is there for mankind. And this can certainly apply to today. Without getting too much into it, hip-hop is certainly glad to have Deltron 3030 back and especially with such a stellar performance on an album a decade in the making. Let’s throw a fist in the air and commend Deltron 3030 for the heroic return on Event II.

8.5/10

Tracklisting:

1) Stardate (feat. Joseph Gordon-Levitt)

2) The Return

3) Pay the Price

4) Nobody Can (feat. Aaron Bruno)

5) Lawnchair Quarterback Part 1 (feat. David Cross & Amber Tamblyn)

6) Melding of the Minds (feat. Zack De La Rocha)

7) The Agony (feat. Mary Elizabeth Winstead)

8) Back in the Day (feat. The Lonely Island)

9) Talent Supercedes (feat. Black Rob)

10) Look Across the Sky (feat. Mary Elizabeth Winstead)

11) The Future of Food (feat. David Chang)

12) What Is This Loneliness (feat. Damon Albarn & Casual)

13) My Only Love (feat. Emily Wells)

14) Lawnchair Quarterback Part 2 (feat. David Cross & Amber Tamblyn)

15) City Rising From the Ashes (feat. Mike Patton)

16) Do You Remember (feat. Jamie Cullum)

***Notable Mentions:

Oddisee: The Beauty In All

Tags : Dan The AutomatorDel tha Funkee HomosapienDeltron 3030Kid Koala
Stone

The author Stone

Stone is a hip-hop enthusiast residing in NJ/PA. As an aspiring hip-hop producer, Stone studies communications and shares his passion for music by letting the world in on the wonderful world of hip-hop.