Oakland rapper Del The Funky Homosapien might not be the most famous Oaktown rapper - that would be Too $hort - but he may very well be the most skilled Oaktown MC to ever spit into a microphone.

Del first burst on the scene after a period spent in his cousin Ice Cube's posse, which helped him land on Elektra for a two album salvo in the early 1990s that both established his game - and convinced him to go indie. His Hieroglyphics crew went from a posse of friends, to a worldwide rap emporium which spread Del's unique world vision and skill set like musical fertilizer - never allowing his career to go stale, no matter how frequent or rare his tours or albums became. Considering Del's career has spanned nine solo albums spread out over two decades - an eternity in the rap game - that's no small feat.

In 2002, Del collaborated with Gorillaz on their monster hit "Clint Eastwood." Del wrote his lyrics after reading the book "How to Write A Hit Record" and following its instructions.

According to Del, writing songs and rapping is not unlike playing Sega Genesis - you just need to learn the basic moves until you can do your own thing. So it's fitting that he's playing Churchill's - where local rockers have learned to do their own thing for 30 years. This is the first time a rapper of any note has ever played the house of Dave Daniels, so it behooves the magic city to turn out in force tonight. Because this is a treat that may very well never happen again.