From their, Eric San released the Scratchappyland EP, featuring selections from his debut mixtape, and his debut album, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Both were well received. In the months following the release of his debut, Koala worked on the debut from his hip-hop supergroup, Deltron 3030.

Yo, It’s Three-Thousand Thirty

The album was recorded out of the Glue Factory, Dan the Automator’s home studio in San Francisco. Recording purportedly begun in 1999 and stretched into 2000, though there’s little information on the Deltron sessions themselves. We know that they happened, and in November 2000, the group dropped their self-titled debut record.

The narrative is as eccentric as the sounds used to furnish it - Deltron Zero, a disillusioned mech soldier and tech-magic “neuromancer,” rebels against the intergalactic New World Order that once employed him. A fugitive relegated to the dark and grimy corners of a universe gone mad, Deltron Zero slowly becomes a folk hero by participating in rap battles - literal battles - in which words conjure physically-damaging psychic attacks.

Sure, it’s silly, but that’s the charm. It’s within the loose confines of this vaguely-defined narrative that Del finds his stride, providing pithy bars about an oppressive global elite, his trademark troublemaking and some good old-fashioned science fiction tropes. It should come as no surprise that the hip-hopera managed to withstand the lofty, absurd premise: Automator’s pivotal Kool Keith collaboration, Dr. Octagonecologist, had achieved greatness on the back of a similarly cartoonish premise.

The Hieroglyphics website argues that Deltron 3030 was a brilliant marketing move for Del - it “capitalized on the growing interest of computer technology, incorporating motifs of science fiction, telling stories about life and hip hop based in the year 3030, and infusing much of the popular internet terminology and culture in circulation at the time.” Indeed, Del’s forward thinking when it comes to technology is well-documented: the first Hieroglyphics podcast dropped in 2000, and his 1997 solo album was an online-only release in the US. Whilst both of these practices are now commonplace, Del’s shockingly early use of novel communication technologies set him apart from his peers.



Another stylistic quirk that set Deltron 3030 apart was its refined use of sampling. 2000 was a pivotal time for sampling culture, with The Avalanches’ Since I Left You reinvigorating the then-niche art of plunderphonics and Kanye West kicking off his breakout tenure as a producer at Roc Nation. His work on 2000’s The Dynasty: Roc La Familia and 2001’s The Blueprint foreshadowed his role as a sample-loving tastemaker in the years to come.

Dan the Automator favoured samples of all sorts - whilst he repurposed the work of others, he also took elements from his own work. “Mastermind” samples vocals from “Magnetizing,” a track from Handsome Boy’s Modelling School’s debut album and his first collaboration with Del. “Madness,” called “the album's masterful centerpiece” by Pitchfork, samples Del The Funky Homosapien’s own “Wack M.C.’s,” a track from his innovative sophomore album. Another track from the same album, “Catch A Bad One,” is sampled on Deltron cut “Memory Loss.”

That’s not to say he fears the antique - the earliest identified sample on the record is Lou Donaldson’s 1967 track “Ode to Billy Joe,” a prolific sample also used by artists such as Kanye West (“Jesus Walks”), A$AP Rocky (“L$D”), A Tribe Called Quest (“Clap Your Hands”) and Lauryn Hill (“To Zion”). The idea of sonic cohesion is also reflected in his samples - elements of Christine McVie’s 1970 track “And That’s Saying A Lot” appears on both “3030” and “The News (A Wholly Owned Subsidiary Of Microsoft Inc.),” the distinctive drum fill helping to create a subtle musical motif.

The album’s cover - previously unknown to me - is an old photo. It depicts the Perisphere, a massive monument to futurism erected at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. The Perisphere and the accompanying Trylon were centerpieces of the Fair, though neither survived the century.

They’re relics of an ultimately misguided vision of the future - the lofty goals embodied by the Perisphere were undone by a century of stagnation and infighting, most immediately the Second World War, but also the subsequent Cold War. Their use on the cover invokes the idea of an unintended present - progress has been slow, and the utopian ideas of yesteryear are now laughable flights of fancy. In the same way as we reflect on the hopes of 1939, Del reflects on our present aims from the year 3030. Indeed, as explained throughout the record, the future is more dystopian than we’d ever imagined.

Despite this, the future still holds a mind-boggling amount of talent. Deltron 3030 collaborators include then-Blur frontman Damon Albarn, singer-songwriter Sean Lennon and De La Soul affiliate Prince Paul. Even skits were loaded with talent - 40-second interlude “St. Catherine St,” features Mr. Lif, vocalist for funk-infusion group Thievery Corporation, and Peanut Butter Wolf, a DJ who founded the now-hugely influential underground label Stones Throw Records.

MC Paul Barman’s verse on the short-but-sweet “Meet Cleofis Randolph the Patriarch” contains amongst the most jaw-dropping lyricism on the record:

What's happening?

I keep my dreadlocks in a napkin ring

Rap and sing, unlike the homogeneous clones

I'm into earth tones, birth stones, and erogenous zones

The more ticklish the more you have

Sitting on the curb over what used to be the 'burbs

And before that was Canarsie

I'm a disturbed and bitter herb;

Like saltwater and parsley

Mites crawl up, tights fall down

That's my mnemonic for a stalactite slash stalagmite

You may have this Maglite®

It survived the apocalypse

And for the fragile force of an agile horse

Here's a handful of very special chocolate chips

Wow.

Things don’t end well for Deltron Zero - crowned the “Intergalactic Rhyme Federation Champion,” he returns home to earth and relaxes. Eventually stripped of his title after failing to show at a battle, he’s tracked down by the omnipresent oligarchy, who wipe his mind. “Memory Loss,” the album’s closing track, explains his predicament - the most volatile and reactionary freedom fighter of his time is reduced to ignorance, a surefire win for the bad guys.

It would take until their sophomore effort, 2013's Event 2, for his story to continue. In those thirteen years, the group had won a legion of high-profile fans who clamoured to be involved in their second outing - talents such as Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Amber Tamblyn, David Cross, Jamie Cullum, Zach de la Rocha and The Lonely Island contribute to the admirable sequel.

Someone Let Me Out Of My Cage

Finally, collaborator and Blur frontman Damon Albarn got around to returning the favour. He invited Deltron 3030 onto the debut album from his new collaboration with Jamie Hewlett, Gorillaz.

Nakamura produced much of the self-titled LP, whilst Kid Koala provided turntabling. Del contributed vocals to two tracks, including one of Gorillaz’ most enduring hits, 2001’s “Clint Eastwood.” A perfect combo of alt-rock inklings and hip hop influences, “Clint Eastwood” ultimately became Del’s only platinum single. In an interview with HipHopDX, Del reminisced about making the track:

I had finished doing Deltron 3030 with [Gorillaz producer] Dan the Automator. He was in San Francisco, and I said, “Take me home.” This fool busts out with “Hey, I just need a verse for this song. Can you do it?” And I’m like “I don’t wanna do no verse, take me home.” You gotta peep Automator: “I know you can do it in like 15 minutes.” And so I did the shit in 15 minutes, and that’s how it became.