When the search pays off in record hunting, it's a great feeling. After looking for this album on vinyl in every music store I ever went in, my local go-to shop, Beatstreet, had a crispy new double 180 gram nugget waiting for me when I returned from Arizona.
I remember buying "I wish my brother George was here", the 1991 debut album from Del tha Funkee Homosapien, at the shopping mall music store in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. . It was one of very few cool albums (tapes) you could actually get in one of those top 40 centric mall shops. "Mistadobalina" was a minor hit single that somehow made it to our ears a world away from Oakland California, and was my first introduction to Del/Hieroglyphics. The production on the album (Ice Cube, Boogiemen) was amazing and built on a fat stack of P-Funk and Soul samples. There was lots of mild humor in the lyrics as a contrast to the large amount of Gansta Rap prevalent during that era. To top it off, not long after the album came out, one of skateboarding's most influential and classic videos premiered featuring songs from the album (and b-sides to singles from the album)... Plan B's "Questionable", in 1992. Check out Sal Barbier filming half of his part in the parking lot next to Hamel's in Mission Beach, San Diego.... skating to Ahonetwo.
After this album came out, more music from the Hieroglyphics crew started popping up in skate videos throughout the 90's, solidifying their influence in skate history seemingly thanks to Mike Carroll. It's hard for me to pick one track off "I wish my brother George was here" as a favorite, so I'll just leave you with the P-Funk soaked intro to the album, What is a Booty.... Funk Em' !
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