In 2009, I worked with at-risk youth
in a public school program in Portland, Oregon. Music provided a touchstone for
both staff and students but my coworkers and I often struggled to find music
that everyone could agree on that was also appropriate for a classroom setting.
My friend and colleague Jim once recommended an album that he found to be a
great fit for our unique circumstances: Deltron 3030. Oddly enough, this
sci-fi tinged concept album featuring producer Dan the Automator, turntablist
Kid Koala, and left-field rapper Del tha Funkee Homosapien proved to work
incredibly well in our classrooms. Deltron 3030 dropped in the spring of
2000 but I knew nothing about it until Jim enlightened me and now this post
gives me an opportunity to extend this favor to you. Shortly after its release,
Deltron 3030 became a cult-classic for underground hip-hop, established
a high point for each artist’s career, and just happened to lay much of the
groundwork for the next year’s debut album by Gorillaz.
Following a bit of exposition about
the album’s vision of the future with “State of the Nation,” Deltron 3030
begins in earnest as “3030” slowly builds steam and evolves into a sprawling-but-fleet
seven-and-a-half-minute declaration of purpose, style, and absurdity. Running
back to back, “Virus” and “Upgrade (A Brymar College Course)” establish the
album’s stride while offering irresistibly catchy choruses, sumptuous sonic
textures, and compelling beats. My conversation with Jim about this album
actually started with “Upgrade” because he thought its chorus, “upgrade your
gray matter, because one day it may matter,” offered an excellent theme song
for our classrooms. Arriving about halfway through the album, “Madness” allows our
protagonist Deltron Zero to reframe his quest for survival as a battle against
the forces of complacency and conformity that doubles as a commentary on the
state of hip-hop around the year 2000. With a cameo from Damon Albarn, “Time
Keeps on Slipping” unites the team that would soon go on to create the virtual
band Gorillaz and unveils the sonic blueprint for that project’s very
successful first album. Punctuated by an assertive fanfare and featuring a
vocal hook from Sean Lennon, “Memory Loss” serves ably as the album’s final
full-length song and functions nicely as a bookend with “3030.” Short
interludes, announcements, and advertisements make up nine of the album’s
twenty-one tracks and deftly balance Kid Koala and Dan the Automator’s highly
evocative, dense arrangements and Del tha Funkee Homosapien’s rambling, verbose,
and heroic vocal performance.
While this album shares multiple
connections to similar projects like Dr. Octagon, Handsome Boy Modeling School,
and Gorillaz, Deltron 3030 stands apart because of the remarkable
synergy these three artists achieved. The influence of Deltron 3030’s singular take on Afro-futurism
extends beyond the genre of underground hip-hop and the various projects of its
members and filters into Janelle Monáe’s music, especially her 2013 sophomore
album, The Electric Lady. Two years ago, all three members of Deltron
3030 reunited to release their sophomore album, Event 2, which felt at
moments like an attempt to catch lightning in a bottle...again. Intentionally
or not, this follow-up served as a reminder that a large part of the first
album’s success derived from the fact that at the time very few people had any
idea what these three artists could accomplish together. Although I can’t be
sure that this is what music will sound like in a thousand years, Deltron
3030 remains certainly well ahead of its time and still feels like a future
time capsule just waiting for discovery.
-
John Parsell
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