Album review: Deltron 3030 “Event II”

by Samuel Hernandez

Androids and hip hop saviors battling decrepit economies and increasing inequalities, the new order returns Deltron Zero — “hero, ain’t no small feat in this day and age” — ten years after the underground concept album that established the evocative storyline of the time-traveling battle rap savant.

If you eagerly anticipated the follow up there’s some hint that the beats and backing tracks have been around longer than the lyrics. They’re both fresh sounding, bringing a retro DJ scratching aesthetic and combining it with a continuance of what made Deltron 3030 fantastic. There is no futuristic rap battling without the stalwart Dan the Automator providing the movie’s score. Every audience remark, punch landed, and imagery evoked springs from the music technician.

Event II is a theatric production, beginning with Joseph Gordon Levitt providing the contextual introduction — “the middle class had faded into irrelevance… then when all seemed to be lost, could it be, back from the great beyond, it’s the return of Deltron Zero”— and comedian friends interposing with their satirical jabs. Event II is a star-studded concept album.

Deltron begins his story with “The Return,” a futuristic sample over the even-toned, this-is-the-way-the world-is-now, rap style of Deltron. Everything about the artist is a straddled identity. Del is an underground rapper who is cousin to one of the most famous gangster rappers, a West Coast big with a loyal following of non-traditional fans lusting over the dystopian creation. “The Return” then immediately delves into the Metroplis feel culture of paranoia and running from an oppressive government, rustling up the “rag tag renegades looking for grenades.”

The album though is something else. Half way in we get a duo with Zach de la Rocha, of Rage Against the Machine, where Deltron Zero becomes a further complicated being called Deltron Osiris. Are you still following? The track itself is aggressive guitars over a simple drum beat with the even more hyper-aggressive rapping style of de la Rocha.

With the release of the 4^th and 5^th Suites of Janelle Monae’s android saga, and now the return of our hero Deltron Zero, the creativity of fringe artists is blooming. Science fiction is giving space for social commentary through a distorted lens, a parable, a warning, the ability to blend an underlying track of what would have been popular twenty years ago with the more modern multi-instrumental and EDM-inspired backing tracks.

The funny tracks are less distracting than their stupidity might suggest and don’t require anything high brow. My favorite exchange:

“Yo homeless robot drop a stoopy ass beat.”

“Shit is not going well for homeless robot… two, three, four.”