DEL BOY

Rip It Up, Issue 182, 1 September 1992, Page 17

DEL BOY

Fleeting is perhaps a better description: 20 minutes after going on Del is offering a hearty "thank you Noo-Zeeland!" and disapearing backstage. He returned minutes later with Laze, from local crew Leaders of Style, and the two indulged in a bit of freestyle rapping (Laze won)before heading backstage again for some fried

chicken. (Not that he got any, myself and the Bassline Posse sort of polished it all off). Del's performance was great but brief. But what more were we expecting for sl2? I'd be happy to see more artists appearing in NZ like this for that price. The following day at his hotel, Del explains that while he gave the audience 100% he was also pissed off. Having just flown in that evening he had been given a most-thorough going over by NZ customs. The sort of intimate probing usually reserved for loved ones: "I got strip searched — like I was a fucking dog coming into your country. I didn't find that very appealing. That's why my attitude is not very good — I'm sort of disgusted. I didn't look at their asses and say: "Since you're white I'm going fuck you white devils!" I didn't prejudge them like that so why they gotta look at me and think 'cos I've got a ring in my lip I've got a pound of weed on me or something? Still, I'm not hella bent out of shape, it's just the way life is, you deal with it." Actually, Del was hella bent out of shape about it, and we spoke for quite some time about Customs Officers and the Police. After establishing I was his righteous bro' on this matter we spoke about his music: "I have a certain style in which I do my music and the way I do my raps. I don't think anyone does it the same way in which I do. I hope I can reach a certain level of success, I ain't expecting to be no Public Enemy, but I do want more people to listen to my shit. But I want it on an underground level 'cos that is where my head is at, I want an underground

buzz for my music. "When I make a song like 'Mr Dobalina' and it's a Top 40 pop hit it's not something I expected. I didn't really want it that way but since I have it, it's cool. I just work on my own shit, work on my own style, and try to make it slammin'. Maybe it'll be radio slammin', maybe not, I don't care."

Del turned 20 the day after leaving NZ and considering his youth he can be forgiven all the contradictions he makes (that I won't trifle you with). Perhaps it was the Herbal tea (tea?) he'd had before lunch. I asked him what the Black Urban Experience was really like.

"I'm from Oakland and there ain't too much gang action. People claim streets and shit but that's just pimps, hoes [prostitution] and drug dealing. It ain't like: "I'm a Cripp/Blood and if I see you on the street it'll be like whatsup cuz!" It's still fucked up but it ain't really like you see in those gang movies. In my spare time I draw, I'm an artist, but that's like just fiddling shit. When I get more time I'll probably go to school and learn more. Learn how to Program and shit like that."

So life ain't that bad?

"I don't try to be hella negative, but I do try to point out shit that happens. I try to point out the way I feel about certain shit and I try to be positive, but then you can't be positive all the time. But also violence isn't the solution to anything. I may have to deal with situations I don't like but I know I'm not the only one. Everyone feels anger, feels happiness, feels sorrow —that's just what human beings do. You just have to deal with it and get on, and that's what I try to point out in my music.

"My only concern is to make a hip hop record that people will say: "This was the slam", that's good enough for me. I don't care if it's the world, or only 40,000 hard hip hop heads, if they say that was cool — that's enough for me."

WHY THEY COTTA LOOK AT ME AND THINK COS I'VE COTARINC IN MY LIP I'VE COTA POUND OF WEED ON ME ?"

NICK D’ANGELO