Happy 25th Anniversary to Deltron 3030’s eponymous debut album Deltron 3030, originally released October 17, 2000.
In hip-hop’s half a century of existence, it’s seen a lot of concept albums. It’s even seen an opera or two. But it’s rarely seen anything like Deltron 3030, released a quarter of a century ago.
Deltron 3030 is often considered a concept album, but I’d hazard to say it goes a little beyond that. Bay Area natives rapper Teren “Del The Funky Homosapien” Jones and producer Dan “The Automator” Nakamura, accompanied by Vancouver-born DJ/turntablist Eric “Kid Koala” San, came together to create their own little universe on record. Throughout the hour-long project, the trio create a vision of Earth driven by both hard sci-fi and fantastical imagination that’s a unique listening experience.
Del has long been one of hip-hop’s most creative personalities. The rapper helped put the Bay Area underground scene on the map in the early 1990s as the godfather of the Hieroglyphics crew, and provided a blueprint for how former major label artists could survive on the independent scene in the latter part of the decade. He often portrayed the everyman on record. However, as a serious sci-fi, anime, manga, and video game fan, he increasingly let those influences creep into his raps as his career progressed. With Deltron 3030, he immerses himself in an alternate world shaped by these media. Released through Dan The Automator’s then-fledgling 75 Ark Records, it became one of Del’s most beloved projects.
Del had toyed with the idea of a “futuristic” album for a while before the release of Deltron 3030. He recorded the track “Cyberpunks,” which appeared on the Strength Magazine Presents… Subtext compilation (1999), and serves as an unofficial prequel of sorts. The same can be said for “Magnetizing,” a track a that appeared on So…How’s Your Girl? (1999) by Handsome Boy Modelling School, a duo comprised of Prince Paul and Dan The Automator.
Dan The Automator had been known for embracing musical eccentricity and outright weirdness throughout his career. He first became recognized for his production contributions to Kool Keith’s Dr. Octagon concept album Dr. Octagonecologyst (1996), which centered on a demented alien doctor conducting questionable medical practices. He later formed the aforementioned Handsome Boy Modeling School, a tongue-and-cheek but extremely dope project inspired from the cult sitcom Get A Life.
Deltron 3030 is a full-fledged, hour-long sci-fi opera. Del does much of the heavy lifting with his raps. He is extremely comfortable slipping into the role of Deltron Zero dedicated to rejuvenating the “lost art of study” of hip-hop culture. The Automator is also masterful behind the board, taking pieces of obscure French, Spanish, and German fusion groups and repurposing them into futuristic tracks. Kid Koala’s scratches on the two turntables also keep things interesting, adding to the album’s occasionally surreal atmosphere.
The project’s opening track “3030” is practically an opera in and of itself. Del lays out the entire album’s concept and mythos over the nearly seven-and-a-half-minute epic track. He describes a dystopic Earth over 1000 years into the future, where corporations rule the planet, mobilizing their armies to conquer every corner of the cosmos. Deltron explains his origins as a mech soldier disillusioned with working for these soulless entities. Eventually arrested and incarcerated, the “armonrine” escapes and decides to cruise the galaxy with Automator, Kid Koala, and members of the Hiero crew, using a combination of technology and magic to “take back” hip-hop music.
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The metaphors aren’t particularly subtle: at the beginning of the 21st century, Del bristled at the increased corporatization of hip-hop music, envisioning himself and the rest of the Hiero crew as vanguards of the culture. He seems to combine this malaise with the overall uncertainty the dawn of the 21st century brought to many as Y2K approached. In this case, Del turned out to be even more prescient than he anticipated, as the increased corporate takeover of the planet in this version of the 31st century hews entirely and uncomfortably close to reality in 2025.
“Things You Can Do” features Del getting deeper into his video game-inspired bag, as Deltron details the advanced armor and weapons system that he utilizes while journeying the galaxies and eliminating potential threats. Del veers into Star Wars-esque territory on “Positive Contact,” chronicling his intergalactic adventures. The propulsive musical sprint is the kind of song that could score an action sequence of the film version of Deltron 3030. It also features Del’s strongest lyrical displays on the album, as he raps, “Cyber-tech dialect, you gotta earn my respect / I’m like Gamera to amateurs, hit ’em with a cannonball / And in all this confusion / The fusion of music and mind precipitates translucent illusions.”
On “Virus,” he explains developing an advanced computer virus in hopes of bringing down Earth’s corrupt corporations. “I don't want just a bug that could be corrected,” he raps. “I’m erecting immaculate design / Break the nation down, section by section / Even to the greatest minds it's impossible to find.” While the track conveys a sense of methodical dread, I will say the idea that the nation’s corporations will still be using modems, DOS and hard drives one thousand years from now is kind of quaint.
Other songs serve to provide world building for the album. “Upgrade (A Brymar College Course)” focuses on the technical innovation of the future, where humans are able to mechanically upgrade their brain’s functionality. Del describes his newfound abilities and positions himself as a cross between Johnny Mnemonic and a tech super-solider, able to access vast databases of knowledge and control weapon systems with his mind.
Del creates vivid imagery depicting Earth’s dystopian existence in the year 3030 on the “Turbulence” remix, describing a bleak world rife with violence, fear, and oppression. He heralds his own advanced abilities on “Time Keeps On Slipping,” boasting “No malarkey my flows embarking / Psionically sparking brain cells 'til they're sparkling.” The track, which features Damon Albarn’s vocals on the hook, is a dress rehearsal for the debut Gorillaz project. Automator would produce the entirety of the group’s self-titled debut, which was released less than half a year later.
These tracks set the stage for the climax of the album’s narrative portion. On “Battlesong,” Deltron describes his saga wading through The Fantabolous Rap Extravaganza, a fierce interplanetary competition. Del planet hops through our solar system and beyond, facing bizarre adversaries in a combination of a rap battle and Enter the Dragon/Street Fighter 2 styled confrontation. This culminates with a journey to the frozen (and fictious) Earth colony of Sicilia, where Del defeats Quzar, a quadruped, four-armed alien armed with “forearms made of bronze.”
“Love Story” serves as a strange post-script: the victorious Deltron divides his winnings and heads back to Earth for some time off. The story doesn’t hold together much from there, as things flash-forward to Del living as a “rhyming merc,” forcibly retired from the battle circuit in disgrace, reduced to signing autographs at conventions. It all seemingly functions as a set-up for Del to seek affection from the company of an enhanced woman with three butt-cheeks.
Some songs don’t strictly follow the album’s themes but still lend themselves to the project’s atmosphere. Del heralds the genius and creativity of Automator on “Mastermind,” boasting that the man behind the boards is a “Musical Merlin, he shines like sterling.” Others fall completely outside the album’s overall narrative. Del addresses the toll that stress has on his psyche on “Madness,” pondering the meaning of existence as he traverses a city that seems to have it out for him. On the horn-heavy, album-closing “Memory Loss,” he admonishes others for diminishing the impact and importance of his hometown, the city of Oakland. He expresses strong disdain towards Oakland natives who have “forgot where you came from.”
Deltron 3030 still holds a place in many a Del fans’ heart and found an audience outside of traditional hip-hop heads. The supergroup released their follow-up Event 2 (2013) over a decade later, and have recently said that they are working on the third installment of the saga. In the meantime, the trio has toured extensively to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the project, performing the album in full.
In the quarter century since the release of Deltron 3030, other hip-hop artists have embraced futurism on their records, from Logic to clipping to Namir Blade. But the Deltron group’s take on what the future holds for hip-hop and the world continues to resonate, capturing the sentiments of the era in which it was produced while still being forward-thinking. It encapsulated everything that artists like Del, The Automator, and Kid Koala did so well, while providing a unique cinematic experience.
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