Del the Funky Homosapien and Amp Live – two of the most innovative and respected names in hip-hop – have just united for one of the most anticipated albums of the year, Gate 13. The 16 tracks on Gate 13 mix hip-hop, funk, and electronica, and feature Goapele, Eligh, Simi, Zyme, Adult Karate, Mr. Micro, and James Melo, creating a “portal into something progressive, futuristic, and fun.”
After working together during Amp’s Radiohead remix project, these back-when friends from Oakland embark on 15 tracks filling an electronic melting pot, with guests including Goapele and Eligh. Their chemistry bids to elevate hip-hop through a portal to the progressive, futuristic and fun. “13 represents bad luck”, Del says of the title’s significance. “Basically, we’re the baddest out. This is a gateway to how we do”.
Amp and Del have previous, the emcee guesting on Zion I’s 2005 ‘What U Hear’ from the duo’s ‘True & Livin’’ album. Several years later, when Amp remixed Radiohead’s ‘In Rainbows’, the producer recruited Del for his rewind of ‘Video Tapes’. Both have long bonded over equipment, technique and advancing the sound and style of the tight-knit Bay Area music community.
Surging the dancefloor’s power source on opening single ‘Wheel of Fortune’, Del’s signature flow that has taken him from the tongue-twists of ‘Mistadobolina’ to the science fact of Deltron 3030 and the sunshine-in-a-bag of Gorillaz, squares up to Amp Live’s full-bodied basics. “I’m trying to be more concise with my writing and my art in general” says Del, in tune to funk looking to stand for parliament. “Del has been talking about doing more straightforward, aggressive writing”, confirms Amp. “Everything that I was messing with kind of had that same theme”.
On tracks such as ‘Wheel of Fortune’, ‘On the Ball’ and ‘Get Some of Dis’, ‘Gate 13’ brings the noise to scare the mumblers away. ‘Humble Pie’ goes back to the future to put a bully in his place, and ‘Chili Sauce’ and ‘Sit Ya Ass Down’ take control of synth boogie getting the club and daytime airwaves buffed up. Easily commuting to a nearby parallel universe (the Deltron-centric ‘The Glow’ and ‘Help’) with star-dusted synths, disco residue, space symphonies and the odd zany skit, ‘Gate 13’ has got it locked with the master key.
| A1 | Attention (Intro) |
| A2 | Wheel Of Fortune |
| A3 | The Glow |
| A4 | Gravy Train |
| B1 | Funkrolla 3.0 |
| B2 | Run Free |
| B3 | Help |
| B4 | Humble Pie |
| C1 | Fly Away |
| C2 | Far Beyond |
| C3 | Chili Sauce |
| C4 | Funkrolla 4.0 |
| D1 | Sit Ya Ass Down |
| D2 | On The Ball |
| D3 | Get Some Of Dis |
| D4 | Lateral Thinking |
