Elektra
1994
No Need for Alarm
About This Album
After helping create the West Coast underground scene with his 1991 debut, Del tha Funkee Homosapien made a radical departure with 1993's No Need for Alarm, eschewing the familiar G-funk of his debut for a jazzier, more sophisticated sound more akin to East Coast acts like Black Moon and Main Source. The thematic and lyrical content of Del's work underwent a considerable change as well, with No Need for Alarm largely avoiding the endearing comic vignettes and blunted utopian vision of his debut for a never-ending string of battle raps. Del's loopy sense of humor remained intact, but without the structure and pop savvy of I Wish My Brother George Was Here, No Need for Alarm feels a bit aimless, even if it does contain some of Del's best work to date. "Catch a Bad One" showcases Del's new direction to the best effect, driven by Casual's sinister, hypnotic, string-laced production and some of the fiercest and most potent battle raps of Del's career. When No Need for Alarm works, it's terrific -- funny, skillfully produced, and wonderfully propulsive. Unfortunately, it only works about a third of the time. Critics have taken Del's debut to task for having a fairly generic P-funk-dominated sound more in line with executive producer Ice Cube's work than Del's unique sensibility, but Del has always functioned better when paired with strong collaborators.
Track List

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