After 21 Years, Gorillaz & Del The Funky Homosapien Did “Rock The House” Live Together For The First Time
Finally, someone let Del The Funky Homosapien out of his cage. In 2001, Damon Albarn’s Gorillaz project released their self-titled debut album. Two of that LP’s tracks had guest verses from the loopy Bay Area indie-rap hero Del The Funky Homosapien. One of those singles was “Clint Eastwood,” which was Gorillaz’ debut single and which was a top-five hit in the UK. Over the years, Del has performed that song with Gorillaz a bunch of times. But until earlier this week, Del had never performed “Rock The House,” his other Gorillaz collab, with the group. On Wednesday night, that changed.
That evening, Gorillaz played the Chase Center in Del’s San Francisco stomping grounds. Gorillaz performed with a few guests during their set: EarthGang, the Pharcyde’s Bootie Brown, De La Soul’s Posdnous. (Bootie Brown and Posdnous are basically touring members of Gorillaz at this point.) At the end of the night, Del The Funky Homosapien took the stage and did “Rock The House” with Gorillaz for the first time ever.
Gorillaz had rocked “Rock The House” without Del before, but they hadn’t even done that since 2002. So this really was the world’s first chance to see Del up onstage with Damon Albarn, rapping about shaking your asscrack over those jubilantly funky horns. They followed that song with “Clint Eastwood.” Below, check out a fan-made video of the “Rock The House” performance.