Even though it's a free mixtape, Del's Funk Man (The Stimulus Package) is a true return to form

I’ll spare you any lengthy preamble this month — there is too much fantastic free and legal hip hop to talk about to waste time blathering on about nothing.

Del the Funky Homosapien — Funk Man (The Stimulus Package) (delthefunkyhomosapien.bandcamp.com/)

An alumnus of Hieroglyphics, Gorillaz and Deltron 3030 — and Ice Cube’s awesomely weird cousin — Del the Funky Homosapien has always been politically aware. It’s just that his love of all things dorky sometimes overrides his more socially conscious rhymes. Well, Del must have been paying attention to all of the economic doom and gloom permeating the world, because he’s decided to throw all the cash-strapped folks a bone by giving away his latest album, Funk Man (The Stimulus Package), for free.

As the name suggests, the album brings the funk, but what’s more important is that Del also brings his A-game after 2008’s lacklustre The Eleventh Hour. Though the funky homosapien will never be known for his innovative beats, on Funk Man he offers more than just bare-bones backings, which works nicely with his usual oddball musings on his talent, marijuana, old school comics and, on one song, his totally fly odour.

Themselves — The FREEhoudini (anticon.com/thefreehoudini/)

Back in the early part of this decade, a bunch of forward-thinking artists at the Anticon record label were stretching the boundaries of hip hop by placing ambient sounds, electronic beats — yeah, Kanye wasn’t the first — and glitchy computer sounds where old soul samples used to reign. One such group, Themselves, released a couple albums, collaborated with the Notwist and then disappeared to focus on their work with fellow hip hop experimenters.

Recently though, Doseone and Jel emerged from Subtle’s bizarre world to release The FREEhoudini, a new Themselves mixtape and lead-up to a proper album. Though the glitch-hop found on the FREEhoudini doesn’t sound as revolutionary in 2009 as it would have in 2002 and Doseone’s nasal, spastic flow isn’t for everyone, the album still hits more than it misses, acting as a kind of victory lap for Anticon’s progressive sound. The likes of Aesop Rock, Busdriver and Yoni Wolf of WHY? all make appearances, creating a fun sense of unconventional one-upmanship throughout the album.

Wale — The Road to Attention Deficit (dctobc.com/2009/03/hiphopupdate-dctobccom-present-wale-road-attention-deficiti-mixtape/)

In this writer’s humble opinion, Washington rapper Wale released one of 2008’s best albums with The Mixtape About Nothing. Through Wale’s charismatic and intelligent rhymes, the album somehow managed to criticize pretty much every facet of modern hip hop culture while still unabashedly celebrating it. Gangster, backpack and ringtone rappers were all mercilessly flayed, but Wale often saved the most damning condemnation for himself. That he managed to accomplish all of this while keeping the album a fun, catchy listen and working in a surprisingly not annoying Seinfeld theme is still a little flabbergasting.

Others noticed how great The Mixtape About Nothing was, and soon Wale will be making his major label debut with Attention Deficit. The Road to Attention Deficit is essentially a best-of collection culled from a series of mixtapes, including The Mixtape About Nothing. Because of its hodgepodge nature, the mix isn’t as solid as his other work, but it’s likely your last chance to get in on the Wale bandwagon before he gets massive.