More Bay-area organic hip-hop for you, this week. Brought together by Del tha Funky Homosapien, “Hieroglyphics” first appeared on the scene in the early 1990′s. Though Del is heavily credited as bringing the group together, his vocals are probably not the most prominent in Hiero’s tracks. Del shares the mic well with the whole lot of the Hiero crew. In case you don’t already know, all of the guys from  “Souls of Mischief,” (Tajai, Opio, etc..), can be found in the mix.

As far as I know (feel free to set me straight) “Hieroglyphics” have have only produced two studio albums on a major label. One was released in 1998 called “Third Eye Vision.” The title may sound dirty (and I guess maybe it is), but primarily it refers to the ubiquitous graphic of the three-eyed straight lipped “smiley face” that serves at the group’s logo. The other studio album “Full Circle” was published in ’03. In addition, there were a handful of discs put out on Hiero’s own label after “Full Circle” was released.

The song that I’m sharing today is from the “Full Circle” album. It samples Bjork’s “Army of me.” It has some swearin’. So, if you are opposed to that sort of thing, then it is probably best to pass up this track. The title is “Let it Roll.” Check it out.

Goriallz is Damon Albarn, the British dude from Blur. Blur is the band that sings “Parklife” and “Song 2.” “Song 2″ is better known as the “woo ho- song” that is played at least once at every hockey and basketball game, right after “Dr. Who.” I was always mildly a fan of Blur. I admired their productivity. It seemed like they released an album pretty much every year for an entire decade, during the 90′s. When Gorillaz‘s self title album was first released, the popular single was “Clint Eastwood.” The track grabbed me pretty much right away. It was partially because I have always been a huge fan of tastefully melding genre’s, which I feel like Gorillaz had done by including Del’s verse in this track. I was already fan of the Hieroglifics Crew anyway. I’m not going to lie and say that I have been a huge fan of every track that Gorillaz have released, but I can say that I have enjoyed several songs from each of their albums. The song that I’m sharing today is called “Slow Country.” It is track 14 on their self titled album. Ok, I know that I said I would take it easy with the ska references. But, if you listen closely to this track, you will probably recognize the repetetive blowing-wind and drums sound that leads out the song. Yes, it is from the beginning of The Specials‘ “Ghost Town.” Check it.