Steph Delz creates a sonic world entirely his own
Psychedelic, abstract and impressionistic, Steph Delz’s musical saga, starting in 2003 has had its fair share of ups and downs. You can read his Chrono-story at the bottom of this article for a more in-depth look at his return to school, his Bachelor’s degree and two Master’s degrees between 2009 and 2016, and finally his return to music in 2017. His latest outings are universally impressive, maintaining creative production and thought-provoking lyrics within unorthodox frameworks. Steph Delz remains immersed in aural surrealism, but his production and rapping oddities end up a splendid fit for today’s forward thinking hip-hop landscape.
A four minute acid trip, “Made Up My Mind” plunges us straight into another dimension. Over quaint beatbox-styled musings and evolving field sound effects, Steph Delz weaves in and out of the beat with his peculiar conversational flow.
Few artists can evoke this kind improvisation with hip-hop production, but Steph Delz embodies this imaginative arrangement as if he was free-jazz master. Part experimental, part protracted spoken-word, the song simultaneously feels out of this world and firmly rooted in futuristic alternative hip-hop.
The aforementioned creative balance takes Steph Delz all over the sonic map, but he isn’t afraid to embrace the most far-fetched sounds under his verbal exploits. In “Made Up My Mind”, Delz approaches his nonlinear verbiage like an impressionistic soloist with otherworldly songwriting chops. “Our Thing” (prod. by and in collab w/JimBallzzz), Steph Delz shows the new school how to break the rules without sacrificing artistry.
When coupled with JimBallzzz’s noisy, spacy electro production and idiosyncratic sense of groove, this music showcases an ability to combine dexterous musicality and hypnotic repetition.
You don’t realize how deep you’re into the song until it releases its grip, necessitating multiple listens to fully register Steph Delz and JimBallzzz’s lethal bars. Together these two artists create a sonic world to call entirely their own, caring for weird headspace more than catering to the stale mainstream canon.
For all his mind-altering experimentation, Steph Delz always circles back to a conscious foundation. It’s hard to think of a more unique way to pull off an experimental and hip-hop nexus. Listening to back catalog of songs, it becomes clear that Steph Delz has never done anything other than what he really wants to do.
Whether audiences like it or not, doesn’t seem to cross his mind. However Delz will be easily able to draw in new fans, looking for something different, as long as they keep an open mind and let the sonic tides engulf them.
The Steph Delz Story So Far: Steph Delz began his journey in music as a Recording Artist, Music Producer and CEO of his own label, Ugez Entertainment in 2003 alongside childhood friends, G-Style and K-Tru, under the moniker of Blak Caspur.
Unfortunately, his first stint with venturing in music didn’t go as planned. From there, Steph Delz decided to get into creative writing in the form of fiction-based works. He would also opt to return to school, which led to the achievement of a Bachelor’s degree and two Master’s degrees between 2009 and 2016.
In 2017, Steph Delz returned to the task of music production but that was short-lived due to personal turmoil; however, three years later, he returned to producing music yet again. So far in 2021, Steph Delz has released the singles “Made Up My Mind”, “Automatic” ft. Amaz’on the Goddess, “Big Mood” ft. Ill Muzak and “Our Thing” (prod. by and in collab w/JimBallzzz).
