Of all the Hieroglyphics members, Pep Love has always been the most overtly spiritual. His approach to hip-hop is meditative and philosophical — he writes from a place of inner reflection that connects to the West African and pan-African spiritual traditions that run through Oakland's Black cultural community. Thirty-plus years into his career, his…
Hip-hop's relationship with jazz is one of the genre's defining artistic threads. From the early breakbeats that sampled jazz-funk records to the explicit jazz-rap of the early 1990s, through the Hieroglyphics collective's deeply jazz-influenced production aesthetic, the two genres have been in conversation since hip-hop's origins. Hieroglyphics brought something specific to that conversation —…
Hieroglyphics did not emerge from a vacuum. The Oakland, California hip-hop scene of the late 1980s and early 1990s was a specific cultural environment — shaped by the city's political history, its economic conditions, and its relationship to both the Bay Area's jazz and funk traditions and the national hip-hop conversation happening primarily in…
'93 'til Infinity is 32 years old and it sounds like it was made yesterday. The production — primarily handled by A-Plus with additional contributions from other Souls members and the broader Hiero collective — built something that has outlasted most of its contemporaries. Here's how the album came together. The Producers A-Plus (Adam…
In the early 1990s, while Death Row was defining one version of West Coast hip-hop — hard, gangster, commercially dominant — two other crews were building something different. Hieroglyphics in Oakland and The Pharcyde in Los Angeles represented the underground alternative: technically complex, jazz-influenced, intellectually curious. Here's how they compared and why both matter.…
Del tha Funkee Homosapien and Ice Cube are first cousins. Both grew up in Los Angeles. Both are West Coast hip-hop legends. But their paths diverged in ways that illuminate the full range of what West Coast rap could be in the early 1990s — and the choice Del made when he left Los…
Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado is widely considered the greatest outdoor music venue in the world. If you're coming to the 2026 Hieroglyphics / Cypress Hill / Method Man / De La Soul show and it's your first time at Red Rocks, here's what you need to know. What Makes Red Rocks Special…
The Hieroglyphics eye logo is one of hip-hop's most distinctive visual symbols. The single eye — rendered in the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic tradition, stylized for late-twentieth-century Oakland — appears on album covers, merchandise, stage backdrops, and tattooed on the arms of fans who have carried the Hiero ethos with them for decades. Here's what…
In 2001, Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett's animated virtual band Gorillaz released "Clint Eastwood" — a number four UK hit built around a Del tha Funkee Homosapien verse and hook. Millions of people who had never heard of Hieroglyphics or Oakland underground hip-hop were suddenly learning Del's name. For many listeners worldwide, "Clint Eastwood"…
When people talk about Souls of Mischief, the conversation usually centers on Tajai and A-Plus — the two MCs who have been most active in press, interviews, and solo projects. But any honest accounting of what makes the group extraordinary has to reckon with Opio and Phesto, whose contributions are essential to the quartet's…