Dälek

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Dälek
Origin	Newark, New Jersey, U.S.
Genre(s)	Hip Hop, Rap, Industrial, Noise, Shoegaze, Industrial hip-hop
Years active	1998–present
Label(s)	Ipecac Recordings
Website	Dälek's Official Website
Members
MC Dälek Oktopus

Dälek (pronounced 'Die-a-leck') is an alternative hip hop duo from Newark, NJ. The group comprises MC Dälek (vocals) and the Oktopus (production). They have often toured with artists from radically different genres, such as Godflesh, Isis, Prince Paul, The Melvins, De La Soul, and Lovage.

Dälek's music is dark, noisy and atmospheric, equally inspired by industrial music like Einstürzende Neubauten, the layered noise of My Bloody Valentine and the dense sound collages of Public Enemy. Their sound is often constructed through sampling and a musical base atypical of most hip-hop, making it difficult for people to classify their sound. They have been described as trip-hop, glitch-hop, and metal- shoegaze-hip-hop, as well as criticized for their broad range of sound. ^[1]

In response:

“

"It's purely hip-hop, in the purest sense. If you listen to what hip-hop has historically been, it was all about digging in different crates and finding different sounds, and finding different influences to create. If Afrika Bambaataa wasn't influenced by Kraftwerk, we wouldn't have 'Planet Rock.' So, in that sense, what we do is strictly hip-hop.

”

“

If there is a difference. It's that the palette of sounds we work with is more varied than what has been called hip- hop in the last 10 years. Somehow, as hip-hop grew, it's been put into this box. I think it's funny when people are like, 'That's not hip-hop. It's this and this and this.' You can try to rationalize it as whatever you want to rationalize it as."

”

- MC Dälek, Chicago Sun-Times