A Bay Area partnership with range
Del supplies the storytelling and mars shapes the sound. Her analog-driven production blends cloud rap, industrial textures, jungle and ambient music, and it draws on hauntology. She is connected to Handsmade, Bruiser Brigade and Deadverse. Critic Dylan Green has described her work as “maximal, enveloping waves of synthetic rhythm.” Her love of hip-hop, jungle and drum’n’bass gives the project a sound that reaches beyond any single rap tradition.
The credits list Del as writer and mars as producer. Umamifunk shares production on “Precipice” and “Known Opulence.” Handsmade, Kelan Thomas and Umamifunk executive produced the project, and Steel Tipped Dove handled mastering. The mars and Umamifunk partnership also plays out live: the two opened for Ghais Guevara in July.
The guest list
Every guest has a defined role on the tracklist:
- “Land of the Lost”: QThree, Baslonious.Funk and Lord Takim
- “Game Over”: Jel, whose Anticon ties add another link to left-field hip-hop
- “Mode of Survival”: Acid Barbie
- “Mirror”: Jay Cinema, Oddity and doseone
- “Known Opulence”: Fatboi Sharif and Skull the Starchild
The full tracklist runs “Precipice,” “Seventh Ring,” “Land of the Lost,” “Game Over,” “Mode of Survival,” “Mirror” and “Known Opulence.” “Seventh Ring” served as the lead single. Rather than stretch the concept across a long record, the collaborators keep it tight and focused.
Themes: grief, danger and the surreal
Skeletor Bag mixes emotional instability with surreal scenarios. Grief, loss and shaken trust in those closest to you sit alongside threats that range from contaminated drinking water to a video-game session that turns into a monster-filled Backrooms maze. The record also pictures runoff from excessive coal burning, setting a tangible environmental danger beside the fantasy of being trapped somewhere unfamiliar.
The mix suits both artists. Del’s catalog spans the Oakland identity of Hieroglyphics, the enduring “Mistadobalina,” the futuristic scope of Deltron 3030’s debut, and his Gorillaz appearances on “Clint Eastwood,” “Rock the House” and “Captain Chicken.” More than 30 years into his career, he is still making new work. He is also performing with Deltron 3030 on Gorillaz’s 2026 The Mountain Tour, which stops at Oakland Arena on October 28.
