Editing Del the Funky Homosapien (section)

=== 1998–2006: Middle era ===
Del would not produce another album for five years. About a month before the release of his third album, ''[[Future Development]]'', Del received a letter from his label, [[Elektra Records|Elektra]], stating that his contract had been terminated.<ref name="Hiero"/> Together with his crew, Del established his own independent record label, [[Hieroglyphics Imperium Recordings]], which primarily consists of an expanded Hieroglyphics roster and a few other artists with whom the group collaborates on a regular basis.  ''Future Development'' became available in 1998 and was only available on the Hieroglyphics website in tape form<ref name="Larkin90">{{cite book|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Virgin Encyclopedia of Nineties Music]]|editor=Colin Larkin|editor-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|publisher=[[Virgin Books]]|date=2000|edition=First|isbn=0-7535-0427-8|page=118}}</ref> but was re-released in 2002 on the Hieroglyphics Imperium label. Del also released another collaborative work with the Hieroglyphics crew in 1998, which was also the Hieroglyphics crew's first album, ''[[3rd Eye Vision]]''.

[[File:Del the Funky Homosapien.jpg|upright|thumb|left|Del performing in [[Red Deer, Alberta]] in 2006]]

Two years later, Del released his fourth solo album, ''[[Both Sides of the Brain]]'', as well as ''[[Deltron 3030 (album)|Deltron 3030]]'' which was a collaborative work with artists [[Dan the Automator]] and [[Kid Koala]]. With Nakamura and Koala, Del was also a guest performer for [[Gorillaz]]'s [[Gorillaz (album)|eponymous 2001 album]]. He appeared on the singles "[[Clint Eastwood (song)|Clint Eastwood]]" and "[[Rock the House (Gorillaz song)|Rock the House]]". 2003 saw the release of ''[[Full Circle (Hieroglyphics album)|Full Circle]]'', the second full-length album from the Hieroglyphics crew.

In 2004, Elektra released ''[[The Best of Del tha Funkee Homosapien: The Elektra Years]]'' without Del's approval. The CD only includes songs from his first two albums, along with a handful of B-sides from that era. Del was not pleased and advised people to not buy the CD, saying it was just Elektra trying to make money off of him due to his newfound fame.