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Mar 3, 2023 · Each moment when you were able to encounter a De La Soul record felt like a gift from heaven — a brief experience of musical enlightenment that you wanted to hold onto for as long as...
- Matthew Ritchie
Feb 14, 2023 · Two: that they finally record an album with the Native Tongues, the loosely-knit rap collective with an Afrocentrist aesthetic that counted De La Soul as one of its core acts alongside the...
Dec 20, 2016 · We’re talking about a record right now that makes it feel good for adults to love hip-hop again. We have so many people that feel like when they reach a certain age that they feel like they grew out of hip-hop because of the content in its current stages caters to a much younger audience.
- “Supa Emcees”
- “The Magic Number”
- “Eye Patch”
- “Held Down”
- “A Roller Skating Jam Named Saturdays”
- “Whoodeeni”
- “My Writes”
- “Me, Myself & I”
- “Game Show Skits”
- “Breakadawn”
“Whatever happened to the MC?” It’s the question that kicks off Stakes Is High, an album that not only began De La Soul’s first musical output without Prince Paul in the producer’s chair, but also redefined the group’s creative voice into something harder-edged, more willing to go to dark places lyrically and musically. There had always been mature...
In a just world, we wouldn’t have to include this obvious of a track because it would be far too well-known, but since there’s a whole generation of younger folks who have likely never heard it (and those of us who have will never get tired of it), the first real song on 3 Feet High And Rising is also a great way to demonstrate just how fresh and o...
With its third record, De La Soul was ready to press forward artistically to someplace more jazzy, more soulful, more experimental. In practice, this meant including tracks like the instrumental “I Be Blowin’” (with horn by Maceo Parker), guest appearances by Japanese rappers Scha Dara Parr and Takagi Kan (on “Long Island Wildin’”), and an ever mor...
One of the most thoughtful and evocative tracks from De La’s Art Official Intelligencerecords, “Held Down” takes a spiritual melody by CeeLo as its refrain and weds it to some profound thoughts on aging, fatherhood, and the difficulty of finding oneself in the modern world. Posdnuos has always been underappreciated as an unpredictable and inventive...
And on the other end of the spectrum, we’ve got a party. An impressively arranged series of old-school samples of disco, Tower Of Power, and rock band Chicago come together to create a straight-up dance track that doubles as an ode to the roller-skating grooves of yesteryear. With appearances by Q-Tip and singer Vinia Mojica, this showcase for De L...
Mired in the nightmare of copyright-issue purgatory, when De La Soul turned to Kickstarter in early 2015 to raise money for a new album, it was determined to avoid the fate of its early records. Instead, the trio turned to the Rhythm Roots Allstars, recording hundreds of hours of improvised music that it then whittled down to craft the backing trac...
Sometimes, you just want to remind everyone of your lyrical skills. Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thumpis more of a party record than anything, an “everything and the kitchen sink” release overflowing with guest appearances, oddball skits, and high-concept structure, but in its best moments it does little more than get down to the business of s...
The song that really introduced the wider world to the Plugs, the first single from 3 Feet High And Risingto get an accompanying video with a decent budget was also the first (and only) track to hit number one on the U.S. R&B charts, as well as topping the Billboard Club Play chart. An infectious set of samples matches the wry, insightful lyrics ab...
It wouldn’t be an accurate assessment of De La Soul if we didn’t include a skit. The properly maligned “comedy skit interlude” that has largely (and happily) died out in the rap genre was basically invented by the trio, which, along with Prince Paul, layered the between-song moments on its earlier records with a thick helping of its carefree sense ...
Part of what makes Buhloone Mindstatesuch an exhilarating listen is the way it manages to blend styles and techniques into a cohesive whole. Take “Breakadawn”: On first listen, it’s one of the most Tribe Called Quest-like tracks De La Soul ever recorded. Even Pos and Dave’s verses hearken back to the collective Native Tongues Posse sounds that spaw...
- Alex Mclevy
If De La Soul Is Dead was darker than its debut and a classic fame comedown album, the band generally stayed buoyant as they felt part of a new wave of conscious hip-hop. Alongside A Tribe Called Quest, Jungle Brothers, Queen Latifah and Black Sheep, De La Soul were part of a collective dubbed Native Tongues.
Mar 1, 2023 · At the Grammy Awards last month, the rap trio De La Soul was booked for the show’s 50th anniversary tribute to hip-hop, alongside more than two dozen performers. The timing was perfect,...
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Mar 7, 2023 · The freewheeling feeling of their eventual debut, 1989’s 3 Feet High and Rising, is a testament to the rapidly expanding musical tastes of all parties involved but also to the self-effacing humor...
