De La Soul Albums (9)
'De La Soul Is Dead'
Release Date 7/22/2008
Tracks 27
Label 4 Men With Beards
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What The Critics Say
On their notorious second album, De La Soul went to great lengths to debunk the daisy-age hippie image they'd been pigeonholed with, titling the record De La Soul Is Dead and putting a picture of wilting daisies in a broken flowerpot on the cover. Critics and fans alike were puzzled as to why the group was seemingly rejecting what had been hailed as the future of hip-hop, and neither the reviews nor the charts were kind to the album. It isn't that De La try to remake their sound here -- Dead keeps the skit-heavy structure of the debut, and the surreal tone and inventive sampling techniques are still very much in evidence. But, despite a few lighthearted moments ("Bitties in the BK Lounge," the disco-flavored "A Roller Skating Jam Named 'Saturdays'"), a distinct note of bitterness has crept into De La's once-sunny outlook. On the one hand, they're willing to take on more serious subject matter; two of the album's most powerful moments are the unsettling incest tale "Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa" and Posdnuos' drug-addiction chronicle "My Brother's a Basehead," both true-life occurrences. Yet other tracks betray a brittle, insular state of mind; one running skit features a group of street thugs who ultimately throw the album in the trash for not having enough pimps, guns, or curse words. There are vicious parodies of hip-house and hardcore rap, and the single "Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)" complains about being harassed into listening to lousy demo tapes. Plus, the negativity of the bizarre, half-sung "Johnny's Dead" and the hostile narrator on "Who Do U Worship?" seemingly comes out of nowhere. Dead is clearly the product of a group staggering under the weight of expectations, yet even if it's less cohesive and engaging, it's still often fascinating in spite of its flaws. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide
'The Impossible Mission: TV Series, Pt. 1'
Release Date 10/24/2006
Tracks 33
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What The Critics Say
"No longer backed by record companies but back by popular demand" raps Posdnuos in "Freedom Train," the penultimate song on De La Soul's label-less mixtape Impossible Mission: TV Series, Pt. 1, a collection of older previously unreleased tracks, as well as new material, all of which helps to firmly establish the group as one of hip-hop's legends. Not that Impossible Mission compares to 3 Feet High and Rising or De La Soul Is Dead or even AOI: Bionix, because it doesn't -- those were all focused and pointed albums, while this one, being a mixtape, is a little more across the board -- but it contains a lot of strong work, both in the new songs as well as in the older tracks (especially the excellent "Mindstate," found on "What the F*@k #2," and apparently recorded during the Buhloone Mindstate sessions and played for Tommy Boy execs just to scare them, though there was never any intention of including it on the album). For the most part, the rhymes are all pretty good, with lines like "Me without your balance just wouldn't sit right/Like written wouldn't be past tense without ten" (from "Wasn't for You") reminding fans why De La has had so much success throughout their 15-plus years in the game. They're veterans, that's clear, but they're still very impressive. The production on Impossible Mission is pretty great too, with beats from longtime collaborator Supa Dave West as well as Geology, J Dilla (recycled from Slum Village, however), and Oh No, though the majority of the songs have no producer listed, which is fairly annoying, but does attest to the record's quasi-illegitimatacy. In releasing a mixtape, De La Soul is declaring that they're making music because they love making music, and not because of the money they're going to get from each album. Yeah, they're still trying to sell themselves, proffering their wares, hawking their goods to all interested buyers, seeing if any record label is interested and/or if they even need one, but it's all secondary to the music, the rhymes over the beats, the basics, which is all that we want to hear, anyway. ~ Marisa Brown, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
De La Soul were interrupted just before they could deliver the third volume in their AOI series -- projected to be a DJ album -- to Tommy Boy. (The label perhaps bailed out from a 15-year relationship precisely because the group was going to release such a commercially bankrupt title, one that was planned instead to appear on an independent label run by Maseo.) De La Soul quickly realized they couldn't go ahead with the plan after signing their AOI label to Sanctuary, so they wrote a new record, The Grind Date. Although it may see them settling into a holding pattern, at least the pattern of 2001's AOI: Bionix is one that any hip-hop fan won't mind hearing repeated. Better yet, it boasts productions from an excellent cast of figures -- partner in crime Supa Dave West, author of the best tracks on their AOI series, J-Dilla, who's stretching out his patented (read: overdone) sound to embrace classic hip-hop, an only slightly commercialized Madlib, and young phenom 9th Wonder. Madlib gets what must be the first lead single of his career, a bright, antimaterialist tale called "Shopping Bags (She Got From You)" that thumps like a club tune, but lurches as only the Beat Conductor could do it. "Verbal Clap" finds J-Dilla allowing some grit into his productions, and Supa Dave only continues floating the most fluidly catchy productions of any rap producer in action. Meanwhile, De La Soul voices Posdnuos and Dave balance their time breezing easy on bumping message tracks with a few old-school shots that show them a bit defensive about the passing of time. (Check out "Come On Down," a Madlib-produced shot with Flava Flav, or "Days of Our Lives" featuring Common.) Without a concept to tout, The Grind Date doesn't gel like AOI: Bionix, but it does show De La Soul keeping everything together more than 15 years after their debut. After all, you certainly wouldn't see MF Doom guesting on a Tone-Loc record. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
'Live at Tramps, NYC, 1996'
Release Date 5/25/2004
Tracks 15
Label Rhino
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What The Critics Say
From the days of the earliest Cold Crush battle tapes, live hip-hop on record has been a sketchy proposition. There's simply no way to transmit the energy and community feeling of a live show onto wax or tape or disc, and sludgy audio quality has rarely convinced anyone other than the hardcore to risk an investment. For reasons unknown, De La Soul, those ambassadors of hip-hop exuberance despite their professorial inclinations, were gifted by Tommy Boy/Rhino with a release of one of their live shows -- a May 13, 1996, gig at Tramps in New York City. The sound quality is barely at the level of an audience recording; the vocals aren't balanced and make up nearly 75 percent of the mix, while beats, basslines, and an occasional sample are left to wallow in the murk. The core trio are joined by several guests, including Mos Def, then an unknown property but just about to make his De La debut on Stakes Is High. Common stops by for a pair of tracks, and the Jungle Brothers take the stage for one of the few highlights, a reprise of their 1989 single "Buddy." ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Ever since their 1989 debut with 3 Feet High and Rising, De La Soul have puzzled fans by continually resisting the laid-back grooves and intelligent message tracks of hip-hop's best first album ever. From their sophomore rebuke, De La Soul Is Dead, to the harder-than-thou Mosaic Thump, the trio has often sacrificed happiness for hardcore, even when it's clear they do positivity better than any other rap group. Bionix, the second volume in De La Soul's comeback trilogy, Art Official Intelligence, presents the trio in astronaut gear on the cover, while inside a female-vocal intro proclaims the new De La Soul: "Better, stronger, faster." Listeners a bit doubtful after the rapid disappearance of first installment Mosaic Thump can rest easy; the trio sounds positively refreshed here, finally content to concentrate on its specialties: wrapping groovy, sparkling productions around smart, sympathetic themes with rapping that doesn't scrimp just because they're not gangsta. "Baby Phat" is first, a wickedly wonderful tribute to the beautiful black woman in all of her various shapes and figures. Producer Dave West spins a beautiful sample (from Wings' "Wonderful Christmas Time") for the highlight, a mid-tempo hand-waver named "Simply." Though this is by no means a hardcore album, the trio also spits a few bars, criticizing the easy answers of organized religion on "Held Down" (as well as on the three "Rev. Do Good" interludes scattered during the rest of the LP). De La Soul handed virtually all of the production duties over to the talented West, and it pays off doubly, not only giving Bionix a great sense of album flow, but freeing up the trio to concentrate on its excellent rapping (probably the best since their debut). It hardly seemed possible that De La Soul were capable of such incredible work after being lapped by most of the hip-hop world, but Bionix ranks right up there with 3 Feet High and Rising. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
'Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump'
Release Date 8/7/2000
Tracks 17
Label Tommy Boy
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What The Critics Say
De La Soul came storming back after four years of recording inactivity -- and practically a decade out of the hip-hop limelight -- with a promise to release three full albums in a series they dubbed Art Official Intelligence. From the first volume, Mosaic Thump comes some hip-hop/soul with "U Can Do (Life)." Posdnuos' raps are occasionally thoughtful and clever, but he seems obsessed with being as hardcore as DMX or Jay-Z. There are a few solid productions by outsiders (Ad Lib's "My Writes," Jaydee's "Thru Ya City," Rockwilder's "I.C. Y'All." with Busta Rhymes), but most of Mosaic Thump was produced by De La Soul themselves. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Stakes Is High is often overshadowed by its predecessors in the De La Soul discography and, upon its release, it was lost in a summer of great import and consequence. Released on the same day as Nas' alter-ego epic It Was Written and sandwiched between albums like Jay-Z's Reasonable Doubt and OutKast's ATLiens, it's very possible that Stakes Is High didn't get its rightful burn in respective tape decks and CD players. Aside from that, hip-hop was fully embroiled in the East Coast vs. West Coast beef, something in which the Native Tongues vanguards were seeming nonplayers. But it's under these conditions that De La offered an album that was not only sonically excellent and creative and pure, but an album with the year's most relevant and prescient message. The stakes were indeed high. Inter-genre violence was bubbling beneath the surface, overshadowing the turn hip-hop was taking -- a turn away from what was a mid-'90s renaissance of the late-'80s golden age excellence, quickly evolving into what is now known as the jiggy era. On "The Bizness" -- a song featuring the quickly maturing Common before his lyrical touchstone One Day It'll All Makes Sense -- Dave spits "Do not connect us with those champagne-sippin' money-fakers." Hip-hop was at a crossroads, a precipice -- whatever you'd like to call it -- and De La were concerned. "Supa Emcees" asked "Whatever happened to the MC?" and cautioned "MCing ain't for you!" "Dog Eat Dog" asserted that folks were "fucking my love in all the wrong places" -- an obvious metaphor. "Baby Baby Baby Baby Ooh Baby" is a sharp satire of the Bad Boy-style hip-hop that was beginning its reign, fit with a beat as Hitmen-esque as an '80s R&B revision with Posdnuos rhyming in a conspicuously Biggie-like cadence. No, this was not an unabashed hip-hop classic like 3 Feet High and Rising and De La Soul Is Dead, or as provocative and fresh as some of its 1996 peers. It was, however, an entertaining and unapologetic De La album that placed hip-hop in front of a mirror. It's also an album that did its part to solve what De La were articulating as a problem, ushering in what would become the newer version of the Native Tongues, with multi-production from a young Jay Dee, Mos Def's introduction to most listeners, the aforementioned Common cameo, and hooks from Erykah Badu and Zhané, artists leading the burgeoning neo-soul movement of the time. It was as if De La were providing an antidote. Stakes Is High is an important album of this era, an album of great production and the most skilled of MCs who diagnosed symptoms of what they believed were hip-hop health complications -- but it offered the medicine. ~ Vincent Thomas, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
The last album of De La Soul's creative prime, Buhloone Mindstate was also their last with producer Prince Paul. After the claustrophobic De La Soul Is Dead, Mindstate is a partial return to the upbeat positivity of 3 Feet High and Rising, though not its wildly colorful invention. Instead, Buhloone Mindstate takes a calmer, more laid-back approach -- the music is often more introspective, and the between-song skits have been jettisoned in favor of a tighter focus. The surrealism of Buhloone Mindstate's predecessors has largely evaporated, and the production, while still imaginative, doesn't quite dazzle the way it used to. Then again, it's admirable that the group is trying to mature and progress musically, and they would never experiment quite this ambitiously again. There's quite a bit more live instrumentation here, with extensive, jazzy guest work by the JB Horns. In fact, the guests threaten to overpower the first half of the album; "Patti Dooke" and "I Be Blowin'" are both extended showcases for the horns, and the latter is a full-fledged instrumental led by Maceo Parker. They're followed by a group of Japanese rappers on "Long Island Wildin'," and it isn't until the terrific single "Ego Trippin', Pt. 2" that De La really takes over. Many of the record's best raps follow: the reflective old-school tribute "Breakadawn," the jazzy "I Am I Be" and "In the Woods," and the Biz Markie collaboration "Stone Age." If Buhloone Mindstate is a great deal more straightforward than De La's earlier work, its high points are still excellent and well worth the time of any fan. In fact, many De La diehards feel that this album is hugely underrated. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide
'3 Feet High and Rising'
Release Date 1/1/1989
Tracks 24
Label Big Life
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What The Critics Say
The most inventive, assured, and playful debut in hip-hop history, 3 Feet High and Rising not only proved that rappers didn't have to talk about the streets to succeed, but also expanded the palette of sampling material with a kaleidoscope of sounds and references culled from pop, soul, disco, and even country music. Weaving clever wordplay and deft rhymes across two dozen tracks loosely organized around a game-show theme, De La Soul broke down boundaries all over the LP, moving easily from the groovy my-philosophy intro "The Magic Number" to an intelligent, caring inner-city vignette named "Ghetto Thang" to the freewheeling end-of-innocence tale "Jenifa Taught Me (Derwin's Revenge)." Rappers Posdnuos and Trugoy the Dove talked about anything they wanted (up to and including body odor), playing fast and loose on the mic like Biz Markie. Thinly disguised under a layer of humor, their lyrical themes ranged from true love ("Eye Know") to the destructive power of drugs ("Say No Go") to Daisy Age philosophy ("Tread Water") to sex ("Buddy"). Prince Paul (from Stetsasonic) and DJ Pasemaster Mase led the way on the production end, with dozens of samples from all sorts of left-field artists -- including Johnny Cash, the Mad Lads, Steely Dan, Public Enemy, Hall & Oates, and the Turtles. The pair didn't just use those samples as hooks or drumbreaks -- like most hip-hop producers had in the past -- but as split-second fills and in-jokes that made some tracks sound more like DJ records. Even "Potholes on My Lawn," which samples a mouth harp and yodeling (for the chorus, no less), became a big R&B hit. If it was easy to believe the revolution was here from listening to the rapping and production on Public Enemy's It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, with De La Soul the Daisy Age seemed to promise a new era of positivity in hip-hop. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
