De La Soul - Classic or Dud?

I love Tribe but De La Soul is definitely the more important of the two

Tribe have those elements of volatility and tension / genius that make a better narrative but I can get lost in the soup of De La Soul so much more. So much stirred into the lyrics, always underrated, as well as the sound.

When I was a student trying to teach Italian teens English at a summer school, I played them Say No Go once in a lesson on drugs thinking it'd be a new way to look at the theme. I only properly realised when I had the words up on the board looking at their blank faces, the impossible magnificent density of the language, how the fuck was I going to explain? Um drugs are like pleather mumble mumble moving on.

I hope it's not the end / the concerts could be made some kind of tribute, but that's in vain really. They seemed like a group who really liked each other. Dotting between here and the Yo La Tengo thread I see something similar, a career where being around forever and enjoying each other's company feels like part of the point. Quiet confidence, music as way of life rather than explosion, even if it doesn't make a great story for a doc or a warts and all retrospective. "The business of De La is our friendship," Mase said in an interview I read.

So as everybody has said this feels very cruel now they're about to get their comeback-equivalent hoopla and fuss. At least Dave will have got to see the excitement for the reissues if not the fruits of it.

Can't wait to have a proper copy of Buhloone Mindstate to submerge in when it comes. His verse on Area is my fave, just pure confidence and flute. Life really. RIP.

this is one of the rare things that has been on spotify for a while. stakes is high era. really love his verse.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWVq6wOic-g
"i can't call it" (1996)

"if you wanna bug, then do whatcha like. self expression makes it healthy for self, aight?"

Is there a place to buy all the reissues on vinyl at once?

So far only two have release dates, and 3 Feet is sold out most places, but I'm keeping my eyes open for Buhloone and Stakes in the near future.

really going to miss the sound of his voice. the timing is so cruel. i hope for a communal moment when the world can celebrate his music next month.

easily on the level of losing Phife and MCA (and similar in some sense as far as the alchemy of the unit), but an even deeper hit for me personally.

I discovered De La via skate videos at age 11 or 12 somewhat out of order, first with I Be Blowin', then The Bizness and then Saturdays. Midnight Marauders was in heavy rotation too (goated for the Award Tour chorus). those albums cracked a new path wide open, as they did for many others.

Stakes is High is my most prized, but the discography is remarkably consistent. loads of great stuff on the later albums. a few rarer and under appreciated favorites:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU25K1tgmEY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXXongB9We0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVHvN1EeIr0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcWVqJ_FiLU

i would imagine they'll tour with mos def filling in for truguoy

De La is my favorite rap group, period.

It really sucks that three of my favorites - Tribe, Beastie Boys and De La Soul - are now essentially defunct after losing members to health issues at a fairly young ages.

i mean, if they all toured together....

I don't think they'd do this, but if they did with Q-Tip stepping in for MCA and Dave, I'd check it out.

i'm not sure what i wouldn't pay for tickets to a tribe/bboy/dela tour tbh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GBx4HJKU7s

all up in my cuticles

he was born with the boom bap

^^^ was about to post the title track, forks

I'm surprised SIH is so warmly regarded -- for a while I slotted it as the least of their '90s albums (my college station played "4 More" a few times that year). Of course, now it sounds awesome.

stakes is high would be better if it werent all complaining, hard not to consider an underlying guilt about, for lack of a better term, dumbing down their sound

The complaining got them a diss on a 2Pac song—-so, net positive. SIH to me is like the first Rawkus-style backpacker record, as much about hip hop itself than anything else, plus a Mos Def feature.

"Big Brother" is still one of the best things he and they did.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fu9rayffNLs
de la soul feat truth enola + mos def — "stakes is high (remix)"

^^^dilla beat

Excited to hear Stakes Is High again next month, I wrote it off at the time as a basic-sounding disappointment, but I’m loving whatever I can find on YouTube.

I love periodically remembering that Held Down exists
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2ckWYPMqPc

i play the cee-lo intro to held down in my head at least once a month

Very sweet lateish track, just love Trugoy’s vibe in this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFTNjzzeU-8

xpost to ansa: "trouble in the water" with dj honda! stakes is high was a lot more "SERIOUSGUYFACE", especially for them, but that song really solidified that they were getting downright introspective and poetic in their old age. dave has a line in his first verse that has been stuck in my head on and off since about 1999—

steppin to backyard parties was a blast
fuckin up our sneakers on the wet grass
remember getting stabbed in your ass?
your moms sat us all down
said we was n/ggas and clowns
but it was just love

man.

(killer ecm sample on the beat, too — prime ilxor bait!)

the album mix of "eye know" has officially made it to spotify. confusingly with a co-credit to otis redding but not the dan. sure do hope this extended version shows up—

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryhtpIcLDuU

"eye know (the know-it-all mix)" (1990)

love dave on this. "we could live in my plug 2 home and on mars where we could be all alone."

hey anybody who thought they were suddenly preachy or boring on stakes is high—

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xToQzNaZDG4

"brain washed follower" (1989)

URRRAHHH!!

^^ love that one

and for those wondering, jeff got his own song—
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6tW9JgqYFc
"the mack daddy on the left" (1989)

de la def always overtly stood apart from a lot of rap stuff "black medallions no gold" but stakes is high is really an album about that where it was previously just one thread

i did recently listen to stakes is high for the first time in a long time, an album i bought the day it came out and enjoyed a lot, tho i never ranked it with their previous two, and while the complaining about the state of rap/the world is def tough to take the nice guy swag vibe is much worse just brutally self conscious and conflicted, common and mos def are not out of place here

they were always cool freaks doing their own thing but on stakes they want to be taken seriously for rap earned credit or something idk, not that it has nothing to recommend it but theres just a lot of jarring stuff on there, also no prince paul, he went way further into left field after the split

yeah I downloaded it (lol) last week after misplacing a DVD copy; the attempts at crowdpleasing mixed with the mild complaints about the bizness + the okay beats don't result in a great album. I'm comfortable ranking it behind the AOI albums and The Grind Date. "Supa Emcees," "Pony Ride" ""Big Brother Beat," and "4 More" are my keepers.

*CD copy

for the record i still love buhloon mind state and de la soul is dead all time personal classics

was gonna flag you if you didn't issue that declaration

i def remember not being into stakes is high as much at the time, feeling like it kind of a boring standard rap album. i would be curious to hear it again now, for the first time in 20+ years

in hindsight it makes 98% of the "backpacker shit" it inspired look like motionlessly masturbatory nonsense. de la had a radio jam in "4 more" on their album though. so they win.

going back to everything recently it just strikes me how pleasantly out of step they always were. the classic line is "arsenio dissed us but the crowd kept clappin" and that so perfectly sums it up.

hey alfred, if you like "pony ride" here's more de la + truth enola—

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-xz8aOirCk

truth enola feat plugs 1+2 — "voicetress" (1999)

(pos steals the show here with one of my absolute favorite verses; "around a lotta clowns, so we clownin")

vibe

vibration

was gonna flag you if you didn't issue that declaration

― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, February 21, 2023 4:03 PM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

tough but fair

Mase & Pos posted long rememberances for Dave on instagram today

crying for real

i love masturbatory backpacker shit

also no prince paul, he went way further into left field after the split

gravediggaz ?
and then random stuff here and there that antidote compiled for 2 cds : politics of the business, hip hop gold dust.
but since then, i have not really followed his groove.

A Prince Among Thieves is a masterpiece

Handsome Boy Modelling School, Psychoanalysis are great

i love gravediggaz but i was thinking more of psychoanalysis, prince among thieves and handsome boy modeling school

ha xp

I was about to post the same exact re4commendations re: Prince Paul. A Prince Among Thieves and So... How's Your Girl? (Handsome Boy Modeling School) are two of my favorites from that era. Highly recommended

*recommendations

i genuinely forgot about HBMS.
Psychoanalysis is something i have realised i will never find in my travels.
but hey, never say never.

listened to Prince Among Thieves a bunch a while back, I felt even more strongly about it now. To be able to do a whole concept/rap opera thing and have the plot make sense, the superb "casting" (like Everlast as a dirty cop was inspired, and obviously all the others like BDK, Kool Keith, De La, etc) and then to center it on two relatively unknown rappers who are great in the lead roles, a real great piece of work. great beats too.

i love masturbatory backpacker shit

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, February 22, 2023 11:13 AM

me too, but de la did it first + best.