De La Soul - Classic or Dud?

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.

totally they opened up whole new possibilities

I always had a soft spot for Beautifully Absurd from Politics of the Business

Confirmation about the replays:

Yes there were some replays that had to be done for clearance purposes. We challenge you to find them!! I spent over 4 months doing it with the man Prince Paul himself along with the members of the band. Set to be released on 3/3/23. It’s the Magic Number!!

— Scotty Hard (@scottyhardmusic) January 4, 2023

okayplayer has a GREAT interview about how these albums were (mostly) cleared and it even touches on other things (like the Beastie Boys, Lou Reed getting 100% of "Can I Kick It?," etc.):

https://www.okayplayer.com/music/de-la-soul-samples-deborah-mannis-gardner-interview.html

As mostly a lurker I feel nervous suggesting a thing but... would it be fun / is there appetite for having a listening thread or a poll or something once the albums are on streaming? A nice way to mark the moment and pay sustained attention to everything that's coming back out. I would like to sit with it properly and it'd be fun to do with company.

great idea!

I would vote!