I've been playing a ton of De La Soul lately

[adam_f]

I don't really know why, but De La and Tribe have been the only groups I've been listening to as of late. It's been awhile since I listened to De La and I found a copy of The Impossible Mission Pt. 1 at Best Buy last week and it got me hooked again.

That being said, I really can't stand the 3 Feet High and Rising album. Over the years I've tried giving it the chance it deserves but in the end I always come up feeling baffled. Before my brother got me hooked on Wu-Tang around the Forever album, he tried getting me on De La because since I grew up just before the shiny suit era, he thought I'd like the fun beats of the 3 Feet disc. I didn't get it then and I don't get it now.

About that time I started playing Stakes Is High on heavy rotation based mainly on the title tracks video I remember seeing way back when with Maury Povich. In a six year span the vast improvement on beats (I'm not saying because it was Dilla because De La Soul Is Dead and Buhloone Mindstate were classics too) and lyrics really stuck with me. Even Tribe hadn't matured this much because even in the beginning they weren't as out there as De La.

And listening to them now takes me back to just after I got over Fresh Prince and started liking hip hop before Mase became a household name. I don't know, haven't made a thread in awhile and decided to post this.

My ranking as of April 12, 2008

1. Stakes Is High
2. Buhloone Mindstate
3. De La Soul Is Dead
4. AOI: Mosaic Thump
5. 3 Feet High and Rising
6. The Grind Date
7. AOI: Bionix

[roosta]

I've been playing alot of Tribe lately..which has inspired me to go get back into De La too. Must go get some of them albums.

Gonna get "Stakes is High" first, i think. Im on a legal downloading only thing these days, and a not spend money frivolously thing also, so I'll have to pick and choose carefully.

I have Bionix and 3 Feet High and Rising.

I dont hate 3 Feet High like you do. Its quite good, but its amazingly overrated.

That is all my thoughts on this topic.

Thank you.

[checkyourprez]

just saw this on another forum, you might be interested in ...Baby Loves Hip-Hop

prince paul's concept album of hip hop for little kids. sounds de la soul ish. checker out.

[Auton]

impossible mission was absolute garbage. de la is still my favorite rap group, even if they havent released an album i can listen to front-to-back since the turn of the century

[GlobemalloSpike]

Yeah adam_f I know what you mean about 3 Ft High.
Little Bit of Soap popped up on my shuffle a few weeks back,
made me laugh, so I burned some De La for my ride
and you're right. It doesn't really stand up for me.
Fun, fresh concept when it came out, but...
okay it still does make me laugh.

if I was goin' back, should've burned Low End Theory

check out live Sure Shot mix from this thread (http://www.beastieboys.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=86334)
MMM sampling from 3 Ft High around 1:00

[Kid Presentable]

impossible mission was absolute garbage. de la is still my favorite rap group, even if they havent released an album i can listen to front-to-back since the turn of the century

I didn't find it to be absolute garbage, just not absolute gold. There were a few nice tracks (Freedom Train, Dugout, Voodoo Circus) and some nice attempts at homages like the What if and Corner joints. And I love 'Mindstate'. But each to their own. De La is the shit in any case.

I also find 3 feet to be a little overrated, but I was exposed to it at a hell young age by a friends sister (on vinyl no less), so it gets its props for being the first De La I ever heard. Of the two AOI albums, I like Mosaic Thump the best. Shit sounds crazy good to me even now. And Stakes is sorely maligned. I love that one too. The Prince Paul trilogy, shit the whole fucking lot.

De La De La De La!

[Deep_Sea_Rain]

Fuck being hard, Posdnous is complicated.

But really, De La are absolute legends. Impossible Mission wasn't bad at all, but we need a new album. It's been 4 years guys!

[Guy Incognito]

really surprised about the 3ft high comments on here. I love it but i can understand what some of you are saying. I still think its the most consistent thing they have done and maybe the reason it sounds dated to some is that some of its ideas had never been done before and now they have been done to death by others. The highlights on that album are still some of the best hip hop ever produced but i can see how some tracks dont float anyones boat anymore.
It is twenty years old now and i still give it a listen once in a while. Potholes in my lawn is my favourite.
I havent heard impossible mission so i dont know about that. The last track i really liked of theirs was "no good" with chaka khan.

This is still one of the best things they have been involved with (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1ysi7yB1fg)

[mate_spawn_die]

wait a minute that's my beeper... i gotta go call my skit. see ya later. :)

[mathcart]

wait a minute that's my beeper... i gotta go call my skit. see ya later. :)

Been a long time proponent of De La Soul being among the best out there. I remember I had a fight w/ an ex like in '93- we went to see them when they were touring with Tribe and she was incredulous that I could like De La better than Tribe. whatever she was a bitch.
Held Down is an amazing song- Its the more mature perspective that hip-hop has had a hard time developing, because we just keep recycling teenagers- who buy and large have had great and fun new things to say, but they are still seeing the world only through the lenses of younger people.
De La Soul has been both as consistently excellent and has grown and showed their growing perspectives as much as the Beasties. Hot act.
(y)

[adam_f]

So I'm listening to 3 Feet High now and it's not as bad as I remember. The skits are kinda lame, but I forgot how much I loved Eye Know. God, I used to love that song.

[Tzar]

this is what fucks me over about De La. i know i'm spose to form my own opinion about music but when it comes to rap/hip hop shit; this is the first and only place i come. but with De La, everyone here is so different on them; there's no board-formed opinion on them... everyone here holds them in different respects. i just can't get why person A digs 3 feet high + impossible mission but person b disagrees because they like this better than that.

goes back to me, i know but yeah... i wouldn't call myself a huge De La fan. i'll listen to them if you put it infront of me but i'm all for aggression in rap... even Beasties have harder shit than most of, if not all?, of De La.

[Gareth]

i've been listening to the first ATCQ alot lately

[Gareth]

just on the topic of prince paul...the first gravediggaz rules.

[DeeJayZap]

i got some re-issued singles from the 3ft era and i think theyre all dope. i havent listened to any full album except the grind date and impossible mission, which i have both on wax, and their best of which is pretty dope. so yeah. thumbs up for de la (y)

[Kid Presentable]

just on the topic of prince paul...the first gravediggaz rules.

Have you heard the psychoanalysis album?

[mickill]

Buhloone Mindstate = near perfection/best overall album.

3Ft and ....Is Dead = classics marred by a few too many skits and some filler material. Either way, both raised the bar at one point.

Grind Date and Mosaic Thump = solid albums throughout.

Stakes = less spectacular than the above two, but overall, a good album.

Bionix = least impressive. Still dig it, but I don't know what people are smoking when they say it's better than Mosaic Thump.

Also, I like Impossible Mission. Granted, it doesn't get crazy spins or anything, but I think it's a long ass way from being "absolute garbage".


Bottom line is, their catalog is air tight.

[Auton]

different strokes for different folks is all. it's still unhealthy how much i like de la soul though.

[adam_f]

I've decided Ego Trippin (Part Two) is my favorite De La song. Just saying.

[chromium05]

"3 Feet High" was one of the era defining albums.

I was 15 when this came out and had spent the last 5 years or so listing to LL Coolj, Eric B and Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, Ultramagnetic, Shan, BDP, PE, Slick Rick, Run DMC, Audio Two etc etc.

I recommend that anyone who doesn't get 3 Feet High should get hold of some of the above mentioned acts and listen to the albums straight through. THEN - listen to 3 Feet.

When that album came out it was such a drastic change to what we'd gotten used to with hip hop. No-one had sampled mad shit like that before. No-one had dropped rhymes like those before. I still catch new double meanings now that I've never noticed before.

The whole "hippy rap" bullsh*t tag put lots of people off. As De La themselves proclaimed, people felt the need to have to pidgeon hole them and mistook the "DAISY" aspect and gave them a tag.

Hence the rebellion against thier media given identity on "De La Soul is Dead" - even the album title tells you that they wanted to get away from the hippy label. This is my favorite album of all - most people were expecting 3 feet pt 2. This was better. And way different.

As was Buhloon Mindstate - not my favorite album but some of my favorite tracks are on it.

Stakes Is High I couldnt really get into ( as with all following albums) but again, some excellent tracks ( a couple on all subsequent albums)

Maybe it's cos I heard them from the start that the older albums feel better to me....and I guess people that are younger and heard thier newer albums first, along with more modern sounding hip hop, feel that the older stuff sounds too dated.

I tend to find that most hip hop from 76 - 86 sounds too "old" to me, but there is a nice little scene ( look for it) made up of guys who are probably 35-45years old that still talk about, and share, some really old and seriously obscure stuff. I always grab copies, but I can't get into it.

So I won't preach to anyone who can't get into something that doesn't feel "right" for them.

chrooooooo' - Minsk 1941