Album: 3 Feet High & Rising
Artist: De La Soul
Side 1 closer Potholes In My Lawn is one of the more cryptic songs on the record, apparently a paranoid rap about the leech-like behaviour of hangers-on but, whatever the lyrical content, even more important is that it sounds great. Say No Go opens side 2 and is one of the highlights on the record, mixing a cheesy Halls & Oates sample with a clear anti-drugs message. Early single Plug Tunin' is one of the quirkier moments, while D.A.I.S.Y. Age is in the same psychedelic vein, the initials standing for Da Inner Soul Y'all but the message still mysterious to me. Buddy and Me, Myself & I are two highlights of side 2, the latter using funk samples from Parliament and Sly & the Family Stone to background playful, rhythmic rapping; the single would become a huge hit in the summer of 1989. The video and lyrics brilliant poke fun at mainstream hip hop, as embodied by Def Jam in real life and Professor Defbeat in the video. Social commentary has rarely sounded so fun or insightful on record.
Artist: De La Soul
Born: Long Island, New York
Released: March 1989
Genre: Hip Hop
Influenced: Arrested Development, Common, Q-Tip, Mos Def, Beck, Gorillaz
In the same way that punk rock unleashed a long period of musical creativity in British music, Run-DMC and Public Enemy had a similar effect on American hip hop. One of the most interesting offshoots in the late 80s was the Native Tongues collective, an Afrocentric hip hop movement that emerged in New York and had three groups at its core -- The Jungle Brothers, Arrested Development and De La Soul. Solo artists like Queen Latifah and Q-Tip were also involved (see the video for Buddy for a visual representation). Native Tongues was at odds with gangsta rap, another hip hop offshoot that was kickstarted in summer 1988 by NWA's Straight Outta Compton. The Jungle Brothers released a similarly titled album, Straight Out The Jungle, around the same time and the two albums couldn't be more different in style; mellow vs aggressive, psychedelic wordplay vs monochrome reportage. For a brilliant primer on the Native Tongues movement, I'd recommend this link. This is also an interesting article on how the album was made, which details how the band incorporated so many samples into their rhythmic rapping. Sadly, the liberal use of samples is preventing the early De La Soul albums from being available on digital download and streaming sites like Spotify, hence why I've instead embedded several videos below that accompanied the many brilliant singles from 3 Feet High & Rising. Eye Know is one of several hip hop tracks that relies on the melodic qualities of Steely Dan's Aja, used in a chorus that is interspersed with raps by each of De La Soul's three members: Posdnous, Trugoy the Dove and Pasemaster Mase.
As Posdnous later revealed, the game show format that appears in the introduction and runs throughout the album was added near the end of the recording process. This, plus the various skits, were used by producer Prince Paul to add a sense of cohesiveness to the album. Most are very entertaining and innovative, like the use of a French language learning clip on Transmitting Live From Mars -- "quelle heure est-il?" (what time is it?), "il est midi" (it's midday), "c'est l'heure de déjeuner" (it's lunchtime) -- or one that pokes fun at people with personal hygiene issues ("A Little Bit Of Soap") or another that sends up Barry White (De La Orgee). Others like Do As De La Does are actually just a little annoying. Cool Breeze On The Rocks has to have the most samples per second of any hip hop track. On side 1 of the record, Ghetto Thang is my favourite track, showing De La Soul's different approach to tackling modern social issues by preferring articulate conscious rap over macho posturing or sexism. The song has a series of verses that deal with separate issues, from teenage pregnancy ("Mary had a little lamb ... that's a fib / she had two twins though and one crib") to family breakdown ("Daddy's broken down from ghetto pains / mommy's flying high, the truth is shown / the kids are all alone"). Dove has my favourite flow of all three De La Soul rappers and his section near the end of Ghetto Thang is one of the most powerful moments on the record, imploring change from within the black community.
In the same way that punk rock unleashed a long period of musical creativity in British music, Run-DMC and Public Enemy had a similar effect on American hip hop. One of the most interesting offshoots in the late 80s was the Native Tongues collective, an Afrocentric hip hop movement that emerged in New York and had three groups at its core -- The Jungle Brothers, Arrested Development and De La Soul. Solo artists like Queen Latifah and Q-Tip were also involved (see the video for Buddy for a visual representation). Native Tongues was at odds with gangsta rap, another hip hop offshoot that was kickstarted in summer 1988 by NWA's Straight Outta Compton. The Jungle Brothers released a similarly titled album, Straight Out The Jungle, around the same time and the two albums couldn't be more different in style; mellow vs aggressive, psychedelic wordplay vs monochrome reportage. For a brilliant primer on the Native Tongues movement, I'd recommend this link. This is also an interesting article on how the album was made, which details how the band incorporated so many samples into their rhythmic rapping. Sadly, the liberal use of samples is preventing the early De La Soul albums from being available on digital download and streaming sites like Spotify, hence why I've instead embedded several videos below that accompanied the many brilliant singles from 3 Feet High & Rising. Eye Know is one of several hip hop tracks that relies on the melodic qualities of Steely Dan's Aja, used in a chorus that is interspersed with raps by each of De La Soul's three members: Posdnous, Trugoy the Dove and Pasemaster Mase.
As Posdnous later revealed, the game show format that appears in the introduction and runs throughout the album was added near the end of the recording process. This, plus the various skits, were used by producer Prince Paul to add a sense of cohesiveness to the album. Most are very entertaining and innovative, like the use of a French language learning clip on Transmitting Live From Mars -- "quelle heure est-il?" (what time is it?), "il est midi" (it's midday), "c'est l'heure de déjeuner" (it's lunchtime) -- or one that pokes fun at people with personal hygiene issues ("A Little Bit Of Soap") or another that sends up Barry White (De La Orgee). Others like Do As De La Does are actually just a little annoying. Cool Breeze On The Rocks has to have the most samples per second of any hip hop track. On side 1 of the record, Ghetto Thang is my favourite track, showing De La Soul's different approach to tackling modern social issues by preferring articulate conscious rap over macho posturing or sexism. The song has a series of verses that deal with separate issues, from teenage pregnancy ("Mary had a little lamb ... that's a fib / she had two twins though and one crib") to family breakdown ("Daddy's broken down from ghetto pains / mommy's flying high, the truth is shown / the kids are all alone"). Dove has my favourite flow of all three De La Soul rappers and his section near the end of Ghetto Thang is one of the most powerful moments on the record, imploring change from within the black community.
Side 1 closer Potholes In My Lawn is one of the more cryptic songs on the record, apparently a paranoid rap about the leech-like behaviour of hangers-on but, whatever the lyrical content, even more important is that it sounds great. Say No Go opens side 2 and is one of the highlights on the record, mixing a cheesy Halls & Oates sample with a clear anti-drugs message. Early single Plug Tunin' is one of the quirkier moments, while D.A.I.S.Y. Age is in the same psychedelic vein, the initials standing for Da Inner Soul Y'all but the message still mysterious to me. Buddy and Me, Myself & I are two highlights of side 2, the latter using funk samples from Parliament and Sly & the Family Stone to background playful, rhythmic rapping; the single would become a huge hit in the summer of 1989. The video and lyrics brilliant poke fun at mainstream hip hop, as embodied by Def Jam in real life and Professor Defbeat in the video. Social commentary has rarely sounded so fun or insightful on record.
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