De La Soul Is Dead
De La Soul
Tommy Boy,
1991
Reviewed by
Troy Carpenter
De La Soul Is Dead is one of the most consistently engaging rap
albums of the '90s.
The public first met the innovative trio by way of its 1989 debut Three Feet High And
Rising, which brought a unique ingredient to the rap canon. With the invaluable help
of producer Prince Paul, De La Soul busted down barriers in the art of rap sampling,
building songs with a more diverse mix of influences including jazz, pop and psychedelia.
But the record also caused a negative backlash in the music industry, both from bands De
La Soul had sampled, angry about copyright infringement (The Turtles sued, and won), and
from other rap groups on grounds that the band's music was "too wimpy" or
"not staying true to the genre."
With their second album, all is righteous. Though its release was delayed due to the
lawsuit, which required all samples to be "cleared," De La Soul Is Dead
vocally crushes all criticisms and continues to innovate with its music.
The album is framed as a cartoon sketch, illustrated in the liner notes. In the opening
frame, a kid named Jeff reveals he "found a De La Soul tape in the garbage." The
tape is promptly extorted by three neighborhood bullies, who put the record in their box
and continue to pop up for various skits throughout De La Soul Is Dead, dissing
it all the way through and complaining that the band is not hardcore enough. This is only
one of the consistent threads running through the album. The faux radio station WRMS pops
up a few times, with smooth-talking DJs Squirrel and Cat spreading love through "De
La Slow" music.
De La also spend a considerable amount of mic time explaining their stance on the
hardcore-vs-hippies discussion. "Pease Porridge" contains two separate
conversation bridges where bystanders describe fights that the band gets into with
hardcore stylists who disrespect their music. The song describes the new dichotomy:
"We bring, we bring, we bring the Peace of course / but pack a nine inside, inside my
De La drawers."
Of course, they also bring the sampladelic ecstacy of tracks like "A Roller Skating
Jam Called Saturdays," the ultimate groovy rap song: it flies high on horn samples,
scratches, diva singing and smooth rhymes. The follow-up, "Bitties In The BK
Lounge" is one of rap's classic boy-girl superiority matches: The De La Crew trades
insults with Burger King cashiers, and then they switch places for the second half of the
song.
Things get serious on "Millie Pulled A Pistol On Santa," a tale of incest told
from the point of view of the victim's friends. Her abusive father, Dylan, plays Santa
Claus at Macy's, the location of the song's final scene, where the haunting piano-tinged
groove stops on a dime, reflecting the stunned faces of children and classmates as a
devastated Millie plugs her father in the department store.
"Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)" picks the funk back up with a hilarious narrative
about aspiring rappers who hound the band with demos in their hands.
But all in all, De La Soul Is Dead is a celebration of rap and sampling
technology, and it's a statement that this band is not going to be pigeonholed, even by
their own work.
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"De La Soul
Is Dead vocally crushes all criticisms and continues to innovate."
Troy Carpenter
- NATN Co-Director
Related Links
De La Soul Fan Site
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