De La Soul
De La Soul Is Dead
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NATN Recommended
De La Soul
De La Soul Is Dead
Tommy Boy, 1991
RiYL: Jungle Brothers, Tribe Called Quest, Black Star |
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.
TROY CARPENTER | Troy Carpenter founded NATN from a Chicago apartment during the ambitious winter of 1998 with co-conspirators Ben French and Jonathan Cohen. After a five-year stint in New York, he and wife Lourdes have recently relocated to Indianapolis, where he spends days listening to music and nights in the kitchen at Elements restaurant. Musical heroes: Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Super Furry Animals. What else makes life worth living: Sushi, Phucty, runs in the park, and the Atlanta Braves.