De La Soul Album: “3 Feet High and Rising”

Ah yes. New York, 1989. Beastie Boys, De La Soul, Tribe Called Quest, Run-DMC. This was possibly the best time for hip-hop music ever. The music had a vibe like no other, as well as keeping its roots and adding more funk than any other style. Great times, good music. Fast forward ten years or so. Rappers like Eminem, Dr. Dre, and Juvenille have young audiences screaming their names on MTV every day. Millions of their records are sold. The music has lost its edge, the funk and soul are gone, and instead, childish little songs and backbeats appear frequently. Hip hop has deteriorated and is now mainsteream. Sad, isn't it? De La Soul represent everything that was good about hip hop. Keeping African rythmns, adding the funk of Parliament, and rapping in a style that was (and is) easy to get into. This was their breakthrough album. There is not a bad song on this record, and I can easily get into it whenever I want to. This record makes me wonder why people even like new hip hop. This is smarter and funnier than anything Juvenille could ever come up with. I think my favorite tracks on 3 Feet High And Rising are Change in Speak, The Magic Number, and A Little Bit Of Soap. Quite possibly the greatest hip hop album ever made.

De la Soul were (along with "A Tribe Called Quest"), both 'The Thinking mans Rap Group', but also a Hip-Hop group that weren't obsessed with getting 'Paid & Laid'. What they had was a manifesto of Witty Wordplay, Freewheeling carefree attitude, a level of eclecticism rivalled by few, and (most people forget this) occasionally tackling serious subjects.

Where they dropped "3 Feet & Rising" in 1989, it (with the exception of "A Tribe Called Quest"), it marked a truly substantial album, that shifted the goalpost away from over confident posturing & a dour outlook of the streets, and delivered a supremely confident, assured & Energetic debut that raised the bar for the small 'Intelligent Rap' genre.

This was achieved through several fundamentally important elements. (1) Taking 2 gifted rappers "Posdnuos, Trugoy, & DJ Pasemaster Mase" (to emphasise their sense of humour, try writing down, the two rappers names backwards), that weren't adverse to either, Weaving clever wordplay and deft rhymes, against whimsical playful ideas, and an almost nonsensical humour. (2) Having leftfield Producer (of 'Stetsasonic' fame) "Prince Paul" provide a lot of the musical ideas, image, direction, (and most importantly) sampling, that made up a large percentage of the album. Prince Paul's involved in the project was vital, because instead of collating Hip-Hop samples from the usual sources (Exactly how many times, has "James Brown's - Funky Drummer" been sampled in Hip-Hop??), he went further afield for his samples (much further), so a mixture of: pop, jazz, reggae, and psychedelia, Country, 70's soul, Rock (and, yes the obligatory 'James Brown' sample) were used to construct the musical part of the album.

And from this wildly eclectic ranges of samples, beats, loops.....songs were then built around, and thus the range is diverse, with lyrics ranging from social awareness ("Ghetto Thang") to stream of consciousness ("I Can Do Anything"), Through to brief, but creative musical interludes that break up the songs, (Can U keep A Secret?, De La Orgee, Description, Transmitting Live from mars), with the album peppered with a variety of songs that were strong enough to exist outside the structure of the album and work as standalone singles. "Say No Go", "The Magic Number", Me Myself & I, which sampled everyone from blue-eyed soul artists "Hall & Oates", Country legend "Johnny Cash", Adult-Rock duo "Steely Dan", all meticulously sampled and spliced with Hip-Hop beats to create a kaleidoscopic arrangement of Leftfield songs that shunned thumping beats and veered more towards innovative offbeat ideas and fast and loose humour.

But there were, (hidden deep) within the album, traces of a social consciousness, with songs dealing with more substaintial issues such as: true love ("Eye Know"), the debilitating effects of drugs ("Say No Go"), issues of Sex ("Buddy"), and social/neighourhood concerns ("Ghetto Thang"). But It would be (largely) fair to say that as deftly arranged and constructed as these tunes where, they weren't the majority of the album. And a lot of the split-second timing of the samples in songs, and clever in-jokes & various references are what most people remember them for.

When this album dropped, it was (and still is) a landmark album, all the cliches of Rap music were abandoned, it sounded like virtually nothing else at the time, It moved boundaries and pushed Hip-Hop into new and interesting directions....The Critics loved it, The General Public bought the album in droves, and all was Good, until.....

A minority of people (and Critics), decided that the 'Happy-go-Lucky' and 'Daisy Chain' themes and structure of the album, was deemed "uncool" & "over optimistic", and so the band on each successive album, gradually began to drop the playfulness and become more serious, and focused less on whimsical goofy Humour (The "De La Soul is Dead" album, being one of their most widely public efforts to move away from the persona of old). Unfortunately as great as their track record with albums has been, It has been a steady gradual case of "Diminishing Returns", with each album to failing to capture the overall energy and enthusiasm contained within this exceptional album. Sure, there's always people that are going to refer to them as "Hippy-Hoppers", but why is that considered a bad thing???......this is easily as important any any Hip-Hop album you care to mention, and no true Collection is complete without it.

You know the typical gangsta/hardcore listener? A 15-year-old white boy from the 'burbs who wants to be a man but his mom won't let him have a really loud car? The kind who writes reviews like "u got 2 get dis its da shiz"? They'll hate this album.

Now, you know the musically adventurous, intelligent listener who avoids rap because they think it's all gangsta/hardcore? The kind of sentient being who can handle the concept of chords and knows the difference between *your* and *you're*? This is the person you should buy this album for.

Even if you don't think you'll like rap, this is an album worth checking out. It's not the stereotypical inmate-screaming-over-a-background-of-falling-skillets [c]rap everyone's sick of. This is smooth, clever, funny, creative spoken-word music. That's the key; it's *musical.* There are breezy melodic hooks under witty, deft vocals with just enough punch to be classed as rap.

Sure, it's Old School, but Old School's never gotten old, while a lot of the other genres have become derivative, repetitive, and stale. You'll like this CD from the beginning, and you'll keep listening to it, because it's inventive and creative. Whether you're new to rap or a fan looking for something new and interesting, this is a great buy.

This album that De La crafted really is a masterpiece, and one of Hiphop's all-time ultimate albums. De La Soul has been excellent at every stage in their career, with whatever approach they go into albums with, but nothing they've done is quite as fresh and perfect as this. These teenagers(at the time) spit so much knowledge and love in the most creative ways possible.

Every track, every skit, every sample is outstanding on "3 Ft. High and Rising," even the 12" version of Plug Tunin', which is a harder, spare version with some different(I think even better) lyrics. This album is full of satisfying lyrics, hilarious and enlightening interludes, influential, avant-garde production, a nice variety of how the two MC's exchange verses, innocence, wisdom, significant metaphors, and perfectly placed DJ scratches. My favorite song is "Tread Water," it's so creative. The skit, "Can You Keep A Secret" makes me chuckle every time. It displays such youthful humor that seems to be void in a majority of Hiphop. You gotta appreciate the commentary on "Ghetto Thang," and "Eye Love" is one of the most sincere, believable love songs to ever come out of Hiphop. Some may not enjoy "De La Orgee" and the following "Buddy"(w/ Jungle Brothers and Q-Tip) so much, I know I didn't at first, but they still are entertaining and can be written off as silly young humor. There are plenty other gems on the album such as "Magic Number," "Potholes In My Lawn," "Say No Go," "Plug Tunin'" the smash-hit "Me, Myself, and I," and "This Is A Recording 4 L.I.F.E." among other bright spots.

If you can, buy a couple of their later albums like "De La Soul Is Dead," "Buhloone Mindstate," or "Stakes Is High," and enjoy them before purchasing this treat that is "3 Ft. High and Rising." You should no doubt be convinced that this is their ultimate work, and the group really comes into focus on this album, and it should help you understand their other albums even better! You shall even realize that this album wasn't even that strange or weird, because you get to know the guys so well. "De La Soul Is Dead" is definitely the strange, and black sheep album out of the bunch. I remember downloading songs like "Me, Myself, and I" and "Potholes" way before I bought this album, and not liking them too much. Once I bought the album however, these songs really sounded good and it became clear why they're standouts on the disc. Despite all the ground-breaking, life-changing work that Posdnous(or Wonder Why), Dave(or Trugoy the Dove), and Maseo(or P.A. Pasemaster Mase) have done throughout their career, nothing will ever be as earth-shattering as this! You can't deny how essential Prince Paul was to this album as well. I was lucky and found this album for a steal at under $10 with a new bonus disc full of great unreleased songs, skits, and remixes. Believe the hype! This truly is the 'magic number.'

CREATION: The work of Gods and Artists! Simply masterful work by artists who in time have finally gained the praise and respect due. Along with PE these are my favorite hip hop heads. They never played it safe and were guided be their own creative force. I purchased "3 feet High & Raising" in '89, I was a kid. I was simply floored with their meshing of comedic and social themes into a and surprisingly harmonious CD. I would go around forcing all of my friends to listen to this CD and it took a full year for me to actually grow tired of the tracks. I would be like "Do ya'll know how phat this is, this is a musical revolution" and brothers in Miami would be like "well it is tight, but let's put on some Luke". I felt De la Soul addressed many of the same Black issues as PE but in a totally different fashion, equaling their brilliance. In addition, the format of this CD, 24 tracks(?), with skits and dialogue was copied and duplicated by the entire hip-hop recording industry for years. Not every track had to be a complete song! Take a look at NWA's and PE's subsequent albums that followed (3'high&raising). Even the best took hold of that format, opening up their own creativeness and exposing more of their personalities. Then 'Soul followed this success with "De la Soul is Dead", which was just as profound. LONG LIVE THE DE LA!