De La Soul Album: “Buhloone Mindstate”

De La would have taken hip hop into a direction of more complex rhymes and provoking thought, if hip hop fans could have been more turned on to this disc. Instead hip hop plateau'd and today is not significantly better than it was 10 or even 15 years ago. When compared to hip hop today, Buhloone Mindstate is on another level. Pos puts together rhymes that are unbelievable. Dove and Mace are right there with him and the result is the best rhyme flow I've ever heard. "Breakadown" and "I Am I Be" are amazing. "3 Days Later", "En Focus", "Patti Duke", "Eye Patch", "Area", etc. are all tight. "Long Island Wildin" is hilarious. The disc is flat if you just pop it in and don't really pay attention. But when you do listen closely, the tracks keep getting better and better and you hear exactly how amazing De La is. The disc has been underrated and overlooked. To me, it's the best, the apex of hip hop music.

Buhloone Mind State is De La's most creative and versatile work. To me, this record plays a large role in defining underground hip-hop in retrospect. It includes mellow, brilliant elements of jazz with borrowed ideas from jazz legend Dizzy Gillespie (kids playing in the background, traditional playground/summer sounds). The beats are refreshing, original and upbeat. The lyrics are thoughtful and become instantly memorable. De La Soul is an original, creative, and talented group, and they never fail to produce matching records. Buy this album. If you lose it, buy it again. This IS their most dazzling work

a few years ago i let my friend hold this album for a few days so that he he could understand the sudden jolt of happiness that I felt after buying mind state.My friend was the type who only listened to MOP, Mobb Deep,you understand, hardcore hip hop. this album completely changed this dude...dela has this power over people, three feet high and rising had a similar effect on me. If you want to be moved by hip hop get this joint, it might change your out look on the genre

this album is nice. when i bought it in 93 it was ok but i really got into this albulm about 6 years later. sometimes with de la it happens like that. you have to get it to sit back and digest it and then you will understand what i mean.

This is the height of De La Soul. Not as goofy (but still as much fun) as 3 Feet or ...is Dead, this is the last record by the group to explore new territory. It strikes a balance between the bohemian elements of their early albums, and a certain maturity. It's the last time out that De La tried anything new and attempted to combine elements of non Hip Hop music (with heavy jazz elements, and off the wall snippets like the inclusion of a crew of Japanese MC's.) This record is also a treat because it's their last with Prince Paul (a split that was their biggest mistake...) The production is flawless, and eclectic. The only disappointment is that they couldn't follow this brilliant record with any more original material. The previously mentioned quote "I might blow up, but I won't go Pop," and Pos's line "**** bein hard Posdnous is complicated" both seem to have been thrown out the window on later records - especially the AOI series.