De La Soul - Stakes Is High 2xLP

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Chrysalis / AOI Records (2023, Reissue)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for twenty-five plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

Of the De La Soul records I have written about thus far, Stakes Is High is the one that I really knew nothing about.  While I'm familiar with the phrase 'stakes is high' as part of the vernacular, I never had listened to this record prior to purchasing this reissue.  I wasn't even sure I was going to buy it as it came out in 1996, which is typically a few years removed from any hip hop I've historically cared about.  I've gotten more open minded about hip hop that came out after 1994 in recent years, but I'm still often trepidatious about release post-Golden Era.

Now that I've spent a little time with Stakes Is High, I could make the argument that it's the best De La Soul record.  It doesn't necessarily have the best songs, the highs aren't as high, but as a consistent record, it's pretty aces.  A big help is the fact that it's not bogged down with a bunch of crummy skits, you can actually listen to this as a record without getting interrupted by nonsense that ceases to be even remotely funny after about the third listen.  

On Stakes Is High De La just brings great beats and great rhymes.  No Gimmick.  This was the first album they recorded without Prince Paul helping out with production, but that doesn't hurt the beats at all.  Even though this is a '96 release, the feel is absolutely of the era I always gravitate towards.  I was pretty sure I was only going to buy the first three De La Soul reissues, but I took a chance on this, their fourth, and I'm really glad I did.  Does that mean I should give their next record, Art Official Intelligence a try?  I'm not sure, but I'm considering it.

De La Soul - Stakes Is High:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_m2ITVdSZ6vxDIoaifH7LI8A0dXT1nTa0I

De La Soul – Buhloone Mindstate LP

Chrysalis / AOI (2023, Reissue) 

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for twenty-five plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

Buhloone Mindstate is the third De La Soul album, and of the first three it's been the one I've spent the least amount of time with over the years.  As these albums have been reissued, I've been picking them up as it's the first time in a while that they have been affordable.  Though I have never been the biggest De La fan in the world, I really wanted to give the albums a fair chance.  And the only way I can really give them the attention they deserve is a dedicated vinyl listen, not just playing in the background.

I can say that as a full album, Buhloone Mindstate is probably my favorite of the first three.  That's not the same thing as saying it has my favorite songs of all three, but as far as a start to finish listed, Buhloone Mindstate is on top.  Why?  Honestly, it's mostly because it isn't crammed full of stupid skits.  There are a couple short interludes, but it's not like the first two albums where the flow of the record is constantly interrupted by unfunny bits of tomfoolery.

That's not the only reason it's such a good listen, they definitely bring the tunes and beats on Buhloone Mindstate.  "Patti Dooke," "Ego Trippin' (Part Two)" and "Breakadawn" as as strong as any songs in their catalog.  By the time we get to 1993 in the history of hip hop, there are some pretty insane all-timer type albums being released.  I can't say that I would personally rank Buhloone Mindstate in my list, but I also don't have thirty years of history with it like I do with so many others.  But even if I don't consider this album to be quite on that level, there's no denying it's a great album and one that I unfairly ignored for way too long.

De La Soul – Buhloone Mindstate:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lJiOEdLL1pLgM1qZF1DwK87-ciVQ1rW8w

De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising 2xLP

AOI / Chrysalis (2023, Reissue)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Age' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for twenty-five plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

I've had a complicated relationship with De La Soul over the years.  Not that anything about them is inherently complicated, but I've had mixed feelings about their albums, particularly 3 Feet High and Rising.  I didn't listen to De La Soul as a kid when they were originally out.  In 1989, when this album first was released, I wasn't super into hip hop yet.  It was 1990's Mama Said Knock You Out that sent me down that path, but I didn't look in the rear view for this one.

I eventually became aware of the group and have tried to give their albums chances over the years.  De La Soul has always been one of those groups that I felt like I was supposed to like.  I'm not sure why they hadn't connected with me in a meaningful way.  There were times where I listened to this album and thought it was good.  There were times I listened to it and found it really annoying and so it went over the years.  I had a reissue of the CD that I got while in the music biz in the early 2000s, but eventually sold it as part of a CD purge.  I've probably downloaded and deleted the MP3s of the album a dozen times over the years.  One thing I never had was the vinyl, which has been out of print and expensive for ages.

When the news came out a few months back that De La Soul was back in the mix with their classic albums and that everything was being released to streaming platforms and rereleased as physical media, I figured I would just grab this.  I was finally able to sit down with 3 Feet High and Rising on a turntable, really listening to it.  I've always felt that listening to a record on vinyl is a very different experience than any other way of listening.  It's not because of some magic, audiophile sound quality mumbo jumbo, I just find that when I put on a record, I really listen to it.  It's a different, tactile experience for me.

So anyway, I've listened to the album on vinyl now and I do have some different opinions, but others were reinforced.  First the negatives.  It's too long.  At nearly seventy minutes, I just don't need that much music in one shot.  I also hate the skits.  I know the album is considered very innovative as far as bringing the skit to hip hop, but for me that's not something to be proud of.  I think they bring every album in the world to a screeching halt and it's especially egregious for 3 Feet High and Rising.  If you cut out all of the skits and maybe a song or two the album would be a lot tighter and easier to listen to, I think.

On the positive side, there are some really great songs on here.  "Eye Know," The Magic Number" and Potholes in my Lawn" stand out in a big way, particularly when you realize this came out in 1989 and how little hip hop sounded like this at the time.  I don't think I ever need to hear "Me Myself and I" ever again, but I think that's probably recency bias in that nearly every classic episode of Yo! MTV Raps that's streaming on Paramount+ shows this video and that wore me down after a while.

I am glad I own this record now.  It's obviously important and quite good in places.  It's a little bloated for my personal tastes, but the good outweighs the bad by a long shot.  I have other De La Soul albums on vinyl preordered, so I'm eager to re-experience those and see what other wrong opinions I may have been holding onto over the years.

De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mvrnYlhTUhBEyeojmVMcawQBa4l1vkDTc