What started off as a casual end of summer Sunday afternoon of imported beers enjoyed on the steps of a Brooklyn townhouse became a heated discussion with more platitudes and invectives than you would find in a presidential debate. If opinions are similar to assholes in that they are possessed buy one and all then I would have to rate my opinion to be greater than Combat Jack’s for virtue that my ass is more substantial [ll]. Nonetheless, the argument raged on…
“Which is De La Soul’s greatest album?”
‘3 Ft. High And Rising’
I choose this album because it had a profound effect on Hip-Hop and rap music. This album shatters the myth that only someone in a B-boy stance can produce rap music. The soundscape that Prince Paul crafts in 3ft was as futuristic and otherworldly as what the Bomb Squad was doing for Public Enemy.
Rap music is about lyrics too and De La Soul were unlike any rap group you have heard since them. Simile meets metaphor which is followed by obscure or arcane reference. De La Soul’s first album showed them to be pop culture deconstructionists on the level of rap music’s Jacques Derrida. Excuse my hyperbole, but that is how fucking good 3ft is to listen to. Plus philosophy might have been the only college class that I passed.
 |
|
‘Buhloone Mindstate’
Combat Jack submits B.M. as De La’s best album because of Prince Paul’s maturity on this disk. We don’t find nearly as many skits or interludes on this CD. This, says Combat Jack, is a complete album.
The quirkiness in De La Soul’s lyrics is removed for a more serious tone which decries the music industry’s modus operandi as well as the the fickle tastes of our consumer culture. De La Soul has never been afraid to speak to us as adults when the situation calls for such, ugh, real talk. Is this why they are still playing in college gymnasiums? Maybe. It’s also why they are being given their due for Vh-1’s Hip-Hop Honors this year.
 |
|
Like fellow Native Tonguer DRES would say, “The choice is yours.”
