![]() ![]() While the trio looked out at their culture and inward at themselves, Paul matched their insights and impishness with musical detours that flowed effortlessly like pieces from dozens of different puzzles that somehow fit perfectly together, such as bouncing from an earnest love song (“Eye Know”) to a dismantling of consumerist trends (“Take It Off”) to an environmental call-to-arms (“Tread Water”). Loosely framing their songs with a “game show” (which played no small role in the proliferation of skits that bogged down so many hip-hop albums for years to come), Prince Paul stitched together the group’s mischievous creativity into a musical and existential journey that rejected traditional signifiers of wealth or success, expressed thoughtfulness and vulnerability, and exuded exuberance and plain old fun. But De La Soul preserved the soul - both existential and literal - in between hip-hop’s hard edges, with a peaceful and psychedelic vibe that still did not shy away from the realities of urban life, a complexity reflected as vividly in the trio’s lyricism as in the pioneering production by former Stetsasonic DJ Prince Paul. ![]() While hip-hop largely had an aggressive and at times violent image - see Public Enemy, Ice-T and N.W.A - by 1989, there were already pop-friendly rappers like DJ Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince, whose 1987 sophomore album “He’s The DJ, I’m the Rapper” went triple platinum and won the first ever rap Grammy. But today - and tragically, less than a month after the death of the group’s cofounder Dave “Trugoy the Dove” Jolicoeur - all of that changes.Ī visionary musical mashup that covers a kaleidoscopic (and ultimately very litigious) array of samples - everything from Johnny Cash to Steely Dan to the Turtles - “3 Feet High” brought the streets and the suburbs together like nothing before it. “3 Feet High and Rising” is one of the most important and pioneering albums in hip-hop history - yet even as one of the biggest hits from the album, “The Magic Number,” was used over the end credits for the 2021 blockbuster film “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” the song was not legally available to stream or purchase. ![]()
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