#17: De La Soul — Three Feet High and Rising (1989)
New York, NY — Tommy Boy Entertainment
Coming in strong with hands down the prettiest cover art we’ve seen so far (there’s some pretty interesting info on how it was made in the album’s Wikipedia page ftr), De La Soul presents us their excellent debut record, 3 Feet High and Rising. They were members of the famous Native Tongues posse along with some other artists we’ll be seeing in the near future, such as Jungle Brothers, A Tribe Called Quest, Queen Latifah, Black Sheep and more; over time Native Tongues would be recognized as one of the most important collectives in rap history, pioneering a looser, more ecletic style of producing, and “abstract, open-minded lyricism that addressed a range of topics — from spirituality and modern living to race, sex, and just having fun […] they would be pioneers of so-called conscious hip hop, alternative hip hop, and jazz rap.” (Wikipedia).
Now folks, this is a rap album I’m familiar with and very fond of, as it was one of the first things I came into contact with when I first started exploring non-brazilian rap, although I must admit it has been some time since I last gave it a proper spin; as such, it was quite pleasant once again hearing Posdnuos’, Trugoy the Dove’s and Mase’s (also known as Plug One, Two and Three, respectively) banter in Intro, as well as our good friend Prince Paul from Stetsasonic, who was never a proper member of De La Soul but is just glad to be on the show. Intro also introduces us to a theme that is maintained through the entirety of the record: a light, whimsical, sometimes nonsensical sense of humor, more refined and very different from, say, LL Cool J ragging on someone for dancing so bad it looks like they have deformed feet, or Slick Rick’s impersonation of native american pubic crabs doing a war dance; as well as the whole game show thing.
I wouldn’t go as far as to say this album has a proper game show theme or concept (I wouldn’t call it a concept album at all, even though I might be tempted to; proto-concept, maybe?), mostly because it was sort of a last moment thing that got shoehorned in there during mixing, but there do be a constant allusion to it throughout some of the interludes and skits here and there. In Intro, the four participants are introduced by a cheery announcer who then proceeds to ask them nonsensical questions, which they, in turn, admit to not knowing the answer to in later skits. And the skits in this album, I gotta say, are a thing to behold: they’re elaborate, creative, usually serve an actual narrative and dramatic purpose, and are very distinct and memorable. Take It Off, for example, makes fun of trends and fashion and somewhat feeds the idea that they are hippies (a notion that they spent a lot of time trying to dispel ftr); in I Can Do Anything (Delacratic) they take it upon themselves to make fun of the idea of democracy by saying that they can do whatever absurd things they want, such as holding two pieces of doo-doo or sticking their hands up their noses for some reason; De La Orgee, as suggested by the title, is this big sex party with all members of Native Tongues, featuring some particularly scandalous moaning and dirty talking by the likes of Q-Tip lmao; A Little Bit of Soap and Do as De La Does are apparently just about silliness for silliness’ sake, et coetera. They do actually give the album some cool dynamism and make the listening experience lighter, less dense.
Speaking of whimsy, we gotta talk about this album’s lyricism. It’s such a different, creative thing that at some points, in context, it doesn’t even sound like the same hip-hop we’ve been jamming so far. These dudes take some of the little surrealistic seeds we’ve seen hinted so far in other artists’ music (Kool Keith and Ced-Gee come to mind) and take it to the absolute next level. Some tracks pretty much abandon literality as a whole, relying almost solely in metaphors, similes and general word play to drive a point (or many) home; The Magic Number, the track where they sort of present themselves and their artistry, comes to mind:
“Difficult preaching is Posdnuos' pleasure
Pleasure and preaching starts in the heart
Something that stimulates the music in my measure
Measure in my music, raised in three parts
Casually see but don't do like the soul
’Cause seein’ and doin’ are actions for monkeys
[…]
This here piece of the pie
Is not dessert, but the course that we dine
And three out of every darn time
The effect is “Mmm” when a daisy grows in your mind
Showing true position, this here piece is
Kissin’ the part of the pie that’s missin’
When that negative number fills up the casualty
Maybe you can subtract it”
This is one of the most surrealistic tracks and the style in most of the other ones is more down-to-earth, but their overall lyricism is still significantly wilder and freer that pretty much everything we’ve seen so far. I personally really like this style, even if it can get a little old at points, and sometimes I just don’t get what the idea is at all. Posdnuos seems to me somewhat more literal and direct, while Trugoy’s bars are usually the most cryptic and evocative (while Mase does have his fair share of little verses here and there he is mostly a DJ).
The highly technical rhyming we’ve seen in some joints so far isn’t as present here, with some more basic, if still slick and well-done, rhyme schemes being prevalent; they, however, often compensate this with some creative flowing and overall performance, such as in This Is a Recording 4 Living in a Fulltime Era (L.I.F.E.), which has this really cool sounding back-to-back first verse, or D.A.I.S.Y. Age, the closer, which has an intriguing beat and fascinating syncopated, almost spoken word-y flow, and lyrics that sound almost like a Dada poem at first glance. The lyrics are chock full of funny little inside jokes, internal slang (“A phrase called talk” was their rhyme style, “Public Speaker” was a dope emcee, “Buddy” was a hot body, and “Strictly Dan Stuckie” meant “awesome”) and a few gratuitous yo mama jokes lmao.
If I had to choose one word to define the beats in this joint, it would probably be pleasant. The samples fit each other very well, and there’s but a moment or two where it gets awkward or grating, even during the most, say, daring tracks. There’s nothing too insane about it, but it’s remarkably well-made and innovative — remember, the jazzy trend in rap is yet to take over, and when it does it’s largely due to the work of De La Soul and their Native Tongues associates. Apparently this was one of the apexes of Prince Paul’s career as a beatmaker and producer, which is certainly understandable.
Lastly, I have to comment on something that was hinted at in the last review. Quoting what a guy I know said just the other day, “Even some 90’s stuff I grew up with can be rough for me. When albums were more of a collection of tracks and didn’t work all that well yet as an album in terms of sequencing the tracks […] an 18 track album with 7–8 good songs was a really good album”. It’s not that 3 Feet High and Rising doesn’t operate on that basic principle anymore, because it does, but it has a somewhat more sophisticated overall structure, with a loosely coherent linearity to it; even the filler is not literally just filler, it serves a purpose, it enhances a narrative or theme, as nonsensical as they may be. And, well, this is a 24-track record with plenty of good to excellent joints in there, so I guess it is pretty safe to say that this is indeed a “really good album”.
All in all I think this album is outstanding in pretty much every possible way, as you can probably tell from my ceaseless gushing over it. If I had to cherrypick one negative about this is that it is still somewhat immature and less refined than their later work, especially their following album, De La Soul is Dead, which I would do well to cover too (if there are groups in my list that deserves more than one slot, they are most certainly one of them). Very likely to be this cycle’s Dio’s Pick.
Favorite tracks:
The Magic Number — As attested above, this album’s pièce de résistance, the joint where their rapping and writing is at its apex. Pretty much impeccable in all aspects, from the production to the writing and the performance, neither too brainy or silly. God damn all-timer right here eod.
Jenifa Taught Me (Derwin’s Revenge) — OK, there is some soft misogyny in here (it’s about a girl whose only skills are sex) but the rapping and general producing is so fun and cool that I can’t help but love it. Maybe it’s my sense of humor that’s too puerile, but the way they describe their awkward antics with ol’ Jeny is just too good. Apparently it’s poking fun at an especially socially awkward bud of theirs called Derwin, who actually loved the “shoutout” lmao.
Tread Water — Whimsical little story with talking animals and a positive moral lesson in the end. Love it, and Saut’s kids probably will too. “I was walking on the water when I saw a crocodile/ He had daisies in his hat, so I stopped him for a while/ He delivered me a message, a massage to soothe my stage/ What it was was more then plug-up dosage”
Buddy — Laid-back, fun posse cut-esque joint featuring the Jungle Brothers and Q-Tip from ATCQ, with short verses that fit into the next one perfectly. It’s pretty cheeky and the fact that it comes right after De La Orgee lends credence to my strong impression that it is about a gangbang and/or a literal circle jerk lmao.
Least favorite tracks:
Honestly I haven’t really disliked any of the songs, but I guess, out of the proper tracks and not counting the skits, Eye Know and Potholes in My Lawn leave less of an impression on me somewhat. They’re both still fine, though.
