De La Soul don't swear very much, don't get angry in their music, and in most ways disagree with the gangster lifestyle. They sing about money, drugs, and women, same as all the other rappers at the time did... but they're far more personal. De La Soul don't really care if they're rich or not, are anti-drug, and the songs they have about women are all about male inadequacies and frustrations. In short, they're an anti-gangster trio. While their music has an upbeat tempo and generally sunny disposition, the two rappers (Posdnuos and Trugoy) take shots at several of the more subversive gangster stereotypes on this, their first album, Three Feet and Rising (yes, ...  Read the complete review

In 1989 rap music was suffering a mini-crisis. It was running out of ideas. For five years rappers had bragged about themselves on record. Then along came NWA who singled-handedly invented gangsta rap with such karaoke favourites as F**k Tha Police, A Bitch Iz A Bitch and Dopeman that included lines such as: -a nigga like me is on the warpath -and when I’ve finished there’s gonna be a bloodbath -of cops dying in LA -yo Dre I’ve got something to say But for some, me included, this was taking rap music in the wrong direction. There needed to be something new, some fresh angle or take on rap music to counteract the aggressive and stale ...  Read the complete review

In 1989 the trio of Posdnuos, Trugoy, Maseo came together as De La Soul to release their debut album. It found the group moving Hip Hop in a new direction as with backing from Stetsasonic's Prince Paul, they chose to support a then underground movement to bring positivity back to the genre using ways which got them a reputation for putting forth 'Hippy' ideals. 1. "Intro" 2. "The Magic Number" Getting the album going properly, you hear that they go straight into one of the key singles from the album, and I have to say that despite the fact it was one of the most popular cuts from it, it simply wasn't something ...  Read the complete review

De La Sol's '3 Feet High and Rising' is regarded as one of the classic Hip-Hop rap albums of all-time. Its release took hip-hop in another direction with its relaxed style, and sampled like not other band had sampled before. It sold remarkably well on both sides of the Atlantic, although it is only recently that the band have approached similar heights once again. When '3 Feet...' was created, Pos, Mace et al were all still teenagers, and each track was based upon a number of samples with (extremely laid-back) rapping layered on top. In fact, it was the sampling which got De La Sol into trouble. Their track 'Transmitting Live ...  Read the complete review