I apologize for posting over Octo-Jules' soon to be freakishly large-headed baby but hey, they didn't actually have the kid yet and it is after all Music Friday and I did just write this... *clears throat*
So what the hell has everyone been listening to these days, if anything? During the summer I generally prefer to listen to music that's upbeat, positive, fun and sunshiny. De La Soul fits all these categories and therefore I've been listening to their first 3 albums constantly in the past month.
It’s no secret that I despise rap music, at least 99.3% of it. I don’t have the time or the energy for a proper rant but I will say that aside from the beats and the ass-thumping basslines, I find most hip hop music to be equally yawn-inducing and irritating. It’s not the oft used offensive, sexist, homophobic, money whoring braggart lyrics that repulse me (though they certainly don’t help the cause). It boils down to repetitive irritating sounds and the obnoxious tone of the voice. Everyone from Dr. Dre to Jay Z to Usher to Eminem to Snoop Dogg is guilty of this. To put it simply – I feel like they’re talking at me, not with me. (And don’t get me started on those fucking Beastie Boys. How they managed a decades-long career by sounding like elementary school playground taunters continues to escape me.)
And then there’s De La Soul, the rap combo so inspired and imaginative that their work still sounds way the hell ahead of its time 20 years later. You might remember their modest hit Me, Myself and I from back in the day. I loved their debut album 3 Feet High and Rising in 1989 but only recently did I realize that it’s so very great that the CD jewel case itself is worthy of kissing.
For starters 1989 was a great time for mixmasters because their craft had been honed for several years and yet there was still an infinite universe to explore. The laws for sampling were virtually non-existent and De La Soul took full advantage of this. The opening track Magic Number alone combines bits from Bill Cosby, Led Zeppelin, Johnny Cash, the Jackson 5 and Schoolhouse Rock to form an impossibly catchy 3 minute tune that will brighten your day, any day, whether you want it to or not. Elsewhere on the album they nick music like kids in a candy store - Kraftwerk, Steely Dan, Hall & Oates, Steve Miller Band, and Otis Redding to name a few. And rather than sounding like different songs being spliced together, it almost feels as though they’re being put back to where they rightfully belong. On Transmitting Live From Mars, they answer the question “What would happen if you threw the Turtles You Showed Me together with an old French learning lesson and a smooth, back massaging beat?” Sadly the grumpy old Turtles filed a lawsuit ultimately changed the rules of the game regarding sampling altogether. (You Showed Me is great on its own so I can’t really stay mad at them.)
Samples aside, De La Soul’s other welcome feature is in the casual manner in which they bust their rhymes. Don’t look for profound lyrics or social commentary as much of the words are riddled with in jokes, sometimes nonsensical blatherings and wrapped up in an overall message of peace and good will. (This got them unfairly pegged as hippies which many found off-putting during Public Enemy’s revolutionary heyday.) But listening to their music evokes the feeling of chumming around with your pals, or even palling around with your chums. You decide.
De La Soul put out 2 other exceptional (but tragically underappreciated) albums De La Soul is Dead (1992) and Buhloone State Mind (1993) and then the passable Stakes is High (1996) (their first without ace producer Prince Paul.) After that their uniqueness seemed to get stripped away altogether with subsequent releases but I still believe they have a true masterpiece in them. Hopefully the success they earned with their Grammy award winning contribution to Gorillaz’ Feel Good Inc will ignite the fire again.
Damn, I didn’t mean for this to be so long.
So long,
Johnny Sweatpants
16 comments:
The one annoying thing about their first 2 albums is the skits between songs that you never have to hear more than once. Luckily in the age of ITunes you can delete them.
Other De La Soul fun facts:
- My favorite song of theirs is Eye Know
- They're just awesome and I'm listening to them right now.
- Their 3rd album Buhloone State Mind has a much more jazzy thing going on and features Maceo Parker. At the time I dismissed it as "Cosby Show crap" but I re-purchased it recently and fell in love.
alright johnny, it's about time you put your own unique stamp on music fridays! thanks for the fab post. i vote, more music-themed posts from you, and the longer the better.
i've been listening to the new album from our friends the dandy warhols.
Great post.
Except for that insanity about the Beasties.
Just picked up the Spoon album from last year/this year? Pretty good on the first few listens--a bit derivative of Arctic Monkeys maybe.
Also grabbed some old tribute to Leonard Cohen cd with tracks from REM, James, and other early 90s bands I don't know.
Last week, I had "Little Boxes," the theme song to Weeds stuck in my head nonstop for 4 days. That's the problem with tv-on-dvd marathons. Still, I'm off to season 2 of Sports Night right now.
Oh, and saw you mention Rogue Wave last week. I'd never heard of them but saw them open for Guster a couple years ago. I remember they were pretty good.
love sports night, like guster. saw guster a couple years back (at the pavilion of course) but i don't remember no rogue wave.
Dear lord, are you people speaking of bands that actually exist or are you just making up shit to confuse those of us that aren't hip?
For the past few weeks I've been listening exclusively to Funky Brewster, Flipjack McCool and the Craws, and Beezle Bopper. No, just kidding, I just made those up.
Love Sports Night, love the Dandys, natch, but I don't know anything about the other bands. For some reason De La Soul never really hooked me, but I like 'em okay.
Re: Beastie Boys, in my opinion the only album of theirs to own is The In Sound From Way Out. Every album they stick on a couple instrumental songs and TISFWO compiles them all, up to Ill Communication. People often tout the fact that they went from party rappers to really good musicians, and while I agree with that assessment I can't stand their vocals. Meanwhile, The In Sound From Way Out is probably in my top twenty favorite albums.
I know nothing about De La Soul but the name. JSP, you've convinced me to give them a listen. You've also inspired me to do a Friday music post on a band I love that nobody ever knows who I'm talking about.
I never understood the Beastie Boys either. I thought they were a bunch a whiny brats, and then I went through a very very brief phase of liking them. I don't know how it happened or why, and then suddenly I went back to thinking they sounded like nails on a chalkboard.
Dammit, I was about to go out and purchase every single Funky Brewster album in existence!
I was harsh with the Beasties but I do own 4 of their albums and understand why they're great. Music is subjective and I don't care if someone hates something I like. But I will undoubtedly offend everyone at some point, no hard feelings. (Brace yourselves Skynnard fans.)
Miko - prepare for hearing about truckloads of bands that you've never heard of, many with ridiculous names. I'm very obsessive when it comes to music and spend way too much money on it.
I keep forgetting about that last Spoon album. I only listened to it a couple of times but I remember it being solid. Damn, last time I saw Guster it was at the Living Room in Providence at least 10 years ago.
AC have you received your Dandys poster yet? How are you digging the new album? My favorite is the Sherriff Brady one.
I'm really looking forward to the new My Morning Jacket album which comes out this Tuesday. It's getting rave reviews (not that that means jack) and I love most of their stuff.
I agree with Octo on the Beasties instrumental album. It is excellent.
I will admit that I am currently hooked on Sara Bareilles. She's poppy, but really great songs to sing along to loudly when I'm in the car.
I was being extreme in dismissing the entire genre with one stroke. There are other hip hop acts that are interesting, smart and pleasant on the ears - A Tribe Called Quest, Jungle Brothers, the Roots, Digable Planets Del the Funky Homsapien all come to mind.
DCD I just sampled Sara Bareilles and pictured you belting it out in the car. Except I always picture you with those enormous coke bottle glasses. It gives me a chuckle every single time.
Ha! That's funny JSP, even as an "adult" I often feel like that geeky girl in those ginormous glasses!
johnny, i never heard from the dandy warhols website folks at all since registering a few weeks back, so they don't have my address for poster nor cd (wah). i love (at this point) about 6 of the new songs but hesitate to comment yet as i have much more listening to do. i found myself humming mis amigos today... very catchy! i guess the ones i like best at the moment are the upbeat songs.
Those damn Dandys first sent me an email informing me that my poster was shipped. week went by and then I checked the status which turned out to be "not shipped". Yesterday I got another email stating it was "just shipped" so I suppose I'll take them at their word. I don't care that much - the poster looks cool and all but it's not urgently needed. It's just fun getting stuff in the mail.
agreed. did you get a real-live cd?
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