De La Soul, "Three Feet High And Rising" Album
Nov 27, 2005 18:24:02 GMT -5
Post by jaxxalude on Nov 27, 2005 18:24:02 GMT -5
To say that this is probably the best hip-hop album of all time is so overused by now it doesn't even merit any mention anymore. What's been left said, on the other hand, is both the blessing and curse that came with it.
First, the good news. It finally made white medium-class college kids take notice of hip-hop. Don't believe it? Well, this is the simple truth here. At a time when alternative music was still alternative (i.e., something almost exclusive of college radio, fanzines and then left-of-center magazines like Spin and Alternative Press), hip-hop still wasn't seen as an important thing on these shores, left alone the mainstream press, even though a phenomenon like Run-DMC had just ocurred back there on the corner. But with its Daisy Age philosophy of love, understanding and peace, they somehow managed to capture the imagination of an audience that had rediscovered the values of the hippy generation, as opposed to the greed-is-good mentality of the yuppies. In fact, they appealed way more to that audience than the core hip-hop one, which by then had embraced either Public Enemy (who was also very appreciated by the white rock crowd) or NWA as its templates.
But also let's not forget the innovative use of sampling, courtesy of producer Prince Paul. By taking chunks of what was seen at the time as disposable pop music (namely Hall & Oates, Emotions) or rather obscure psychedelic music and manipulating it in a way that made it their own music, they not only destroyed boundaries in the sampling technique. In fact, the succees of record was the most responsible for creating an awareness that laws had to be created in regards to this.
Then, the musical and phylosophical impact they had. In the aftermath, you had acts like A Tribe Called Quest, Dream Warriors, PM Dawn, Monie Love, Digable Planets or even Arrested Development who were direct products of this. Later, The Fugees, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, The Roots, Common, Jurassic 5, Blackalicious, Company Flow and other such acts carried their torch. Nowadays, Kanye West is the most visible side of this influence, but acts like Slum Village, Dilated Peoples, Little Brother, Cannibal Ox or Atmosphere are also very much on the same state of mind.
Now, the bad news. It seems that, in some circles (particularly critics with a "rockist" mentality), nothing of interest has happened after "Three Feet High And Rising". But also in hip-hop, many acts try desperately to sound and act like 1989 was meant to last forever, as well as there are large chunks of critics who also disqualify anything that doesn't bury the same school of thought. This has lead many to believe that gangsta-rap was the beginning of a dark age for hip-hop that still lingers on. While it's true that most of mainstream hip-hop is spiritually bankrupt, it's also true that, sonically, it has musical thrills that more than compensate for it and make hip-hop a genre that still evolves and, as such, keeps on being relevant, both musically and culturally.
First, the good news. It finally made white medium-class college kids take notice of hip-hop. Don't believe it? Well, this is the simple truth here. At a time when alternative music was still alternative (i.e., something almost exclusive of college radio, fanzines and then left-of-center magazines like Spin and Alternative Press), hip-hop still wasn't seen as an important thing on these shores, left alone the mainstream press, even though a phenomenon like Run-DMC had just ocurred back there on the corner. But with its Daisy Age philosophy of love, understanding and peace, they somehow managed to capture the imagination of an audience that had rediscovered the values of the hippy generation, as opposed to the greed-is-good mentality of the yuppies. In fact, they appealed way more to that audience than the core hip-hop one, which by then had embraced either Public Enemy (who was also very appreciated by the white rock crowd) or NWA as its templates.
But also let's not forget the innovative use of sampling, courtesy of producer Prince Paul. By taking chunks of what was seen at the time as disposable pop music (namely Hall & Oates, Emotions) or rather obscure psychedelic music and manipulating it in a way that made it their own music, they not only destroyed boundaries in the sampling technique. In fact, the succees of record was the most responsible for creating an awareness that laws had to be created in regards to this.
Then, the musical and phylosophical impact they had. In the aftermath, you had acts like A Tribe Called Quest, Dream Warriors, PM Dawn, Monie Love, Digable Planets or even Arrested Development who were direct products of this. Later, The Fugees, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, The Roots, Common, Jurassic 5, Blackalicious, Company Flow and other such acts carried their torch. Nowadays, Kanye West is the most visible side of this influence, but acts like Slum Village, Dilated Peoples, Little Brother, Cannibal Ox or Atmosphere are also very much on the same state of mind.
Now, the bad news. It seems that, in some circles (particularly critics with a "rockist" mentality), nothing of interest has happened after "Three Feet High And Rising". But also in hip-hop, many acts try desperately to sound and act like 1989 was meant to last forever, as well as there are large chunks of critics who also disqualify anything that doesn't bury the same school of thought. This has lead many to believe that gangsta-rap was the beginning of a dark age for hip-hop that still lingers on. While it's true that most of mainstream hip-hop is spiritually bankrupt, it's also true that, sonically, it has musical thrills that more than compensate for it and make hip-hop a genre that still evolves and, as such, keeps on being relevant, both musically and culturally.