De La Soul Is Dead

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Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
De La Soul burned out on their own hype fast, and their dark, strange second album is a counter-blast to their image and hip-hop culture: perverse, dissatisfied, sometimes brilliant, sometimes out of control. Occasionally it seems mean-spirited-- the single "Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)" finds them grousing about getting deluged by demo tapes; and "Kicked Out The House" is a nasty (if very funny) parody of hip- house. But no one else has ever made a rap album that sounds like this. Sickly out- of-tune loops drift in and out; songs derail themselves with loud sneers, or give way to bizarre dialogues; Posdnuos and Trugoy chant together like the words have lost all meaning. The concept that ties the disc together---an imaginary radio station called WRMS--gives it an extra kick. --Douglas Wolk

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Description
After the peaceful, loving vibes of De La Soul's first album, 3 FEET HIGH AND RISING, nobody expected the harder-edged sound of DE LA SOUL IS DEAD, a paranoid, bitter critique of fans, detractors, and the state of the world.
DE LA SOUL IS DEAD deals with the great and small issues in life. On "Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa", De La tells the story of the daughter of a successful social worker who is molesting her. They take on fast food customer service in "Bitties in the BK Lounge": "Young girl, won't you take my order? acould be pissed 'cause she's clockin' $2.45 an hour". On the hit "Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)", De La tells of being overwhelmedby people trying to use the group to get in the business: "She was screamin' and screamin' and she had the tape in her hand and I knew what she wanteda" The good times aren't totally ignored--the party anthem "A Roller Skating Jam Named Saturdays" delivers the good old fashioned De La fun. With DE LA SOUL IS DEAD, the trio graduates from the happy days of the D.A.I.S.Y. age to the harsh truths of reality.

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Customer reviews

review by: date: 2008-05-10 rating:
TWO FOR PUSHING BOUNDARIES, BUT NOTHING ELSE
Criticising De La Soul? Are you crazy? They're groundbreakers. They pushed the envelope and allowed hip-hop to expand as a form of music.

True, true, true. Couldn't agree more; they did all that.

Unfortunately, in being so experimental and insisting on putting irritating and extended skits between every track - and sometimes between every skit - they produced very inconsistent music whose rhythm is destroyed further by the aforementioned skits.

Bought this as I bought 'Three Feet High and Rising' on release and, similarly, was disappointed with it. Again, with the exception of one or two tunes. This being marketed more seriously suggested that the silly, self-indulgent skits would be a thing of the past. But no.

Of course, throw a lot of stuff at a wall and some will stick. 'Pease Porridge': good production and an interesting stutter vocal. Novelty does tend to wear off with the vocal though. 'Millie': easily the best tune in terms of beats and rhymes. Others? Well, I'm tired and am head nodding with Gang Starr's 'Hard to Earn' in the headphones and hearing how it should be done.

To sum up though, respect for being out there and creating a space for more consistent performers to fill, but don't let that fool you into thinking you're getting a good album to listen to from end to end, cos you ain't.

Don't believe the hype: it's an exercise in self-indulgence, misplaced arrogance (Kicked Out the House), experimentation and commercialism ('Roller Skating Jam' and 'Ring Ring'), and that's it.

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review by: date: 2006-09-22 rating:
An album of great rap tracks about life, rather than rapping about MCing
I got this album because I'd heard and loved "Roller Skating Jam Named 'Saturdays'" - I wasn't dissapointed. There are so many funky, jazzy and downright catchy tracks. There's maybe one or two that's a bit dull, but that's 1 or 2 out of 20 tracks, fellas.

Zoom forward 13 or 14 years and it's still a great play. The lyrics are interesting and funny and most importantly, THEY ARE NOT MCING ABOUT MCING - I find nothing more dull than hearing someone rapping that they are they best mo-fo MC this side of Jersee or something similar.

Back to the early 90s, after wearing out my cassette of "De La Soul Is Dead", I then went out and bought "3 feet high and rising" and frankly, I was dissapointed. It's a bit warm and fluffy - not as edgy, not as boundary pushing. Shame. Then I got "Stakes Is High" [sigh] - it's all about what great MCs they are, but all the evidence of this is on "...Is Dead".

It's possible that "De La Soul Is Dead" is the only great hip hop album De La made.

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review by: date: 2005-08-05 rating:
What happens when you rise higher than 3 feet...
Nostalgic music journo's always cite De La Soul's massively successful debut album "3 Feet High & Rising" as a Hip Hop classic, and yet while few would argue with that sentiment, it was their sophomore LP "De La Soul Is Dead" that, in my humble opinion, was the superior release.

De La Soul obviously had a problem with their 'Daisy Age' concept that formed the backbone of their artistic direction on their first album. Maybe they were sick of the idea, maybe they were worried about getting pigeon-holed as a novelty rap act. So their 2nd album had a much different concept...kill the 'Daisy Age' off completely so they can get on with doing what they do best, make phat Hip Hop music.

Of course, reviews at the time weren't kind. With the first LP so well-received, critics and some fans alike were upset that De La had chosen such a different direction and chose to discredit this album. Bottom line is that "De La Soul Is Dead" has all the ingredients that made "3 Feet..." so compelling (the skits, the Prince Paul production, the wildly-varied subject matter etc.) but rather than get bogged down with 'hippy' stylings and day-glo 70's-esque imagery, De La evolved with the times. Perhaps they were too far ahead of their time with this one, who knows.

So much has been said about the tracks on this album...all I'll say is that rarely do you find an album as cohesive as "De La Soul Is Dead" which is devoid of filler, contains at least a half-dozen stand-out singles and some of the most original lyrics and production you'll ever hear. Buy it NOW!

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review by: date: 2004-04-23 rating:
De La is still alive........
.........but don't kick quite as hard as their first release, or BuhlooneMindstate. For me, this album is too long and has far too many skits. Ifthese skits where removed the album would be alot doper, but after twolistens the record just becomes annoying. There trade mark innovativerhyme schemes and interesting concepts (check out "oodles of o's) are allin check, but the beats don't always match those on Three Feet High.


review by: Jeremy Smith date: 2003-01-29 rating:
Flawed masterpiece
Finding it impossible to follow up on their instant classic "3 Feet High and Rising" and sick of the misinterpretations of their "hippie" message De La Soul released this album as a pre-emptive strike on the critics and fanbase they had aquired over the previous 18 months. "De La Soul is dead" is everything that their debut wasn't; cynical("Ring ring ring"),angry(My brother's a basehead")and full of black humour ("Mollie pulled a pistol on Santa").Everything that is, except brilliant and imaginative. One of the few concept albums in rap that bears repeated listening, even the most obnoxious sentiments on the album ("Bitties in the BK Lounge") are laced with that distinctive De La sense of humour, although at times the joke seems to have worn itself out ("Not over till the fat lady plays the demo")Bold, brash and brilliant, this is a flawed masterpiece.

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