''De La Soul Is Dead'' is the second studio album by
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
hip-hop group
De La Soul
De La Soul () is an American hip hop trio formed in 1988 in the Amityville area of Long Island, New York. They are best known for their eclectic sampling, quirky lyrics, and their contributions to the evolution of the jazz rap and alternative ...
, released on May 14, 1991. The album was produced by
Prince Paul, whose work on ''
3 Feet High and Rising
''3 Feet High and Rising'' is the debut studio album by American hip hop group De La Soul, released on March 3, 1989 by Tommy Boy Records. It is the first of three collaborations with producer Prince Paul, which would become the critical and ...
'' was highly praised by music critics. The album was one of the first to receive a five-mic rating in the Hip hop magazine ''
The Source
''The Source'' is an American hip hop and entertainment website, and a magazine that publishes annually or . It is the world's longest-running rap periodical, being founded as a newsletter in 1988 by Jonathan Shecter. David Mays was the ma ...
'';
and the album was also selected as one of The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums in 1998. The album's cover refers to the death of the "D.A.I.S.Y." (Da Inner Sound, Y'all) age, or a distancing from several cultures including
hippies
A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...
and mainstream
hip-hop.
The song "Oodles of O's" was featured on the soundtrack of ''
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4
''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4'' is a skateboarding video game and the fourth entry in the '' Tony Hawk's'' series. It was developed by Neversoft and published by Activision under the Activision O2 label in 2002 for the GameCube, PlayStation, Xbox, ...
''.
In 2020, ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' placed the album at number 228 on their 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.
Overview
The album features a series of separate, ongoing skits. The introduction to the album features Jeff, a teenage character (introduced in the
B-sides
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...
to "
Eye Know
"Eye Know" is a 1989 single from De La Soul's debut album ''3 Feet High and Rising''. It peaked at number 14 on the UK singles chart. It was not released as a single in the United States.
The song is an upbeat love song featuring guitar and ...
" and "
Me Myself and I": "Brain Washed Follower," "The Mack Daddy on the Left," and the rare "Double Huey Skit"). In a parody of old children's book-and-record read-along sets, Jeff finds a
cassette
Cassette may refer to:
Technology
* Cassette tape (or ''musicassette'', ''audio cassette'', ''cassette tape'', or ''tape''), a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback
** Cassette single (or "Cassingle"), a music single in th ...
tape copy of a De La Soul album in the garbage. Bullies appear, beat up Jeff, and steal the tape. Ensuing skits feature these bullies harshly criticizing the songs on the album.
Mista Lawnge of
Black Sheep
In the English language, black sheep is an idiom that describes a member of a group who is different from the rest, especially a family member who does not fit in. The term stems from sheep whose fleece is colored black rather than the more comm ...
provides the voice of the lead antagonist, while P.A. Pasemaster Mase voices the other bully who gets ridiculed and abused by Lawnge for his admiration of the album. Throughout the skits, the sound of the signal that lets the reader know that it's time to turn the page is heard. In the end, they throw the tape back in the trash, exclaiming, "De La Soul is dead." The album also introduces a fictional radio station called WRMS that plays nothing but De La Soul music.
In 2008 the album was re-released on vinyl without the CD version's bonus tracks.
Track listing
All tracks written by
P. Huston,
K. Mercer,
D. Jolicoeur,
V. Mason; additional writers credited below.
"My Brother's a Basehead", "Afro Connections at a Hi 5 (In the Eyes of the Hoodlum", "Who Do U Worship?", "Kicked Out the House" and "Not Over till the Fat Lady Plays the Demo" are bonus tracks exclusively found on the CD version.
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
{{Authority control
1991 albums
De La Soul albums
Tommy Boy Records albums
Warner Records albums
Albums produced by Prince Paul (producer)