''De La Soul Is Dead'' is the second studio album by

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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 ''

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''; 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 ''

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''. In 2020, ''

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'' 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

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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

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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

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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)