at a glance...

Hometown: Long Island, NY
Formed: circa 1988

Members:
Posdnous (Kelvin Mercer) -MC
Trugoy the Dove (David Jolicoeur) -MC
Pasemaster Mase (Vincent Mason) -DJ
Prince Paul (Paul Huston) -producer

Related Artists :
Jungle Brothers, A Tribe Called Quest, Queen Latifah, Monie Love, Black Star, Mos Def, Q-Tip

The choice to follow up the flower- and pastel-laden cover of Three Feet with a cracked flower pot holding three dead flowers on De La Soul is Dead says all there is to say about the group's approach to its sophomore effort. Tired of the "hip-hop hippies" references, De La did everything in their artistic power to combat the stereotype. But while exasperation following a blockbuster debut success isn't that rare, the creativity that De La found in that bitterness certainly is. By constructing a theme in which three fans listen to the album and level criticism against it throughout, De La exhibit extraordinary foresight by actually pre-empting their critics. The ignorant, shortsighted commentary by the fictional listeners serves as the perfect complement to the densely laced verbal javelins of Pos and Dove.

Although the group never avoided polemical themes on Three Feet, Dead songs "Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa" and "My Brother's a Basehead," which look at child abuse and drug addiction, respectively, go to an even darker extreme because of their personal tone - the former focuses on a friend of the group who was sexually assaulted by her father, while the latter spotlights the drug-induced downward spiral of Pos' brother.

De La were determined to shake its Three Feet shadow, but the beats were not sacrificed - there are several ass-shakers anchored in obscure samples. Check the Tom Waits snippet on "Oodles of O's" or listen to "A Roller Skating Jam Named 'Saturdays,'" which seamlessly incorporates Chicago, Chic and Franki Valli samples into a taut, scratch-heavy disco jam. The downright funky bassline of "Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)" can't mask the group's pointed barbs at hangers-on and handout-seekers, but the group's satiric edge is in full force on the gangsta-rap parody "Afro Connections At a Hi 5 (Through The Eyes Of A Hoodlum)," which mimics the meaningless boasts of most of the genre's hits of the era.

Mainstream fans didn't buy it, critics couldn't figure it out, but De La Soul Is Dead was exactly the artistic response the group needed to retain their integrity, their sense of humor and their intellectual, off-kilter niche, high above the commercial fray.