Just found out that De La Soul's classic debut album "3 Feet High And Rising" is one of the 25 recordings selected by the Library Of Congress to be preserved in the National Recording Registry this year. This puts them alongside Public Enemy, Grandmaster Flash, and Tupac as one of the few hip-hop artists/groups whose album has been selected for preservation. If you haven't heard any of De La's albums, youre missing out. They've been doing this hip-hop thing since the early 80s and they keep getting better and better. Some of you might not think you've heard De La Soul before, but if you've heard Gorillaz-Feel Good Inc, then you've heard them rap. While the 3 Feet High & Rising may sound dated to some people nowadays, it is still an important album because, along with the Beastie Boys "Pauls Boutique" album, it showed people that you could take multiple samples from all over the place and combine them all on one song to make a dope beat.
Heres an example from the song "Eye Know"
The drums are from the first few seconds of this song
The whistling comes from the end of this song
The guitar and horns come from the beginning of this track
And the "I Know I Love You Better" part plus some of the other horns/melody come from this track at spots like :15, :47, and 1:00
Sure, the argument can be made that they just took each of the samples and pasted them on there BUT you have to think about how they had to find each sample, recognize that it would sound good with the other samples, and be able to make it work. That takes talent. Plus the lyrics are entertaining.
If you haven't heard 3 Feet High And Rising, check it out. Just remember that it was made in 1989 so it might not sound "fresh" to you, but to me its timeless and I know NUMEROUS people that would agree.
Also if you've never seen them live, I HIGHLY suggest you get on that. One of the best shows I've ever seen.
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