"They're like: more pain,
problems, more stress.
But I'm like: more lanes, albums, more bless.
But I'm like: more lanes, albums, more bless.
They're like: not cheering it, not even
hearing it.
What I'm talking 'bout, I'm trying to
be a pioneer in it.
They're like: It's not the real job to
fall on.
I'm like: It's what my soul seems to
call on.
I wanna hear 'em say J, we support you.
But still in all I gotta do what I
gotta do."
from Pushin' Aside, Pushin' Along
I will make no secret of the fact that
I am a huge fan of De La Soul, and while Maseo is not on this album,
it comes close enough in sound and feel for me to love it.
The album is a hip hop "opera"
closely resembling classics like The Who's "Tommy" in that
it tells a story from start to finish, using the tracks to represent
certain events. The storyline is a bit cheesy, telling the tale of
two young rappers trying to make it big in the rap game(Pushin'
Aside, Pushin' Along), landing a record deal with ficticious label
"Goon Time"(Looks Like We Made It) , the release of their
first single(Must B The Music), eventually splitting up due to
conflicts(Clash Sypmphony) and finally getting back together and
finding their roots(Move 'Em In, Move 'Em Out).
Oh, that section contains spoilers. My
bad.
With Maseo absent, the production is
done by a french duo, DJs Chokolate
and Khalid, that I was previously unaware of but thuroughly impressed with. The beats sound
fresh, with a heavy emphasis on string sampling and fairly
toned down drum loops it comes across airy and minimalist. Hardly a far stretch
from Maseo's production as of late, and since this was my first
encounter with their production I can't say whether or not it is
intentional but the beats function as a pleasant vehicle for Dave's and
Pos' rhymes allowing for them to take up as much space as they need
to, never weighing down the tracks.
Lyrically, Dave and Pos are doing their
unique conversational style of rapping throughout the album. Where
other groups might get comfortable doing their own bars, Plugs 1 and
2 have always been superb at bouncing rhymes off each other mid-bar.
The rhymes stay relevant to the narrative of the album all the way
and even seem to consciously mature in nature as the fictional
characters "Pop" and "Deen" go through the
various hardships of the rap game.
If I was forced to pick a negative, it
would be the excessive use of skits between songs and their length.
While they were cool to listen to the first couple of times, I can't
imagine listening to this album on a non-digital format is very fun.
Thankfully the skits are tracks of their own in the digital versions
of the album and are easily avoidable.
Lastly, De La are allegedly in the
studio to record with Prince Paul again(they worked together for
their -88 debut "3ft High and Rising") and I can't wait to
hear whatever comes from that.
High point of the album: Must B The Music
Low point of the album: Tennis
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