They got into fights on tour, and sparked beefs with rivals over barely concealed shots, such as when Dave called out the Notorious B.I.G. During a 1989 appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show, they segued from their Top 40 hit “Me Myself and I” to the B-side cut “It Ain’t Hip to Be Labeled a Hippie.” Two years later, they released the sarcastic and cynical 1991 masterwork De La Soul Is Dead, effectively dismembering their image as friendly prophets of the D.A.I.S.Y. Maxo Needed Time (and Some Hallucinogens) To Healĭuring De La Soul’s first decade, the group bristled against being categorized in oft-contradictory ways. In his view, De La Soul was for everyone. “I keep it to the rear, and then I’m exploding,” he raps. Thematically, they spanned quotidian economic concerns like “Shopping Bags (She Got From You),” adolescently horny impulses such as “Buddy,” child abuse and intrafamily violence like “Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa,” and drug abuse on “Say No Go.” And then there’s the wonderfully blissed-out “Breakadawn,” where Dave raps about the joy of reaching folks in the cheap seats during concerts. Yet to label the trio as “nerds,” whether pejoratively or as a badge of honor, is to limit the scope of their Black expression. This deathless tension between being celebrated or marginalized for one’s uniqueness is one the underground scene De La Soul inspired has yet to solve. More than Jungle Brothers and A Tribe Called Quest, their comrades in the fabled Long Island rap crew Native Tongues, De La Soul represented a tension between standing out for your wit and intelligence and racially tinged claims that by doing so you consider yourself somehow better or weirder than other artists. The concept of “alternative hip-hop” remains a subject of heated debate. With 1996’s “Stakes Is High,” he rattled off a list of everything he hated about what hip-hop had become: “I’m sick of bitches shaking asses/I’m sick of talking ‘bout blunts/Sick of Versace glasses.” Yet, just like Posdnous, he wasn’t afraid to make pointedly aggressive statements. He could be unapologetically silly: His performance as “Ma Whitter” on First Serve, a 2012 collaboration between himself, Posdnous, and French producers Chokolate and Khalid Filali, may be the funniest skit you probably haven’t heard. “The early bird gets the worm in this Rotten Apple/But explore deeper, you’ll find a seed/Plant more, even get your mind free,” he rapped on the latter. He delivered masterclasses of dense, metaphorically rich lyrics, whether it’s the meditative deep-cut classic “I Am I Be” on Buhloone Mindstate, or the punchy conscious chants of “Church” from 2004’s The Grind Date. Meanwhile, Dave maintained the same leisurely “Plug 2” gait, even as he refined his cadences and words. On later affairs, such as 1993’s Buhloone Mindstate, Posdnous’ voice became more emphatic and prone to declarative statements, leading some listeners to brand him as the “Plug 1” lead. On that first album, both flowed with soft-spoken, tentative grace. Vocally, Posdnous and Dave complemented each other.
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