De La Soul
De La Soul's 3 Feet High and Rising sounded like nothing else in 1989: playful, witty and stuffed with samples from Steely Dan to Hall & Oates, stitched together by producer Prince Paul with comedy skits running between the songs. Posdnuos, Trugoy and Maseo, part of the Native Tongues collective, were tagged as hip hop's hippies thanks to the album's daisies.
They buried that image with De La Soul Is Dead, sharper and darker, and Buhloone Mindstate went jazzier, with horns from Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley. Later they won a Grammy with Gorillaz on 'Feel Good Inc.'. Sample-clearance problems kept their classic albums off streaming until 2023, weeks after Trugoy's death.
If you like De La Soul you should check out: A Tribe Called Quest, MF DOOM, Gorillaz, OutKast, Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, Cymande
