They shouldn’t have changed the style of the chorus at the end and Dres should’ve followed Posdnuos/Trugoy’s flow/echoes in his verse. Otherwise everything about this song, from host Mike G’s introduction to the random shoutouts at the end, is just right. Kudos to Prince Paul for the funky beat and quirky “ball” samples.
my rating : 4 of 5
1991
Dissing yourself is an effective way to prevent other people from dissing you. It’s called self-deprecation and De La Soul takes it to the extreme for what might be hip-hop’s first critic-proof album. De La Soul Is Dead utilizes skits to tell the story of three thugs, led by a guy named Hemroid, who decide to give their new tape a listen after stealing it from a kid they just beat up. They’re listening as you are, in real time, stopping the cassette to state their opinions between tracks.
It’s a clever concept; check for read-along dialogue and comic illustrations in the featured booklet; one that loses its ironic charm if the album is indeed “garbage”. Thus the rap trio, along with producer Prince Paul, do everything in their creative power to make it match the qualitative level of their Rising debut. That it does. The two projects are actually quite similar; twenty-something tracks of mostly good songs with a quirky assortment of samples and bits planted about.
my rating : 4 of 5
1991
1990
Ghetto Thang sounds damn good when the bass loop plays out in full with its accommodating whine synth. When it drops out, as during the title breaks, the quality plummets. The question is whether or not that happens often enough to ruin the song completely.
The refrain lasting just four bars as opposed to the usual eight, with one exception at the end, makes it more forgivable than it otherwise would’ve been. Still it’s an annoying distraction on a song the rappers (Trugoy/Posdnuos) should’ve rapped straight thru.
my rating : 3 of 5
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