Thirty Years Old and Rising: A Tribute to De La Soul

1989 was a momentous year in human history. With the fall of the Berlin Wall in November, Germany was unified for the first time since 1945. Elsewhere the Angolan Civil War reached a ceasefire and the debated Christmas film Die Hard was released. But one thing that is frequently overlooked about this year came on March 3rd, with the release of one of the most integral hip hop albums to date: De La Soul’s Three Feet High and Rising.While they are perhaps best known today for the rap verse on Gorillaz 2005 Grammy winning hit “Feel Good Inc.” their career began much earlier than that. Three Feet High and Rising was De La Soul’s debut album, and proper introduction to the music world. While it was not an immediate success, it quickly found a soft spot in the hearts of critics and would go on to be a smash hit the vibrations of which can still be felt in hip hop today. And as this quintessential album has just turned 30, it seemed fitting that Pizza FM should pay it the proper respect. Perhaps the most important and influential aspect of this album was its incredibly esoteric selection of samples, and the manner in which it utilized them. This was thanks in no small part to Paul Huston, otherwise known as Prince Paul, the producer who chose and edited many of the samples on the album.These samples shine through especially well on the album’s main hit “The Magic Number”, which draws from a virtual smorgasbord of different sources and styles. Samples from Schoolhouse Rock, Led Zeppelin, and Johnny Cash are all used (the album’s title is a reference to the Cash song “5 Feet High and Rising”) to create a sound distinctly De La Soul and distinctly good. This track was perhaps the most well known from the album, and it’s easy to see why. It practically defines the ethos of the entire work, using upbeat hip hop tunes and eclectic samples to create a sound that’s never been heard before or since, and helped cement De La Soul’s legacy from the very beginning.Another exemplary instance of De La Soul’s style on 3 Feet High and Rising is “D.A.I.S.Y. Age”, which is practically the group’s manifesto to positivity and their own miniature “neo-hippie” movement. D.A.I.S.Y. is an acronym for “Da inner soul ya’ll”, which would be a recurring motif throughout the record, underlining De La Soul’s upbeat and positive style. Of course no track on this record would be complete without a wide variety of samples, and no love letter to hippiedom would be complete without featuring a cut from a hippie group like The Rascals, as well as some unique disco samples for good measure.In the age of gangsta rap and dark perspective on urban life, 3 Feet High and Rising was a beacon of positivity and optimism for a society on the brink of the LA Riots and other racial conflicts that would come to define the tense race relations of the 90s. Steely Dan samples mixed with The Turtles made the album as bizarre as it was diverse, and many believe it pioneered the hip hop skit. On top of all of this it was a centerpiece of the budding jazz rap movement which is still prominent today.It is easy to take an album like 3 Feet High and Rising for granted in an era where odd sample choices and humorous artists are the norm. But if not for this album there would be no Flower Boy by Tyler, the Creator, or In Search Of by N.E.R.D.. The musical trailblazers of yesterday become the reality of tomorrow, but that doesn’t mean it was any less beautiful when it first arrived.