Published on Dec 19, 2005
For the “unofficial” new college student enrollment
pack, there should be a copy of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road,
Alex Haley’s The Autobiography of Malcolm X, a discarded ID
by someone over the age of 21 who vaguely resembles your features
and De La Soul’s Three Feet High And Rising.
It’s one of the ultimate college albums: dense with
pop culture and literary references with stoner (read: hippie)
sensibilities. It also doesn’t hurt that when it came out, Three
Feet High And Rising gave audiences a window to the emerging
culture of hip-hop for people who may have been put off by the
misogynistic and violent world of N.W.A. and the searing politics
of Public Enemy.
For their 1989 debut, De La Soul unleashed a
confident landmark album that for better and for worse altered
hip-hop forever. Three Feet High And Rising helped
popularize the role of the skit in hip-hop and rap albums by
centering the album around a mock game show. In addition, the album
helped bring about an end to the relatively free practice of
sampling. (The Turtles sued De La Soul for using one of their songs
without their permission. While this didn’t bring an end to
sampling, the idea that people were starting to follow through on
their threats to sue if an unauthorized sample landed on an album
made artists think twice before lifting a guitar riff or a
memorable chorus.)
While initially this was heralded as a great victory,
it’s sad to think that albums like Three Feet High and the
Beastie Boys’ Paul’s Boutique probably could not have been
made in this era because the purchasing the permissions for all of
the samples included in these two masterpieces would have probably
bankrupted each band.
Posdnuos, Trugoy the Dove and Pasemaster Mase stuffed
jazz samples, Steely Dan, Schoolhouse Rock and even stuff that came
out a year before the album was released (Public Enemy). The
subject matter was as rich as the samples; “Ghetto Thang” and “Say
No Go” were socially-conscious without being too preachy. Though
their pro-peace message may have caused a more than a few snickers
from the gangsta rap crowd, the bedroom banter of tracks like
“Jenifa Taught Me (Derwin’s Revenge),” “Take It Off” and “De La
Orgee” could match any of the sex-obsessed tracks of their gangsta
peers in terms of sexual bravado.
Three Feet High And Rising was produced by
hip-hop trailblazer Prince Paul. Paul knew the members of De La
Soul while they were in high school. Friends of De La Soul actually
got some mic time on the album, namely A Tribe Called Quest’s Q-Tip
on “Buddy,” on of the hottest tracks on the album.
So successful was Three Feet High And Rising
in defining who De La Soul was to its listeners and peers that they
had to spend their next album tearing down and deconstructing their
image. Flowers and daisies may have marketed the band, but one
listen to Three Feet High And Rising should dissuade
listeners from lumping the band into the “harmless hippie” category
of music.
“Me Myself and I” became the defining song for De La
Soul. There are superior tracks on Three Feet High And
Rising, but the song sums up De La Soul’s easygoing flow, wry
humor and irresistible hooks. One of the tracks declares “This is a
Recording 4 Living in a Fulltime Era (L.I.F.E.).” For a debut
album, Three Feet High And Rising can make such a statement
sound like fact, not just a boast.