#228 De La Soul, 'De La Soul Is Dead' (1991)

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De La Soul really don’t make it easy to consume their music. Due to a dispute with label, Tommy Boy Records, the band’s early music isn’t on streaming services. There’s really no winners in disputes like this. Luckily I managed to find the album on YouTube. De La soul’s second record is a concept album of sorts. A teenager named Jeff finds a cassette of De La Soul music in the trash. The tape in itself is a parody of old children’s read-a-long stories. He’s beaten up and mugged by bullies who then proceed to criticize the songs on the record. 

Listening to an album on a YouTube playlist is a bit jarring. There’s ads every couple of songs which ruins the flow. The last thing I expected to hear on a De La Soul record was a sample of Tom Waits’s ‘Diamonds On My Windshield, but that’s exactly how the “tape” starts. Into a sample of Stevie Wonder’s ‘Hey Love’ on the similarly titled ‘Talkin’ Bout Hey Love.’ ‘A Roller Skating Jam Named “Saturdays”’ has a great sample of Chicago’s ‘Saturday In The Park.’ To be honest, the samples on this record are just top class. My favourite sample on the album is on ‘Bitties In The BK Lounge.’ More like an interpolation; a familiar melody played on a kazoo. It took me a second to realise that it’s ‘Dancing Machine’ by The Jackson 5. Just works so well in the song. The album takes a heavy turn on third single, ‘Millie Pulled A Pistol on Santa,’ a song about a girl who had been secually molested by her father. That song samples Funkadelic’s ‘I’ll Stay.’ Elsewhere on the record we hear samples of Joe Sample (there was honestly no intentional puns here), Bob Marley, Serge Gainsbourg, The Doors, The Isley Brothers and more. It really is a top class album, but unless they make it more accessible, I don’t see myself listening to it again anytime soon (although, I’d love to, especially without the ads).

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