So you want to get into: Entry Level De La?
And Dave is no slouch either. This is the beauty of groups. The back and forth between different voices and styles break up the monotony of hearing the same person song after song. Where Pos is more direct and often personal, Dave is abstract and poetic. Check his verse in the same song:Yo and we won't stop rocking 'til we retire
Since the economy is such in them dire straits
That isn't an option, our theme is to be currency kings
Thoroughbred, NYC borough bred
We barrel through dirt and cracked open cement
These lines with pen, while I was semi-bent
Even though we've mostly moved beyond the typical beats and rhymes that people call boom-bap, it's still the most familiar form of rap, and if you're listening to De La for the first time, neither their lyrics or the beats in this playlist will be off-putting. Inevitably, this version of De La includes songs from their first four records, but so as not to sound even remotely dated, this Entry Level De La selection leans toward music released since 2000 alongside their early classics.Playlist: "Me, Myself, & I" / "A Roller Skating Jam Named 'Saturdays'" / "Breakadawn" / "Stakes is High" / "Future" / "Bionix" / "Forever" / "Watch Out" / "View" / "4 More" / "Go Out & Get It"This rap career ain't work, it's the life in-between
Bedtime 'til the next said time and date
Know the name and salute them dudes
Put the nutrient in rap when they cook them foods
Gotta be like eighteen million heads served
Shit, imagine if there wasn't no us huh?
So you want to get into: Dilla De La?
So you want to get into: Zany De La?
So you want to get into: Ladies Love De La?
It's not your typical male/female rap. But it's totally relatable, and that's what we're after here. The pursuit of love is to music what peas are to rice. And we've included a good mix between old and more recent. Listening, you can see one of De La's greatest strengths: making music that's honest to themselves and where they are in life.Gigglin, figurin' I had jokes for her humor
Then she broke out with the words
About knowin all the rumors
"See, all you niggas rappin be like pedigree dogs
Thinkin' you can have me leashed
Around your microphone cords"
Somethin' 'bout her lit me up like July
And with them onions in the pants
I couldn't help but cry
So you want to get into: Social Commentary De La?
But Pos would even talk about drug abuse in a less abstract way. He wrote a song about his own brother's drug abuse in the aptly titled, "My Brother's a Basehead."I would be willing to bet the proverbial farm that De La Soul were the first (if not only) rap group to talk about sexual abuse leading to murder like they did in "Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa." Again, those early songs are more overt. By the time that you get to "Greyhounds," things are handled differently. Check this verse from Dave:Now let's get right on down to the skit
A baby is brought into a world of pits
And if it could've talked that soon
In the delivery room
It would've asked the nurse for a hit
Fresh from a Bible belt town
That's what she's givin' up
Not really livin', just flesh comin' off a Greyhound
That's what he think of her
Right at a blink of an eye he provides her with charm
Hides that he is a shark