January 2002 Blackpopgo : A Weekly Discussion Of Art, Politics, & Pop Culture And How It Affects The Black Diaspora...Or At Least One Member Of It

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Written by Vincent Williams Blackpopgo : A Weekly Discussion Of Art, Politics, & Pop Culture And How It Affects The Black Diaspora...Or At Least One Member Of It They've remastered “Three Feet High & Rising.” De La Soul's seminal, artform-changing debut has gotten the whole "old album revision" treatment: remastering, extra CD with oddities and remixes, etc. De La's company, Tommy Boy, did a pretty good job on it. The digital quality of the main album could have been crisper but the bonus CD is worth its weight in gold. I haven't heard the 12" version of "Potholes in My Lawn" since I was a teenager and the B-side, "Freedom of Speak" is a hidden gem that perfectly showcases the casual brilliance that got folks excited about the trio in the first place. The thing is, I don't think “Three Feet High & Rising” is old enough to be remastered. When I think of remastering, I think of the straight up, old school classics. We're deep into the process of replacing all of our old Stevie Wonder CDs with the excellent new versions...linear notes and original art included (One of the great cultural crimes of the last two decades is how Motown would sell Stevie Wonder CD's without the linear notes. What was that all about?) Impulse did an excellent job with their John Coltrane collection; remastering, restoring art AND including essays. Aretha Franklin. Bob Marley. Hell, the Beach Boys (Don't sleep on the Petsounds CD...) These acts are legends. These artists are who I think of when I think of remastered CDs. Old acts. And I'm not ready for De La Soul to be old. You know, I had a long, stirring, convoluted story about how much De La Soul meant to me but it really comes down to three or four simple facts. I'm the same age as everyone in the group and they were the first group of musicians my age I was exposed to that were making real art, thus viscerally opening up the possibility for me. Their signature song, "Me, Myself & I" was the first and remains one of the few hip-hop songs to address issues of Black identity, a subject the group has vigorously explored in their decade long career. Musically, they paved the way for every single hip-hop group that I dig from the first cats they introduced to the world, A Tribe Called Quest to my absolute favorite band -hip-hop or otherwise-The Roots. When I think of De La Soul, I think of me. And I'm not ready to be old either. You know, thirty didn't phase me at all. I never felt like it was the big deal that society puts on everyone. One of the good things about being in the post-Baby Boomer generation is that it looks like we're never going to have to deal with age issues since the Boomers are never going to let go of their youth. So, yeah, I know I'm not twenty but thirty (and thirty-one even) is still pretty young. And youth listen to hip-hop. The thing is, over the past half decade or so, my hip-hop listening has slowly diminished. In the early nineties, I distinctly remember going to the record store and grabbing, I swear, three or four hip-hop records a week. As time has gone on, I'm lucky if I buy one album a month. In fact, the last hip-hop I got was...dag, I don't even remember. I know I got Aceyalone last summer. Lately, we've been an old album house with a smattering of the so-called "neo-soul" that all the kids love and some British electronica that I listen to when the wife isn't around. And when you talk about new acts, I think Talib Kweli and Mos Def are the youngest and newest MC's in the ol' collection. Now a lot of my lessened hip-hop listening comes from the fact that, overall, new hip-hop sucks complete ass. I know I'm risking sounding like one of those angry old "things used to be better in ma day, you whippersnappers!" type fan but c'mon. Ja Rule is a moron who exists to fill the teenage girl "sensitive thug" slot. Jay-Z sounds like, well, an old ass mediocre rapper who couldn't hang back when real MC's walked the Earth ("Hawaiian Sophie"?) but hung around until the overall level of proficiency dropped so much that people like Mase could get deals and he sort of de facto became large. I think either Jadakiss had some type of childhood head injury or he's just the stupidest, slowest talking person I've ever had the displeasure of hearing (And what happened to MC's being quick witted and nimble tongued? Did I miss a meeting?) Ludacris has a nice little flow and I actually claim Outkast from the early nineties but the vast, vast majority of the Southern rappers aren't really rapping as much as they're killing time between the hooks. So, you know, a lot of the "no new hip-hop" problem stems from the fact that I think music should be, well, good and rappers should be able to, well, rap. But the De La Soul situation points out another hard reality. I'm not really looking that hard. Oh sure, I go to the record store but I don't have young cats around me handing me new jawns, much like my boy from Teaneck handed me the 12" of "Potholes in My Lawn." I don't really search the Internet for new stuff. I couldn't even tell you what magazine to read to find good stuff since it looks like Puffy or some other MTV rapper is on the cover of The Source and XXL every month. I'm out of the loop. I know it's good stuff out there, I just don't have that kind of time or energy or environment to find it like I used to. And that makes me sad. I think the day may come sooner than later when I have to utter the sentence, "I don't listen to hip-hop" because, frankly, hip-hop is for the young and I can't hang. So I've been listening to my reissue of "Three Feet High & Rising" and thinking about all of that. It's funny. That album is twelve years old and it sounds as fresh and new and innovative as it did when it first came out. That thing is, I don't think I can say the same thing. -bpg- Vincent Williams is a freelance writer living in Philadelphia. His writing has appeared in many publications, including the Baltimore City Paper, Philadelphia Weekly, Orlando Weekly and the Texas Black & White. His novel, temples was published in 1999 by La Caille Nous Books. He thinks De La Soul hit their pinnacle with Buhloone Mindstate.