De La Soul Is Dead (CD - 1991)

Additional personnel: Q-Tip, Black Sheep, Jungle Brothers.

Audio Mixers: Mike Teelucksingh; Al Watts; Chris Irwin; Bob Powers; Lisle Leete.

Recording information: Calliope Productions.

Illustrator: Joseph Buckingham Jr.

On their notorious second album, De La Soul went to great lengths to debunk the daisy-age hippie image they'd been pigeonholed with, titling the record De La Soul Is Dead and putting a picture of wilting daisies in a broken flowerpot on the cover. Critics and fans alike were puzzled as to why the group was seemingly rejecting what had been hailed as the future of hip-hop, and neither the reviews nor the charts were kind to the album. It isn't that De La try to remake their sound here -- Dead keeps the skit-heavy structure of the debut, and the surreal tone and inventive sampling techniques are still very much in evidence. But, despite a few lighthearted moments ("Bitties in the BK Lounge," the disco-flavored "A Roller Skating Jam Named 'Saturdays'"), a distinct note of bitterness has crept into De La's once-sunny outlook. On the one hand, they're willing to take on more serious subject matter; two of the album's most powerful moments are the unsettling incest tale "Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa" and Posdnuos' drug-addiction chronicle "My Brother's a Basehead," both true-life occurrences. Yet other tracks betray a brittle, insular state of mind; one running skit features a group of street thugs who ultimately throw the album in the trash for not having enough pimps, guns, or curse words. There are vicious parodies of hip-house and hardcore rap, and the single "Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)" complains about being harassed into listening to lousy demo tapes. Plus, the negativity of the bizarre, half-sung "Johnny's Dead" and the hostile narrator on "Who Do U Worship?" seemingly comes out of nowhere. Dead is clearly the product of a group staggering under the weight of expectations, yet even if it's less cohesive and engaging, it's still often fascinating in spite of its flaws. ~ Steve Huey

After the peaceful, loving vibes of De La Soul's first album, 3 FEET HIGH AND RISING, nobody expected the harder-edged sound of DE LA SOUL IS DEAD, a paranoid, bitter critique of fans, detractors, and the state of the world.

DE LA SOUL IS DEAD deals with the great and small issues in life. On "Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa," De La tells the story of the daughter of a successful social worker who is molesting her. They take on fast food customer service in "Bitties in the BK Lounge": "Young girl, won't you take my order? àcould be pissed 'cause she's clockin' $2.45 an hour." On the hit "Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)," De La tells of being overwhelmed by people trying to use the group to get in the business: "She was screamin' and screamin' and she had the tape in her hand and I knew what she wantedà" The good times aren't totally ignored--the party anthem "A Roller Skating Jam Named Saturdays" delivers the good old fashioned De La fun. With DE LA SOUL IS DEAD, the trio graduates from the happy days of the D.A.I.S.Y. age to the harsh truths of reality. minimize