Stakes Is High (CD - 1996)

Additional personnel: Common, Mos Def, Truth Enola (rap vocals); Zhane, Jazzyfatnastees (vocals).

Producers: De La Soul, Spearhead X, Ogee, Skeff Anslem, Jay Dee.

Engineers: Guido Osorio, Tim Latham.

Recorded at World Recording Facility and Platinum Island, New York, New York.

Audio Mixer: Tim Latham.

Recording information: Platinum Island Recording Studios, New York, NY; World Recording Facility.

Photographer: Eric Johnson .

Unknown Contributor Role: Maseo.

Still straight-up from Strong Island, still pushing the hip-hop envelope, still De La Soul. What these three guys have, if you don't know by now, is a platinum-certified knack for big, phat beats and literate, creative rhymes. The kind of beats that make you nod your head without thinking. And the kind of rhymes that make you hit "Rewind" in awe. Fluid. Smooth. But always an undercurrent of emotion--sometimes romantic frustration, as in "Dog Eat Dog," sometimes thinly veiled satire (it is, isn't it?), as in "Baby Baby Baby Baby Ooh Baby," and sometimes pride in their home turf and their talent, as in "Long Island Degrees."

Sure, as on just about any hip-hop disc these days, there's the requisite "I'm the best" braggadocio. De La Soul has a right to brag, though. This band has stayed fiercely loyal to a pure hip-hop sound, and as a result is still 3 feet high (at least) and still rising. minimize