Tune(s) of the Week: De La Soul's Skits-as-Songs

Alongside producer Prince Paul, De La Soul infused their first three albums with a lot of silliness. Their first album, “3 Feet High and Rising”, was glued together with skits involving a made-up TV game show. Their second full-length, “De La Soul is Dead”, told the tale of the album as heard by bullies who stole it off a younger kid who found it in the trash. The third album by the trio, “Buhloone Mind State”, did away with any linearity and took on a more surreal feel with the skits. Among all these albums are tracks that aren’t quite skits nor songs. This is where Prince Paul’s and De La’s creativity really shines:

This non-song from their first album sparked the first high-profile sampling lawsuit, which in turn changed the course of HipHop production for several years.

Incidentally, At the gig that landed them their recording contract with Warner Bros, The Flaming Lips played this interlude on loop for about an hour while constantly filling the venue with fog before taking the stage.

The bitterness and humor that permeates “De La Soul is Dead” comes to a ridiculous apex with this non-skit/non-song telling the tale of how a near-do-well spends his day.

The surreal vibes of “Buhloone Mind State” really takes a left turn when they put some Japanese MCs on a track. This is surely the first time Japanese raps were put on a mainstream release.

In all of examples De La and Prince Paul prove that sometimes the only way up is out!