It’s hard not to sound like a breathless fanboy writing about De La Soul… well, it’s hard for me anyway. Their first three albums got me hooked on hip hop. For life! I even went to meet them when they came to my home town.

Popping on these early albums again more than 3 decades after some of them were released, they still sound ridiculously fresh and alive. I’d not spent much time thinking about the production before, but Prince Paul manages to capture a lot of the energy from the studio, and the jokes, which really makes the albums.

This mix is my “best of De La Soul” – I scoured the first 3 albums and tried to capture best tracks, and some of the skits too.

Let me know what you think in comments here or on Mixcloud.

Here’s the tracklist:

  1. Intro
  2. 3 Days Later
  3. Potholes In My Lawn
  4. I Am I Be
  5. Plug Tunin
  6. Breakadawn
  7. Fanatic Of The B Word
  8. Pease Porridge
  9. Pass The Plugs
  10. Eye Patch
  11. Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)
  12. Eye Know (plus The Know It All mix)
  13. My Brother’s A Basehead
  14. Let Let Me In
  15. Keepin’ The Faith
  16. Say No Go
  17. Me, Myself & I
  18. Tread Water
  19. A Roller Skating Jam Named “Saturdays”
  20. A Little Bit Of Soap
  21. The Magic Number
  22. Change In Speak
  23. Patti Dooke
  24. Oodles Of O’s
  25. En Focus
  26. Ego Trippin’ (Part Two)
  27. Bitties In The BK Lounge
  28. Description
  29. Transmitting Live From Mars

And now you could read...

Soul Glo A Hipstory of Hop Sir Richard Bishop Pleasant Timbre and Simple Harmonies Future Perfect Make your soul grow