3 Feet High and Rising
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3 Feet High and Rising
3 Feet High and Rising cover
Studio album by De La Soul
Released March 1989 (U.S.)
Recorded 1988, Calliope Studios, N.Y.
Genre Alternative hip hop
Length 65:59 (album)
45:56 (bonus CD)
Label Tommy Boy/Warner Bros. Records
01019
Producer Prince Paul
Professional reviews
De La Soul chronology
3 Feet High and Rising
(1989)		 De La Soul Is Dead
(1991)

3 Feet High and Rising is the influential debut album from American hip-hop trio De La Soul, released in 1989.

The album marked the first of three full-length collaborations with producer Prince Paul, which would become the critical and commercial peak of both parties. It's consistently placed on 'greatest albums' lists by noted music critics and publications[1]. Robert Christgau called the record "unlike any rap album you or anybody else has ever heard."[2] In 1998, the album was selected as one of The Source Magazine's 100 Best Rap Albums[3].

A critical, as well as commercial success, the album contains the group's best known songs such as "Me Myself and I", "Buddy", and "Eye Know". On October 23, 2001, the album was re-issued along with an extra disc of hard-to-find B-side tracks, and alternative versions. The album's title is taken from a line in a Johnny Cash song called "Five Feet High and Rising".

Contents

Overview

Released amid the 1989 boom in gangsta rap, which gravitated towards hardcore, confrontational, violent lyrics, De La Soul's uniquely positive style made them an oddity beginning with the first single, "Me, Myself and I". Their positivity meant many observers labeled them a "hippie" group, based on their declaration of the "D.A.I.S.Y. Age" (da inner sound, y'all). Sampling artists as diverse as Johnny Cash, Hall & Oates, Steely Dan's "Peg" and The Turtles, 3 Feet High and Rising is often viewed as the stylistic beginning of 1990s alternative hip hop (and especially jazz rap). Of particular importance is the production by Prince Paul, who would become one of hip hop's hottest producers on the strength of this album. While sampling was hardly new, 3 Feet High and Rising revolutionized the technique and influenced virtually every producer and artist to come later.

The music

Lyrically, the album was unusual for its time. Even beside its exhortations for peace and harmony, many of the songs are personal and heartfelt recountings of early sexual intercourse ("Jenifa Taught Me"), love ("Eye Know") and insecurity regarding personal appearance and fashion ("Can U Keep a Secret", "A Little Bit of Soap" "Take It Off"). With the exception of "Do As De La Does", there is very little profanity on the album, in contrast to most hip hop albums from the time period. Many of the lyrics are humorous and/or nonsensical, and are inventive and original, stylistic predecessors of MF Doom and Busta Rhymes; Posdnous compares the rhymes to dance in "The Magic Number" ("the phrasing Fred Astaires"). Many of the listeners who compared the group to hippies criticized the album for a childlike, simple approach at complex issues, as on "Tread Water", where a series of animals exhort the listener to maintain a positive mental attitude. Supporters point to songs like "Say No Go" as a realistic portrayal of the pitfalls of drug abuse. The title, besides being a Hall & Oates sample, is a reference to Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" campaign; Posdnous criticizes Reagan, but applauds the sentiment. The song was deeply personal for Posdnous, whose own brother was addicted to crack cocaine.

The first track, entitled "Intro", is a skit that takes place at a game show. The contestants (portrayed by the three members of De La Soul plus producer Prince Paul) are asked four questions by the host (Al Watts), and their attempts at answering are scattered about the album. The song "Ghetto Thang" is one of the few non-positive tracks on the album. It is a sad story about poverty and other social ills, even though De La Soul is from middle-class suburb Amityville, New York (on Long Island). Its denunciation of ghetto violence can be summed up in the words "Ghetto gained a ghetto name from ghetto ways/Now there must be ghetto gangs and ghetto play/If ghetto thing can have its way and get arranged/Then there must be some ghetto love and ghetto change". "Description" describes each member of De La Soul, and a few others, in five lines each, the style reminiscent of a limerick.

Reception and influence

It's also listed on Rolling Stones' 200 Essential Rock Records and The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums (both of which are unordered). When Village Voice held its annual Pazz & Jop Critics Poll for 1989, 3 Feet High and Rising was ranked at #1, outdistancing its nearest opponent (Neil Young's Freedom) by 21 votes and 260 points.

"An inevitable development in the class history of rap, [De La Soul is] new wave to Public Enemy's punk," wrote critic Robert Christgau in his Consumer Guide column's review of 3 Feet High and Rising. "Their music is also radically unlike any rap you or anybody else has ever heard - inspirations include the Jarmels and a learn-it-yourself French record. And for all their kiddie consciousness, junk-culture arcana, and suburban in-jokes, they're in the new tradition - you can dance to them, which counts for plenty when disjunction is your problem."

Rolling Stone magazine gave the album three stars and concluded that it was "(o)ne of the most original rap records ever to come down the pike, the inventive, playful 3 Feet High and Rising stands staid rap conventions on their def ear".

It was ranked 7 in Spin's "100 Greatest Albums, 1985–2005", ranked 88th in a 2005 survey held by British television's Channel 4 to determine the 100 greatest albums of all time. In 1998 , the album was selected as one of The Source Magazine's 100 Best Rap Albums. In 2003, the album was ranked number 346 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Miscellaneous

  • Though the idea was quickly abandoned, the original concept behind the group was that Mase was PA and Posdnuos and Dove were the microphone plugs, transmitting messages from Mars. This is the origin of the nicknames for Posdnuos and Dove, Plug One and Plug Two, respectively.
  • The Turtles won a lawsuit against De La Soul over the unauthorized sampling of "You Showed Me" on "Transmitting Live from Mars".
  • The title 3 Feet High and Rising comes from a Johnny Cash song called "Five Feet High and Rising" ("How high's the water, Mama?/It's three feet high and rising"). This song is sampled on the album. Some have interpreted the title as a reference to drug abuse; De La Soul has not commented on this interpretation.
  • The members of the group have said that the only thing they would change about 3 Feet High and Rising is the cover, because the light-hearted colors do not mesh well with their somber faces.
  • De La Soul in collaboration with Nike Skateboarding created two SB Dunks (one low, one high) based on the 3 Feet High and Rising album cover.

Track listing

  1. "Intro" – 1:41
  2. "The Magic Number" – 3:14
  3. "Change in Speak" – 2:33
  4. "Cool Breeze on the Rocks" – 0:46
  5. "Can U Keep a Secret" – 1:38
  6. "Jenifa Taught Me (Derwin's Revenge)" – 3:25
  7. "Ghetto Thang" – 3:35
  8. "Transmitting Live From Mars" – 1:06
  9. "Eye Know" – 4:06
  10. "Take It Off" – 1:53
  11. "A Little Bit of Soap" – 0:47
  12. "Tread Water" – 3:54
  13. "Potholes in My Lawn" – 4:14
  14. "Say No Go" – 4:20
  15. "Do as De La Does" – 1:58
  16. "Plug Tunin' (Last Chance to Comprehend)" – 4:13
  17. "De La Orgee" – 1:11
  18. "Buddy" (with Jungle Brothers and Q-Tip) – 4:56
  19. "Description" – 1:24
  20. "Me Myself and I" – 3:41
  21. "This Is a Recording 4 Living in a Fulltime Era (L.I.F.E.)" – 3:16
  22. "I Can Do Anything (Delacratic)" – 0:40
  23. "D.A.I.S.Y. Age" – 3:58
  24. "Plug Tunin'" (original 12" version) – 3:41

Bonus compact disc

When Tommy Boy Records re-issued 3 Feet High and Rising on October 23, 2001, initial pressings included this compact disc as a companion. It mainly featured B-side tracks, alternate versions of album tracks and skits that would later impact other De La Soul albums.

  1. "Freedom of Speak (We Got Three Minutes)" – 2:59
  2. "Strickly Dan Stuckie" – 0:42
  3. "Jenifa (Taught Me)" (12" version) – 4:42
  4. "Skip to My Loop" – 1:12
  5. "Potholes in My Lawn" (12" version) – 3:46
  6. "Me, Myself & I" (Oblapos Mode) – 3:31
  7. "Ain't Hip to be Labeled a Hippie" – 1:50
  8. "What's More (From the Soundtrack Hell on 1st Avenue)" – 2:05
  9. "Brain Washed Follower" – 2:49
  10. "Say No Go" (New Keys vocal) – 4:45
  11. "The Mack Daddy on the Left" – 2:31
  12. "Double Huey Skit" – 3:52
  13. "Ghetto Thang" (Ghetto Ximer) – 3:52
  14. "Eye Know" (The Know It All mix) – 7:12

Partial list of samples

The following lists some of the songs and sounds sampled for 3 Feet High and Rising.

Album samples

  • "Can U Keep a Secret?"
  • "Transmitting Live from Mars"
  • "Say No Go"
    • "That's the Joint" by Funky 4+1
    • "Crossword Puzzle" by Sly & the Family Stone
    • "You Got the Best of My Love" by The Emotions
    • "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)" by Hall & Oates
    • "Baby Let Me Take You (In My Arms) by the Detroit Emeralds
    • "I'm Chief Kamanawanalea (We're the Royal Macadamia Nuts)" by The Turtles
  • "De La Orgee"
    • "I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little Bit More, Babe" by Barry White
  • "Plug Tunin' (Last Chance to Comprehend)"
  • "Description"
    • "Poet" by Sly & the Family Stone
  • "This Is a Recording 4 Living in a Fulltime Era (L.I.F.E.)"

Bonus compact disc samples

  • "Freedom of Speak (We Got Three Minutes)"
  • "Strictly Dan Shuckie"
    • "Schoolboy Crush" by The Average White Band
  • "Skip to My Loop"
    • "13 (Death March)" by Wes Montgomery & Jimmy Smith
    • "Baby It's Cold Outside" by Wes Montgomery & Jimmy Smith
  • "Brain-Washed Follower"
    • "Booty Butt" by Ray Charles
    • "Funky President" by James Brown
    • "So This Is Our Goodbye" by The Moments
    • "You Made a Believer (Out of Me)" by Ruby Andrews
  • "The Mack Daddy on the Left"
    • "Hector" by the Village Callers

Personnel

  • Jungle Brothers – performer
  • De La Soul – arranger, assistant producer
  • Prince Paul – arranger, producer, mixing
  • Q-Tip – performer
  • Sue Fisher – engineer
  • Trugoy the Dove – arranger
  • Bob Coulter – engineer
  • Al Watts – mixing
  • Steven Miglio – layout design

Album singles

  • "Buddy"
    • Released: 1989
    • B-side: "Ghetto Thang"
  • "Eye Know"
    • Released: 1989
    • B-side: "The Mack Daddy on the Left"
  • "Say No Go"
    • Released: 1989
    • B-side: "The Mack Daddy on the Left"

Charting singles

Date Title Chart Position
1989 "Me Myself and I" The Billboard Hot 100 No. 34
1989 "Me Myself and I" Hot Rap Singles No. 1
1989 "Potholes in My Lawn" Hot Rap Singles No. 22
1989 "Say No Go" Hot Rap Singles No. 11
1989 "Me Myself and I" Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks No. 1
1989 "Say No Go" Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks No. 32
1989 "Me Myself and I" Hot Dance Music/Club Play No. 1
1989 "Say No Go" Hot Dance Music/Club Play No. 3
1989 "Me Myself and I" Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales No. 1
1989 "Say No Go" Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales No. 13
1990 "Buddy" Hot Rap Singles No. 2
1990 "Buddy" Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks No. 18
1990 "Buddy" Hot Dance Music/Club Play No. 27
1990 "Buddy" Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales No. 11

References

  1. ^ Tower.com: The Planet's Entertainment Destination for Music, CDs, Movies, DVDs, Books & more
  2. ^ Robert Christgau: Playboy Feb. 1989
  3. ^ Source Magazine's 100 Best Albums

External links

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De La Soul
Posdnuos  · Dave  · Maseo
Studio Albums
Singles
Compilations
Related
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