The Story of De La Soul's “3 Feet High and Rising”

March 3, 1989 was the day that changed the scope of hip hop music forever. A young hip hop trio from Amityville, Long Island, released their inventive, exciting, and extraordinary debut album 3 Feet High and Rising. De La Soul are comprised of Kelvin Mercer, a.k.a (Posdnuos/ Plug One), David Jude Jolicoeur (Trugoy the Dove/Dave/Plug Two) and Vincent Mason (P.A. Pasemaster Mase/Maseo/Plug Three). An opposition to the gangsta rap that was taking over hip hop culture at the time, 3 Feet High and Rising was a kaleidoscope of sounds that brought hundreds of obscure samples, peaceful “hippie” ideologies, street knowledge, love, and other eclectic, obscure topics all into one album. It was a masterpiece that is regarded as one of the greatest timeless hip hop albums, and music critics and fans alike acknowledge its historical importance and impact for the genre and for popular music; and it also exemplified the creativity that goes into the production and roles of producers of a sample based hip hop album. Although it is inaccessible on digital formats, 3 Feet High and Rising is an album that music lovers strive to collect on all other formats because it reflected a time when hip hop music honestly exposed the desire for artists to connect to their fans on an emotional and spiritual level.

All three of De La Soul’s members grew up in separate boroughs of New York, but all met and attended high school in Amityville, Long Island. Posdnuos and Dave, the two emcees, were originally in a group called Easy Street in 1985. Posdnuos and Dave had different roles; Pos was the DJ (his stage name was his DJ name backwards – DJ Sound Sop) and Dave, who went by his middle name Jude, was a beatboxer. Eventually, Pos and Dave split from the group to form their own group. A friend of theirs introduced them to the future third member of De La Soul – P.A. Pasemaster Mase. DJ Maseo (what he is now referred to as), who was a year younger than the other two members, had earned a reputation of being one of the more popular DJs in town. De La Soul was an official group by 1986. Although the group was formed, they weren’t quite “established”. In comes their savior, DJ Prince Paul, born Paul Huston, a DJ from the live old school hip hop band Stetsasonic. According to the book “Check the Technique: Liner Notes for Hip Hop Junkies” by music journalist Brian Coleman, Prince Paul was given the De La Soul demo tape by Maseo and added more elements to it to make it come alive. Prince Paul tells Coleman in his book about one of the first De La Soul songs: “That demo was a rough sketch of the song ‘Plug Tunin’ and I really liked it. I did a two-tape-decks thing where I overdubbed some beats and added other things to what they had done originally” (Coleman 145). This pivotal moment brings in Prince Paul as the main producer of the album. Coleman adds; “When Paul heard De La’s rough demos, a light bulb flashed. Paul’s budding genius behind the boards was just waiting to be unleashed, and he put it to work in his role as ‘mentor’” (Coleman 148). Paul and De La Soul both worked together on the production of the album, but De La Soul are credited as the co-producers. It was a team effort, but Prince Paul put a magical touch on the music that no other producer could have.

In her book “Rap Music and Street Consciousness”, Cheryl Keyes, an associate professor of ethnomusicology at UCLA, traces, analyzes, and discusses the history of hip hop in various larger contexts. She acknowledges Prince Paul’s golden ears, magical touch, and his musical choices when producing and sampling music for De La Soul:

“Prince Paul’s aptitude for selecting unique breaks for the accompanying soundtracks (e.g. the use of Funkadelic’s funk classic “(Not Just) Knee Deep” for their hit single, “Me, Myself, and I”) enhanced De La Soul’s music. Recognized for his funky beats, Paul credits P-Funk master George Clinton for influencing his vision for De La Soul: “I evolved the whole De La Soul thing around George Clinton at first, the characters, the visuals, the illness’” (Keyes 83). 

De La Soul’s music, like most hip hop music at the time, was strictly sample based. Each song had samples intertwined with more samples, and ultimately became a melting pot of various genres like rock, disco, funk, and obscure pop. An album review by author Bruce Tucker found on jstor.org summarizes their sound perfectly: “De La Soul’s shards and fragments are assembled in collages where the seams and jagged edges are meant to show”. The creativity that went into the production of the album was immense, and the album became heralded as one of the greatest sample based hip hop albums, along with Beastie Boys’ Paul’s Boutique and Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. The book “Making Beats: The Art of Sample Based Hip-Hop” by Joe Schloss is focused primarily on the creation and methods used by hip hop producers in order to create, manipulate, or enhance their records. Schloss discusses the importance of sampling to producers: 

“A number of people have written about how hip-hop sampling – because it used old sound recordings – represents and engagement with musical history in various ways (Rose 1994, Gaunt 1995, Potter 1995). It is true that hip-hop producers comment on, play with, flip, remake, and relive history. But it is not so much the history of a community or even of a musical form that producers are interested in, but the history of sound recordings...” (Schloss 157). 

Hip hop producers have a strong connection to the music they grew up with; the music their parents played in their homes. These producers want to share the same feelings of excitement and passion that they grew up hearing in their own records they create. They take the sounds from older records and recreate them for modern times to show off their skills as a talented producer, to allow listeners to become exposed to other genres of music, and to also show their appreciation to the musicians they idolize. This is exactly what Prince Paul and De La Soul accomplished in 3 Feet High and Rising. Sampling Hall & Oates, Johnny Cash, James Brown, among other artists, exemplified the wide eclectic palate of music each grew up admiring and desired to put on their records. The art of sampling brought the role of the hip hop producer to a brand new light. 

In hip hop, the term “producer” is often misunderstood. Hip hop producers are primarily the people who create the beat or the music for the emcee to rap on. They may also oversee the recording and try to help the artist create a sonic landscape for their album; but hip hop and rock producers usually take on two different roles. Hip hop producers could, in a sense, be compared to composers, because they compose and arrange the music by taking samples, using drum machines, or using computer technology. Schloss describes his idea of a hip hop producer: 

“For hip-hop producers the process of creating recorded music has become almost completely estranged from the process of capturing the sound of a live performance… conversely, live performances of hip hop are rarely concerned with reproducing any specific processes from the studio *aside from emceeing); the studio recording is simply played (and sometimes manipulated by a deejay)” (Schloss 41).

Hip hop producers generally have a recognizable “sound” that they perfect when working with different artists. They can work on any artist’s album they want, but fans will know who produced it just by the way the song or album structure is set. De La Soul and Prince Paul share production credits for the album because they all gathered the ideas for the album together. Some members were still unsure of what production actually involved, but it all became clear once each person actually worked hand in hand; Dave says:

 “I didn’t have a concept of what a producer was until I learned more about the game. The way I was introduced to production was with what we did. From the start, with us, it was like every man puts in their ten cents. And let’s make this into a dollar. We learned, mostly from Paul, that you don’t always need to map things out. You can make mistakes. And the zaniness of the album, overall definitely came from Paul” (Coleman 149).

De La Soul and Prince Paul recorded their demo in Calliope Studios, NY. After their three track demo with songs “Plug Tunin’,” “Freedom of Speak,” and “De La Games” (later “D.A.I.S.Y. Age”), an indie hip hop record label created by Tom Silverman, Tommy Boy Records, felt that De La Soul was just what they were looking for. In 1987, they signed with Tommy Boy, and in 1988 they saw their first single released, which was “Plug Tunin’”. The song “Potholes in My Lawn” came soon after. Luckily these singles did well, so Tommy Boy gave them the OK to create a full album. The recording process was virtually painless. The A&R for De La Soul, Dante “Dante the Scrubb” (as De La referred to him as) Ross states that,

“They basically made that record in the studio because they didn’t have their own equipment yet, so they couldn’t do much at home except brainstorm ideas”. Coleman adds; “The album didn’t take long because they all have been milling around with ideas together. According to Tom Silverman, their recording budget was twenty-eight thousand dollars, which included all recording costs, sample clearance fees, and their own advances”. ‘They got lower advances’, says Tom Silverman, ‘but after the album blew up they got paid massive royalty checks. They bought houses for all of their parents after that.’” (Coleman 147).

At first, De La Soul was met with some criticism from hip hop fans. They were portrayed as “hip hop hippies” because of the way they dressed, their peaceful, playful lyrics, their usage of daises on their album cover, and the ultimate pushing of the label to make sure they were marketed as hippies. 3 Feet High and Rising also saw the advent of what they refer to as the Da.I.S.Y. Age, which stood for “Da Inner Sound, Y’all”. The Da.I.S.Y. Age was a sound and vibe that reflected their feelings about how their music was created, because it was quite literally “from the soul” and the inner sounds of their hearts and minds were poured out on their music to spread peace and happiness in a genre that was overcome with violence. Unfortunately, artists and fans who were used to more violent and misogynistic hip hop did not understand this concept at first. De La Soul did not want to be seen as hippies just because they wanted to share positivity in their music. They made sure to tear all that stigma down when it came time for their 2^nd album, which they wittingly named De La Soul is Dead (their album cover is a dead daisy in a broken flower pot).

Overall, De La Soul’s debut has been lauded as one of the greatest hip hop albums that stood the test of time; it was a phenomenon; and was no match lyrically, musically, or thematically to any other hip hop album released at the time. It became so important to the genre because it allowed a new generation of hip hop artists to understand that being yourself does not mean acting like someone else. Being yourself means just that. It was okay to step outside and around the box to make a statement, and to wear African medallions and sport funny haircuts. No one needed to know how much money, cars, houses, or women you had, or how tough you were. The music was a lighthearted eye opener for hip hop and music fans in general, and was a perfect window into the lives of three young men from Long Island that had some knowledge to spread to the masses, while also having fun with it. 

Tom Silverman mentions the lasting global impact the album had: “Aside from the U.S., that album was also important because it was the first hip-hop album on the international scene; it was the first album to do more than five hundred thousand units in Europe, way more than even Run-DMC” (Coleman 151). The only negative impact this album had was due to its unfortunate lawsuit of copyright infringement because of one of the album interludes. De La’s interlude “Transmitting Live from Mars” samples rock group The Turtles’ 1969 song “You Showed Me”. The Turtles saw that De La had used their song without permission; therefore they sued. There was some misunderstanding between De La Soul and Tommy Boy on why the sample was not given to the label to clear, and/or why they label neglected to clear the sample. Both Silverman and Prince Paul have differing views on this topic. Silverman says, “The problem was that although we cleared thirty-five samples on the album, the Turtles one wasn’t on the list that the group gave us, because it was one of the interstitial pieces”. Prince Paul says, “When we finished the album we gave Tommy Boy all the samples and they just cleared the ones on songs that they thought would be popular” (Coleman 153). Tommy Boy and De La Soul lost the suit, and had to pay more than $100,000 (some sources say up to 1.7 million). After this lawsuit, hip hop music had to take a step back and make sure if they were to use samples in their music, all sampled needed to be legally cleared. The worst outcome about this whole situation was that the majority of De La Soul’s catalog has never been available to purchase digitally; it is only available on LP, CD, and cassette. Billboard.com writer Paul Cantor keeps the reason why their music is unavailable digitally short and sweet: “there are too many samples on the album, Warner Brothers— which owns Tommy Boy Records' catalog— does not want to go through the legwork to re-clear them all for digital rights”. 

On February 15, 2014, De La Soul released their back catalog for free on their website to celebrate their 25^th anniversary of being a group, and to show love to their fans by sharing their work. By sharing their music without the permission of Warner, and the fact that they got their music from a Russian torrent site to send to their fans, they could be in a lot of trouble. De La Soul did not care, though, because they listened to the Da.I.S.Y. and gave their fans proof that it’s all about the music and the love of their fans is what keeps them motivated.

Musical Self Reflection

I have gone through three significant phases of having a favorite music. The first phase, and the phase that allowed me to seek knowledge of other genres of music, was Classic Rock. As a young African American girl attending a small inner city Catholic high school in predominantly Black Newark, NJ, that was pretty odd. I had a handful of friends who were into Rock in high school, so they were my primary influence into getting into Rock music. My friends told me that listening to Classic Rock REALLY helps them get their history homework done, so that’s what I started doing. I ended up liking a few songs and buying them for myself. Classic Rock came to me in kind of a strange way. Besides having a handful of friends who were into that and Alternative Rock, I still barely paid it any attention, besides the fact that I loved the band Paramore. One day in my religion class during sophomore year, my super cool teacher Mr. Gambone had us write down a list of 25 of our favorite songs for some reason I don’t remember. I got excited and listed down my favorites. It was a list of vastly different genres, and I took pride in that. After I read my list aloud, my teacher, Mr. Gambone, freaked out. His jaw hit the floor once he heard me read Led Zeppelin’s “Fool in the Rain”, a few Jimi Hendrix songs, and about two or three prominent Rock musicians’ songs. He told me I should go tell our principal about me liking Led Zep and Jimi, because he has a collection of their discography that he is sure he would love to give me. I was like “…. okay” and Mr. Gambone actually ended taking me to Mr. Cuddihy, our principal, himself. He excitedly told Mr. Cuddihy about my list, and Mr. Cuddihy got excited too. He told me to come back after school so he can give me copies of four Led Zeppelin albums, and a Jimi Hendrix compilation CD. I told my parents about my awesome day, and my father laughed and made sure to thank my principal and teacher the next day when he took me to school.

My second phase was and still is the music I listen to the most now. I discovered Hip Hop right when I was about to give up on it. I have always hated mainstream Hip Hop, because of my dad. He used to DJ and produce House music, and he was the first person in my life to leave a musical influence on me. Whenever he would turn on the radio, he would quickly get irritated because the music that would be on the radio usually sounded the same and had little to no lyrical quality and was either vulgar or senseless. I began to understand what he meant as I got older. I did try to get into mainstream Pop and Hip Hop music when I got into high school, but I gave up quickly because the music did not allow me to connect to it and I the only emotion I had while listening to it was anger. It was just boring to me. As time went on, I started to discover older Hip Hop acts. I also discovered a few underground and Alternative Hip Hop. I did not know Hip Hop had a past that was so rich with history and knowledge! Once I started learning about Hip Hop’s past, I fell in love. I gravitated to the older recordings, specifically to Hip Hop of the 1990’s. The was the music was created through sampling, the way emcees/rappers would speak on their records, and all of the knowledge some of the emcees would give to the listeners hit my heart. There was an exact day that I fell in love with Hip Hop music, too. It was December 26, 2011, the day after Christmas. This was during my senior year of high school, and I was 17 years old. I got a couple of iTunes gift cards for Christmas and was itching to buy some new music. I decided to try and get some good Hip Hop songs or albums and add to my growing interest of “real” Hip Hop music. (I was introduced to “real” Hip Hop the year prior; Aesop Rock’s song “None Shall Pass” changed my life and encouraged me to look for more lyricists.)

I Googled things such as “alternative hip hop” and “best hip hop songs of all time” to see what gems I could dig up. I went on a bunch of random sites and saw a common thing: Common Sense (who now just goes by Common)’s song “I Used to Love H.E.R.” It was listed on many different sites as one of the greatest Hip Hop songs ever. I HAD to check it out. I proceeded to look at the Wikipedia article for the song. I read yet again about its prominence in the genre. Then, I glanced at something that said the song held a double meaning. He raps as if he is speaking about a lost love, but really, he is talking about Hip Hop. I shouldn’t have read on!! I have a tendency to ruin things for myself. I went on ruining things by reading the lyrics before I thought of listening to the song. I read, and felt “meh” about it. Love song with an interesting twist… but THE LAST LINES OF THE SONG! What?? He’s talking about Hip Hop? (I finally understood that Wiki article, sort of).

          

  I quickly decided to actually listen to the song. I went on YouTube and searched “Common I Used to Love Her”. First thought: “Sheesh this vid is so old and grainy and low quality!” But I enjoyed it very much. I loved the visuals and loved how it was an actual video, not some la di la in a big room with a green screen and other “music video” clichés. Then I started really listening. I truly enjoyed the music! The piano was soothing, the guitar was smooth, the drums were TIGHT, and the bass. THE BASS. Now, I’m a sucker for bass lines. I think I started bobbing my head. His flow, the way he rode the “I Used to Love H.E.R.” beat, was all too cool. His words dove into the track with pure grace. I loved how connected his voice was to the music. During the while, I tried to pay close attention to the lyrics; I was drawn in. Hearing him actually say the words was more impactful than reading them. During my listen, I was impressed. It was a typical love song, but at the same time, it wasn’t. The way he spoke and the words he rapped were different than anything else I’ve heard. Listening to the lyrics was also sad, because his first love, from whom he know from age 10, basically became someone who changed herself for popularity. Then… we get to the end of the song. That last line. 

“But I’ma take it back y’all and let this _ stop/ ‘cause who I’m talkin’ ‘bout, y’all, is HIP HOP”

I was mesmerized. I just knew I had to play it again. I was in trouble now. I found an actual song that made all the sense in the world. I was “grounded”, and my punishment was to find even more music like this. December 26, 2011. The day my life changed. I now had a favorite song of all time. I now have a song that expressed all of my feelings towards a genre that I thought I knew, but didn’t. This was the only time in my life I truly vividly remember a moment in my musical memory. This was significant because this was the very song that introduced me to a genre that I had initially turned my back on.

The Hip Hop band The Roots also helped me fall in love with Hip Hop music. They are an actual band of musicians from Philadelphia that was created in 1987 and released their first album in 1993. I also discovered The Roots via a Google search for “alternative hip hop”.  What made them stand out to me was the fact that they were a band that played Hip Hop music! I had no idea that the two can be combined. The Roots showed me that you should never let anything restrict you from doing what you love. Once I heard a few songs of theirs when I was about 15, I became hooked. I ended up collecting their whole discography over time. They became my first favorite musicians, group, and band (because there are major differences between the three in Hip Hop music). I loved how innovative they were, and how they challenged themselves on every album and in every show. They are known for their amazing live shows, and have been said to be one of the greatest live acts of all time in music. The founders of The Roots, Black Thought the emcee and Questlove, the drummer, are one of the greatest in the genre. Black Thought is usually put into the list of “All Time Greatest” for emcees/rappers and Questlove is known for being a tastemaker and continuously impressing fans and peers with his talent. The Roots are now on the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, which was a great move for them and for Hip Hop. This allowed people to see that The Roots are absolutely a household name and that Hip Hop is more than just hits. The Roots do not make music for attaining hits, they create albums for an experience. They have critical acclaim rather than star status.

Questlove became my all time favorite musician because of the way he is able to craft albums and shows with ease. Questlove is also responsible helping me fall into my third phase of my favorite music: Neo Soul. Not many Neo Soul musicians actually like that term, but many fans love to use that term to differentiate them from regular R&B acts. Neo Soul is a genre that has musicians who truly appreciate the Soul and Jazz music of the past. They create music that encompasses those two genres as well as include Hip Hop grooves, as well as include lyrics that are more personal and more in tune to social issues. Questlove, a long with a few more of my favorite musicians, created a Neo Soul and Hip Hop group called the Soulquarians. The Soulquarians are responsible for a few albums that were recorded in Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland studio between 1996-2003. Some of the albums were The Roots’ Things Fall Apart, D’angleo’s Voodoo, Erykah Badu’s Mama’s Gun, Bilal’s First Born Second, Mos Def’s Black on Both Sides, Common’s Like Water for Chocolate and a handful of others. The Soulquarians helped establish Neo Soul and were a collective of like-minded musicians, singers, and rappers that had a knack for their craft and a passion for true music from the soul. They loved offbeat rhythms and irregular chords, and Motown. Although the Soulquarians did not put out an official Soulquarians and are not exactly working on music together as the official collective, they still live on and helped spin off a well loved genre.

The Soulquarians and The Roots, as well as a few Jazz musicians, also helped me find my favorite musical instrument, which is the Fender Rhodes. They incorporate the Rhodes in almost every song and album they have ever made. The moment I found out that it was the Rhodes that was creating that beautiful melody that sounded like it was coming from a weird piano, I told myself I don’t want to learn how to play the piano until I get my hands on a Rhodes. The sound of the Rhodes smacks me in the face and encompasses my head in such a way I cannot explain.

The one song I would program for an “end of the world” ceremony has to be The Roots’ “Make My” from their 2011 album Undun. Undun is a concept story told in reverse chronological order. It is based on the unfortunate tale of a fictional young Black male, Redford Stevens, who subsequently walked down the wrong path. The beginning of the album represents his death and the very end represents his struggles living as a Black man trying to survive. On “Make My”, the third track, Stevens is in the throes of death. The end of the song includes an instrumental coda, signifying the death of Stevens. The listener is brought into a sonic whirlwind with the complexity of a rolling synth bass and “oooh’s” of the piano synth. The coda signifies Redford Steven’s “departure from the world” (this phrase is a part of the hook of the song). The music and the lyrics capture the pain and agony that Stevens is enduring while he is dying. It is a dark, somber piece, and it captures the essence of what happens when one is at the end of the road and on the brink of death. I find that it would be the perfect song for the end of the world!

I feel that I have finally come to understand who I am and what I like and love. I am at a place where I do not have to explain to people why I do and don’t like certain types of music. I don’t have to explain to people that “I just don’t like Pop music” or “I just can’t get into Country” and “I don’t care for EDM”. Just because I don’t like these genres doesn’t mean I am a bad person. I’m just a person who simply doesn’t want to hear those genres. I’m my own little person and I deserve to have my own opinions. I have never told a person that they were weird or strange for liking a certain kind of music, because I’ve been there. I’ve been criticized for liking what I like, and it truly does hurt being virtually the only person who listens to certain genres or artists. You feel that you are alone in your tastes and you will never have anyone to talk about your passions with. This is why I always encourage people to love what they love, even if I don’t love it. Yes, I wouldn’t want to hear it, but I will never criticize someone for their tastes. I believe this says that I am a person who continues to understand that humans are completely complex creatures. My musical identity is strictly unique to me and only me. There will never be another Mesha who is obsessed with The Roots the way I am. My musical identity is made up of random bits and pieces that come together and say “she loves left of center music that speaks on social issues and is built from the inspiration of past musicians and the future of self expression”.