After 12 long years the legendary De La Soul have just released their latest album. With hits such as Me Myself And I, Ring Ring Ring, The Magic Number and countless others during their extensive career it will be a hard act to follow…
Opening up with one of the album’s most exciting features, the soulful voice of Jill Scott eases you in with an uplifting speech over a beautiful string section. Already it is clear that this will be a well thought out album, not just a collection of tracks created during the last decade. Royalty Capes (see below for the official audio-video) is the first beat and is full of everything a true De La Soul fan would expect, expertly sampled jazz licks, triumphant horns and of course some conscious rap. A more than satisfying start to the project, the smooth and silky instrumental is topped off with timpani rolls as well as another speech from an un-named female voice.
Pain featuring Snoop Dogg picks up the pace a little with much more 80’s influence, from the walking disco bass line, to the backing vocals and synth riffs. Snoop sounds seriously comfortable over this style and delivers a laid back verse, the De La Soul gang also suit the instrumental well. The next collaboration featuring Roc Marciano is let down by a strange effect on the main vocal, distracting from another soft and jazzy accompaniment. Thankfully UK based Estelle and the legendary Pete Rock have kept the momentum going, her chorus standing out as one of the album’s defining moments on Memory Of. Production wise this is another huge success, the layers piece together seamlessly and by the end of the track it is tempting to listen again; the strings in particular add a lot to the mix.
Over the next few tracks they channel a much more rocky edge, lots of guitar elements and an almost Black Sabbath style chorus from Justin Hawkins clash with the rap parts. De La Soul are never ones to stick to the rules, and although these tracks aren’t awful they certainly don’t add much to the album overall. Snoopies featuring David Byrne is another swing and a miss, other than the middle and final sections which are ironically over one of the albums best beats. The fantastic vocal samples and sketchy kick drums have inspired some strong lyrics, it is a shame that this part is particularly short. Usher even makes an appearance on one of the album’s most bland tracks, his sweet R&B section does bring some needed contrast but it does not feel at home on a De La Soul album.
There is little to excite until Drawn which features Little Dragon, its atmospheric oriental vibe again seems out of place even if it is a stunning piece. Another incredible vocal performance from one of the world’s best leaves no room for De La Soul to contribute, in fact it is hard to hear where they have been involved until 4 minutes in when the hip hop beat and rap section comes in. The rest of the album unfortunately continues to disappoint, from a weak feature from 2 Chainz, some generic Coldplay style arrangement featuring the talented Damon Albarn and a very jarring skit entitled You Go Dave.
The final track Exodus almost saves the day but the finest moments are clearly towards the beginning of this album, their fans will have had high exceptions after waiting for so long and at first the good definitely outweighs the bad. For all their odd choices and strange pairings there are some genius moments, when they stick to their roots with classic jazz influenced rap they can do no wrong. Why not test it out on one of our separate hi-fi systems in store today at your local Richer Sounds?
