13.
De La Soul – 3 Feet High and Rising
This was my favourite record in 1989. I had never heard anything like it. What De La and the whole Native Tongues crew did was so completely their own. Sonically it was the most exciting thing, full of colour and humour and absurdity in ways that read like a freethinking hippie commune. I listened to this record, or cassette rather, on repeat until I wore it out and it snapped. I looked up to all the Native Tongues posse and I connected with how organic and human they felt, how they weren’t afraid to come completely out of left field with a new musical style and personal style, and they weren’t afraid to act exactly how they wanted to act, even in the face of a slightly formulaic hip hop world at the time. ("Black medallions… no gold") The Prince Paul production is so visionary. The things he drew from and sampled just really created a whole new world. It was playful, but could be taken very seriously. I consider this album to be highly experimental music.
