High and Rising: A Book about De La Soul
by Marcus J. Moore
Much gratitude to Dey Street Books and Netgalley for making Marcus J. Moore’s book about De La Soul, High and Rising: A Book about De La Soul available for preview. I was so excited to learn about this book since 3 Feet High and Rising was one of the first cassettes I bought with my own earned money (I also got It Takes a Nation of Millions and The Great Adventures of Slick Rick—De La was the only non-Def Jam album I had). So like Marcus Moore, the author, I also have a kind of personal connection to the band that spanned much of my life, so I really enjoyed this book on several different levels. One of the best aspects about Moore’s book is that it accomplishes many of the best elements of music writing and specifically books about a band’s discography and history. Moore’s writing provides a history of De La Soul, how they came together in Amityville, NY in the 80s. Furthermore, as a hip-hop band who pursued their own path of artistry and really developed their own kind of style and lingo that eventually became the Native Tongues, I really appreciated the kind of contextual analysis that Moore provides, situating De La’s music as both a descendent of the NY rhymes, but also just some guys in high school “buggin out” and having fun with music. Moore provides a nice, concise history lesson in NY hip hop to help readers understand the scene and how De La emerged in such a unique and different way. In recently reading S F Fernando Jr’s TheChronicles of DOOM, I felt like De La’s origin story is somewhat similar, and less tragic, to DOOM’s story in developing his skills and honing his musical talents in Long Island, right outside of NYC. Regardless, it was fun to learn about De La’s development, especially since 3 Feet High and Rising has such a special place in my musical development. To me, the album was always so joyful and fun. Their rhymes were funny, their music on this album was upbeat, and the fact that there were so many recognizable samples made them album so unique—that they were able to repurpose so many great songs and imagine music in such a different way, I always appreciated that about their work. Moore spends most of the book on De La’s first 4 albums, and I would say that the first 2—3 Feet and De La Soul is Dead are where the most detailed reporting and analysis are spent. Since these are probably the best known albums from De La, it makes sense. Moore’s detailed reporting, without the input of any of the members, also helped me learn a lot about their process, but more importantly, about the struggles and challenges they faced as hip hop artists who kind of challenged a lot of the more popular stereotypes and trends in hip hop. As Moore makes it clear, the band weren’t really into “blunts…Versace glasses,…slang…half-ass awards shows” (from “Stakes is High”). They really wanted to keep it real and keep their artistic vision true to themselves. Moore details what touring was like for them, and how that was part of the way they made revenue. In the 1990s, hip-hop artists didn’t really get brand deals, except maybe if they wanted to sell Malt Liquor, and with the exception of rappers like Will Smith or LL Cool J, there weren’t many roles for rappers on television or in movies. In some ways, I can understand how touring and making records was one of the only ways to keep revenue coming in, but as Moore also details, the terms of their Tommy Boy contract were not always artist friendly, and with 3 Feet’s extensive sampling, it caused some problems with compensating artists they sampled.
Moore’s book is
comprehensive in that he covers De La’s entire discography, and he does spend
some time on two other favorites of mine 1993’s Buhloone Mindstate
and Stakes is High, from 1996. Like Moore, I also have personal
connections with these albums—thinking about how Buhloone Mindstate came
out when I had my first car, and it was another cassette that I often played
while driving around with like nothing to do. I loved the sample from “Ego
Trippin’” and “Break of Dawn”—both songs were kind of like at opposite ends of
the spectrum—one the kind of bitter diss track that De La mastered in
dismantling fake MCs, the other a kind of chill track. Stakes is High came out when I started college, and I remember listening to it a lot
during my first year. I also got to see and meet De La on their tour. Somehow,
my friend booked them at his university, and I ended up on their bus, totally
geeking out about meeting them. It was exciting for me, but I can see from
Moore’s writing how my references to 3
Feet High might have not been
exactly what they wanted to hear at the time. I honestly was so excited to meet
them, my mind went blank. But it was definitely a high point.
Moore’s later chapters
detailing some of De La’s later work are not as detailed as the earlier ones.
However, I loved how each chapter has both historical and technical details in
the album’s creations, as well as Moore’s own personal reflections on the
albums. I’m a little older than him, but I can appreciate how I kind of grew up
with De La as well, and listened to them a lot through my early adolescence,
through high school, and continue to listen to them. However, I loved reading
about how De La taught Moore about just being himself, and that it was ok to be
a young black man who just wanted to listen to music or do his own thing. That
he didn’t need to flex hard or pose tough. De La meant much more to him, and
served as a kind of role model. In fact, when Stakes came out, I didn’t
have cable, so I missed the videos from that album. I was glad that Moore dissected
them because I went back and watched those videos, and I loved it. Dave is just
doing laundry, and Moore has this great analysis that he revisits later in
showing how De La were just normal guys with exquisite rap skills, but still
could just rap about everyday events and find such joy and artistry in these
kinds of everyday activities. It was something that I never really considered
before about their music, and how revolutionary and different it was. Moore’s
writing made me appreciate them that much more. I also didn’t know about their
names and that Trugoy, or Dave’s name, is really Yogurt backwards and that
Posdnous is sound sop backwards as well. That was a fact that was really interesting
to me. What I most loved about this book though was how Moore framed the book
with De La’s first concert after Dave’s death, and then ended with a letter to
Dave (and his recently deceased Mom), sharing how De La has made him who he is.
I was really surprised and sad about Dave’s death, but Moore also talks about
that kind of mortality that Black men, especially Black rappers, actors, and
others in the entertainment field, often face, dying earlier from diseases and
other factors that don’t seem to affect white people in the same way. It’s definitely
something I’ve thought about after Guru died, and something I’ve noticed as with
other rappers who have recently transitioned as well. Nevertheless, Moore’s
book about De La was so much more than just a book about a band. It’s also a
personal reflection about how music, especially music we grow up with, stays
with us and shapes us throughout some of our formative years. This aspect makes
his book stand out among other books about music. I hope he continues to write
more books about artists, preferably about those he’s been influenced by. I
will look forward to reading them.
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