Editor’s Note: From Albumism’s inception back in 2016, we’ve remained unabashedly and unequivocally passionate about our mission of celebrating the world's love affairs with albums past, present and future.

But while our devotion to the album as an art form has remained steadfast, as evidenced by our deepening repository of individual album tributes and reviews, we’ve admittedly seldom taken the opportunity to explicitly articulate our reverence for the virtues of artists’ complete album repertoires as a whole.

Hence why we’ve decided to showcase what we believe to be the most dynamic discographies of all time in this recurring series. In doing so, we hope to better understand the broader creative context within which our most beloved individual albums exist, while acknowledging the full breadth of their creators’ artistry, career arcs, and overall contributions to the ever-evolving musical landscape.

We hope you enjoy this series and be sure to check here periodically for the latest installments.

DE LA SOUL

No one in hip-hop history has refined being different into an art like De La Soul. The Long Island trio, made up of Kelvin “Posdnuos” Mercer, Dave “Trugoy the Dove” Jolicoeur and Vincent “Maseo” Mason, started their career living on the “edges” of contemporary rap music. For over a decade-and-a-half, they went against the grain of what was popular and what was expected of artists within the culture. They eventually established themselves as veterans and elder statesmen, becoming so good at what they do that their version of “different” didn’t even sound odd.

From the late ’80s through the mid-‘90s, De La Soul stood out as a unique collective, taking their influences and transforming them into something unrecognizable and practically alien. Lyrically, their songs were layered in heavy slang and laden with inside jokes and out-there references. They conversed with animals on record and utilized innovative rhyme flows and patterns. Their distinctive musical backdrops earned them equal attention. With the help of producer Prince Paul, their beat sampled records reworked songs and vocal snippets from folk records, children’s records, and cartoons.

As their career progressed, the group became increasingly jaded. For all the talk of how De La coded their speak in abstract sensibilities, the group has always worn their hearts on their sleeves, so they channeled their frustrations into their music, lamenting that their label, Tommy Boy, pressured them to release glibly “happy” music, while expressing disillusionment at the direction that mainstream hip-hop was moving in general. Their discouragement resulted in some of the best music of the era, albums like De La Soul Is Dead (1991) Buhloone Mindstate (1993), and Stakes Is High (1996) stand as defining achievements of their career. While their releases during the ’00s weren’t quite as radically different from what others had to offer, they’re still remarkable in terms of their quality.

Through a combination of their openness and creativity, De La really connected with their audience. So much so that, after a lengthy hiatus, their fans donated more than $600,000 to crowd-fund the release of …And the Anonymous Nobody (2016) through a Kickstarter campaign (De La had initially asked for $110,000). After over a decade of not releasing new material, the album sounded different than what came before, but still remained uniquely De La Soul.

The vast majority of De La Soul’s music isn’t available for streaming. The group and Tommy Boy have yet to work out a deal that will allow the albums they created to appear on the favored format of musical consumption. It is fitting that people who really want to hear De La’s distinctive stylings have to dig a little to appreciate their genius. And anyone who does so will be rewarded by finding music that feels both of its era and essentially timeless.

Jesse’s 3 Favorite De La Soul Albums of All Time:

1. De La Soul Is Dead (1991)
2. 3 Feet High and Rising (1989)
3. Buhloone Mindstate (1993)

VISIT De La Soul’s Merchbar Store

LISTEN & WATCH: