Happy 20th Anniversary to De La Soul’s fifth studio album Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump, originally released August 8, 2000.
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People expect a lot from De La Soul, and the group has lived up to these expectations. From their earliest releases in the late ’80s, they became emblematic of how “different” hip-hop could be. With their subsequent releases, they demonstrated how a group could reinvent itself and still remain true to their core values. And by the mid to late ’90s, they symbolized hip-hop’s conscience, railing against the music’s increasing pop sensibilities and fake posturing.
Throughout this time, critics projected onto them the need to change the conversation about what hip-hop should represent with each and every release. But with their fifth album Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump, the Long Island-based trio, made up of rappers Kelvin “Posdnuos” Mercer & Dave “Trugoy” Jolicoeur (now just going by Dave), and DJ/rapper Vincent “Maseo” Mason, stopped trying to “save” hip-hop, focusing instead on making dope music.
Released 20 years ago, Mosaic Thump has no grand designs; by De La’s own admission, there was no “theme.” If there’s any unifying thread throughout the project, it’s a celebration of the group’s longevity. Initially viewed incorrectly by some as “soft” hip-hop hippies upon the release of their classic debut LP 3 Feet High and Rising (1989), the group who made a career of going against the grain were still going strong a decade later.
Mosaic Thump was supposed to be the beginning of a bridge between the second and third acts of De La’s career. The album was the first installment of what was originally conceived as a three-album series, or possibly a triple album, depending on who you ask. It may or may not have been designed as a way to fill the group’s contractual obligations with their label, Tommy Boy Records.
De La Soul and Tommy Boy have had a, shall we say, complicated relationship for the past three decades. The group long bristled at what they perceived as interference by the label, often taking digs at them on their releases. At the beginning of 2000, things at least appeared to be less tumultuous, as the group executive produced Hip-Hop 101 (2000), a compilation used to showcase Tommy Boy’s Black Label, a division that specialized in underground hip-hop. But with Mosaic Thump, they again seemed to be taking steps toward finding a new home.
Much of the first two installments—including 2001’s AOI: Bionix—were more or less recorded concurrently, while the third part was supposed to be “some DJ shit,” a mostly instrumental album showcasing the turntable skills of Maseo and his DJ friends. It was the original intention for all three albums to be released in the span of a year, but life and label politics interfered.
As it stands, Mosaic Thump was the group’s first album in four years, which at that point, was the longest they’d ever gone between projects. While still sounding like a De La album, the group approached Mosaic Thump differently than their previous projects. The trio branched out, working with a wide array of outside collaborators both in front of the mic and behind the boards.
Mosaic Thump arguably features the most guest artists across all of De La Soul’s albums. But while even in the early ’00s many artist collaborations sounded like “work for hire” deals, you can tell on Mosaic Thump that De La sat down and really worked with their collaborators, writing and structuring the songs together. The group tailors the sound of each collaborative track based on the artists that they work with, so that they sound like songs that could appear on their guests’ respective albums.
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De La worked with a larger array of outside producers on Mosaic Thump as well. The group had begun to move away from working with their mentor Prince Paul during the recording of their third album, Buhloone Mindstate (1993), often producing their own material. Though they produced the majority of Mosaic Thump on their own, making roughly half the beats themselves, they also enlist their fair share of outside beat creators. Some of these they’d previously worked with (Jay Dee), while others were talented beat-smiths on the upswing of their young careers (Rockwilder and Supa Dave West). They also employed beat-makers who were still new to the game at the time, such as Ad Lib and Def 2 U.
De La put a solid foot forward on Mosaic Thump with “Oooh,” the album’s first single. The track is as catchy as anything the group has put out, with Redman providing a superior hook and self-produced beat that mixes chopped portions of Lee Dorsey’s “The Greatest Love” with elements from Lalo Schifrin’s Enter the Dragon soundtrack and Fred Wesley and The JBs’ “Blow Your Head.”
On the mic, Dave provides the best fart joke to appear on a hip-hop track, as he raps, “Now when I’m swimming through the joint, I put the funk on hold / ’Cause if you don’t, you’ll see the bubbles come up.” Meanwhile, Pos continues to frame his raps in the most cleverly straightforward manner possible, rapping, “I had a name for making paper since papier-mâché / Now my dollar coins join pounds of yen for play / While you broke n****s reach drunk much quicker / You don’t make enough bread to soak up all your liquor.”
Many of the best entries on Mosaic Thump sport a light, summer-weather feel. After largely serious albums like Buhloone Mindstate and Stakes Is High (1996), they shift gears back to more of an upbeat backdrop. Though the innocence of 3 Feet High and Rising are long gone, the world-wearier incarnation of the group still knows how to enjoy themselves. One such example is “Thru Ya City,” where Pos and Dave detail how the dopeness of their music has given them the opportunity to travel the world and enjoy its delights. A then-ascendant J Dilla produces the track, manipulating portions of Cheri’s “Come With To Me (To My Island),” while DV Alias Khrist croons a reinterpreted version of “Summer In the City.”
“All Good,” the album’s second single, also sports a similar musical mood, belying lyrics that describe love that has curdled. The song was originally supposed to feature OutKast, but after the duo were unavailable, De La decided to hold down the verses on their own. They recruited Chaka Khan to sing the hook, and she takes the opportunity cut loose and have some fun. Longtime friend and collaborator Busta Rhymes shows up on the Rockwilder produced “I.C. Y’all.” With its pulsing and stuttering keys, the song has all of the sonic trappings that go with a late ’90s/early ’00s track by the Dungeon Dragon.
De La does provide some vintage introspective raps for those looking for commentary on the state of hip-hop and the group’s place in it. Dave and Pos are mostly interested in educating listeners as to how they’ve been able to persevere as iconoclasts, while those who follow trends have fallen to the wayside. The two nimbly dance on “View,” dropping single lines between sprinklings of piano, reflecting on their longevity.
“Foolin” is a more deliberate and jazzier track, featuring a sample of Quincy Jones’ “If I Ever Lose This Heaven.” The song features the pair’s best lyrical performance on Mosaic Thump. While Dave states, “I stack words make cats bruise they neck tissue / Stay pertinent to the issues,” Pos boasts, “Arranged produced my slang’s obtuse / But some distort, telling stories like Mother-the-Goose.”
Pos takes an even more aggressive approach on “Declaration,” his up-tempo solo track. De La doesn’t record many exhibitions in lyrical showmanship, but this is one of the group’s best, as he raps, “I came specifically, to fracture your ability / To grandstand anywhere next to me / This is the year, when the true better man / Keeps the cheddar and writes to his destiny.”
As mentioned earlier, Mosaic Thump features a few posse cuts. Both cases feature ample vocal interplay between Pos and Dave and their guests. “My Writes” is an energetic track where De La bounces off of Xzibit and Tash & J-Ro of Tha Alkaholiks, each delivering a pair of brief verses, backed up by Scratch (then affiliated with The Roots) on the beatbox.
On “Squat!”, De La collaborates with Ad-Rock and Mike D of the Beastie Boys. Across their storied career, the Beasties have used their music as a vehicle to promote reverence for hip-hop’s old school, and they’re ideal partners for a jam that pays tribute to the genre’s late ’70s/early ’80s era. All four emcees continuously pass the mic around, feeding off each other’s energy, kicking routines reminiscent of the Cold Crush Brothers and their ilk. “Words From the Chief Rocker” serves as an apt post-script, with the legendary Busy Bee kicking a quick verse over the “Down By Law” break.
Another area where De La has long excelled is recording laid back “club jams,” made for the small hours of the evening and early mornings. The group collaborates with producer Supa Dave West on “Copa (Cabanga),” which functions as an updated version of “4 More” from Stakes Is High. “With Me” remains a personal favorite on the album, as Pos and Dave kick some smooth game over a beat built from both the vocal and instrumental versions of Marvin Gaye’s “After the Dance.”
Mosaic Thump ends on strong note, with a pair of songs exploring different types of violence. “The Art of Getting Jumped” is almost self-explanatory, as Pos and Dave dispense advice on how to avoid beatdowns while out at the club, warning of ruffians (of all genders) roving the venues looking for trouble. They even draw from personal experience, as Pos recounts that “my Black ass almost got pulled off stage just for holding it down on the mic,” referring to a time when labelmate Treach of Naughty By Nature tried to yoke him up based on some misinterpreted lyrics from the intro to Stakes Is High.
They seamlessly flow into “U Don’t Wanna B.D.S.” (as in “Bust Dat Shit”), a solo track by Maseo. Maseo is one of the better rapping DJs out there, but sometime during the ’90s he largely stopped rhyming, only picking up the mic sporadically. After demonstrating that he still had solid emceeing skills on “Words and Verbs” from the Hip-Hop 101 compilation, he again effectively holds down the album’s final track. Mase delivers a tirade against phony gangstas carrying guns to boost their street credibility. Extensive ad-libs by certified hard rock Freddie Foxxx at the beginning and end of the song prove thoroughly entertaining.
De La released the second part of the planned trilogy, AOI: Bionix a little over a year later. However, the third installment still has yet to see the light of day (if it was ever completed) as Tommy Boy folded soon after. Though the three-part endeavor was never completed, Mosaic Thump served as a strong opening statement, confirming the group was not getting long in the tooth, and was extremely capable of going shoulder to shoulder with any group or crew rocking mics at the time.
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