Is Dead

De La Soul | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 13, 1991)
• Original Release Date: 1991
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Tommy Boy
• ASIN: B000000HHR
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (62 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #30,763 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Intro

2. Oodles Of O's

3. Talkin' Bout Hey Love

4. Pease Porridge

5. Skit 1

6. Johnny's Dead Aka Vincent Mason (Live From The BK Lounge)

7. A Roller Skating Jam Named 'Saturdays'

8. WRMS' Dedication To The Bitty

9. Bitties In The BK Lounge

10. Skit 2

11. My Brother's A Basehead

12. Let, Let Me In

13. Afro Connections At A Hi 5 (In The Eyes Of The Hoodlum)

14. Rap De Rap Show

15. Millie Pulled A Pistol On Santa

16. Who Do U Worship?

17. Skit 3

18. Kicked Out The House

19. Pass The Plugs

20. Not Over Till The Fat Lady Plays The Demo

See all 27 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

De La Soul burned out on their own hype fast, and their dark, strange second album is a counter-blast to their image and hip-hop culture: perverse, dissatisfied, sometimes brilliant, sometimes out of control. Occasionally it seems mean-spirited--the single "Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)" finds them grousing about getting deluged by demo tapes, and "Kicked Out The House" is a nasty (if very funny) parody of hip-house. But no one's ever made a rap album that sounds like this. Sickly out-of-tune loops drift in and out; songs derail themselves with loud sneers, or give way to bizarre dialogues; Posdnuos and Trugoy chant together like the words have lost all meaning. The concept that ties the disc together---an imaginary radio station called WRMS--gives it an extra kick. --Douglas Wolk

Product Description

CD

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 56 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars hip hop classic of the first order! January 29, 2004

By Campbell Roark

Format:Audio CD

Here it is- the album that got me into hip hop, summer of '94. This album has it all- thematic flow, classic rhymes, unbelievable (as in you will not believe it) production (damn it's dense, almost Paul's Boutique dense), smart-ass silly skits, and an unerring ear for samples and references... It Showcases Prince Paul at the height of his abilities. This is one of those albums that knocks you over.

My second semester in college I even used the "Hey, How ya doin, sorry ya can't get through" line as my answering machine message... yeah, well, it seemed clever at the time...

As an angry little punk rock kid from the early nineties, I possessed an deep-seated knee-jerk twinge of 'uhg.' to hip hop in general- This album changed that. I still have the tape that I *aherm* 'borrowed' from my girlfriend that summer. Before I was into KRS-ONE, before I could tell the 'funky drummer' beat from the 'Sing a Simple Song' beat, before Paul's Boutique, before ATCQ, before Wu-Tang and Digable Planets and all my indie hip hop faves from the college years, before all of them there is De La Soul is Dead.

I'm sure that one day I'll be old and senile, unable to recall my grandchildren's names correctly, and under my breath I'll be wheezing the back and forth insults/rhymes from "Biddies," and the "Here in frogland, we always eat our porridge cuz it keeps us frogs real peaceful like," from "Peas Porridge."

Classic golden age hip hop. But it remains to be said that De La (unlike everyone else) have not put out one lame album. Not ONE. Damn.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars THE BEST HIP HOP ALBUM EVER? July 5, 2000

By Stopheles

Format:Audio CD

No album in any genre really sounds like DE LA SOUL IS DEAD, or even WORKS like it (mmmaybe THE WHO SELL OUT is a good comparison)...This is the first and possibly the ONLY hip hop album to present itself not as a collection of songs/singles but as a complete 70-plus-minute work. In other words: Not every song on this album is exactly a "hit," and in fact some of them really only stand in the context of the complete album...but those tracks ("Johnny", "Who Do You Worship?") flesh the catchier songs out into what reads, much as I hate to use the term, as a "concept album" of the highest order.

And let's not ignore the incredible "singles" (not all of them released as such, but idenitfiably different from the skit-type tracks) like "Pass the Peas," "Ring Ring," "A Roller Skating Jam named Saturdays" and the INCREDIBLE game of dozens that makes up "Bitties in the BK Lounge." Prince Paul and Maseo produced the first hip hop you could HUM along to, and paved the way for the introduction of actual melody into hip hop.

Of course, De La Soul didn't make too much money off this masterpiece. Pop is like that. I've always looked at this as the gem that THE LOW END THEORY is seen as...no dissing Tribe, but De La's ambition seems to alienate a fanbase who just want a solid collection of singles (ala Tribe)...

When I've DJ'ed and put in anything off this album, I get "WOW! " responses from kids who've slept on this record. Don't let yourself be among the ranks of the ignorant. This is an essential album, not only for hip hop heads, but for fans of popular music. Almost ten years (!) later it sounds as uniquely challenging as it did when it dropped. Hip hop still hasn't caught up.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars De La soul may be the most uncompromising group in hip hop. July 20, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Audio CD

De La Soul is Dead is one of the most quirky albums you'll ever hear. While most people credit it as being the album that started the skit movement, De la's underlying message is the most critical element to come from this album. First off, the beats on this album are tight. De La has never be a group to bowl you over with their lyrical content, but their lyrics and message are more than satisfy your cravings for verbal content. On "Millie pulled a pistol on Santa" Plug's 1 and 2 tell the story of a girl who is sexually abused by her father. The beat here is phat and if you were down with the Soul in 1991, then you probably heard the vintage remix. "Hey hey Ring Ring" is the album's jewel, as De la tells the toils of being in the record business and having the phone ring off the hook. Not to be outdone is "Fanatics of the B Word" which features Dres of the Black Sheep. The beat is symphonic and the chorus will have you wondering why it took you 8 years to purchase the album. The skits on this album, working in conjunction with the tracks convey the message that what De La did on the first album will not work in the future, hence the title. The first album boasted songs of peace and unity amongst a growing hip hop nation. There was no speaking of shooting the next man or making sexual advances at the neighbor's 15 year old daughter. It was just an album with 3 teenagers expressing their affinity towards hip-hop. During the skits De La's album bounces around amoungst a group of kids. If the voices sound familiar one of them is Mr. Lawnge (long) of Black sheep and P A Mase (Plug 3). As the tape bounces around The kids critique the album (for the most part dissing it). At the end of the album the kids throw the tape in the garbage where they initially found it. If you don't have this album I would say that on a scale of 1-10 on the must-have-list its an 8.5. De La was very prophetic on this album, because if you follow hip hop then you know that very rarely do you get the feeling that artists make records because they enjoy the music. They may enjoy shooting video's or the money or the women, but they don't enjoy sitting down crafting lyrical themes, content, and records. Ironically enough, even though De La is "Dead", it was this realization of the change in hip-hop that helped De La stay De La. They never changed their formula for success and as a result they continue to thrive and remain successful.