De La Extras pt. 1

Handsome Boy Modeling School (feat. De La Soul): "If it Wasn't For You"
From White People (Atlantic, 2004)
De La Soul: "Sweet Dreams"
From More Supa Sweet Stakes, Baby (Tommy Boy, 1996)
De La Soul: "Speed Limit"
From Stimulated Vol. 1 (Stimulated/Loud, 2001)

It's great to hear positive buzz about De La Soul again. For a while I really thought Stakes is High would be their last solid effort in the LP format. But even though I wasn't really feeling the Art Official series too much, the brothers Plug sprinkled the faithful with some worthwhile oddities and side tracks over the last several years. Here's the first of two sets of cuts you may or may not have caught.

First up one of the most recent, from latest Handsome Boy Modeling School record. Sort of a rap Letters to Things and People, we've got Pos and Dave addressing some of the particulars that made them the supa emcees they are today. Kind of a nice answer to the question "What would De La Soul sound like if they were still working with Prince Paul?"

The next track brings up another question; "What the fuck is De La doing rapping about Joe's Apartment?" Actually, if you ignore the subject matter of the first verse, this is a dope little song. More evidence to the fact that these guys really didn't give a shit about what you thought, and just did what would be good for a laugh. Or I guess you could take the stance that they were aiming to pocket a quick buck, but judging from the song, and the fact that they included it on their own record apart from the movie soundtrack, I'm going with the former.

Another collaboration which reaches back to the Three Feet High era posse, "Speed Limit" hooks De La back up with Dante "The Scrub" Ross for a contribution to his Stimulated Vol. 1 comp. This one's on some summer shit. Despite the fact that it's called "Speed Limit," it always make me think of rolling around hella slow with the windows down, sipping on a big gulp or something. Tracks like this were made for the late afternoon. HOT!

More De La bizness in a couple, keep it locked.