{"id":143783,"date":"2025-11-19T23:30:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T23:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/143783\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T23:30:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T23:30:08","slug":"cabin-in-the-sky-review-we-need-more-joyous-hip-hop-like-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/143783\/","title":{"rendered":"Cabin in the Sky review \u2014 we need more joyous hip-hop like this"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 1989 a trio from Long Island, New York, released an album that changed the course of hip-hop history. Three Feet High and Rising by De La Soul rejected the gangster rap boasts and bling obsessions dominating the genre at the time for childlike surrealism, suburban humour and calls for love and understanding. <\/p>\n

And they did it while sampling the smooth funk of Hall & Oates, the polished rock of Steely Dan and even a jazzy soundtrack to a children\u2019s cartoon teaching kids their times tables called Multiplication Rock. <\/p>\n

The late Eighties and early Nineties<\/a> may now be remembered chiefly for acid house and the Manchester renaissance of the Stone Roses and the Happy Mondays, but De La Soul\u2019s rap revolution was just as important.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Read more music reviews, interviews and guides on what to listen to next<\/a><\/p>\n

It paved the way for Beck, Damon Albarn\u2019s Gorillaz and plenty of other positive-minded souls who wanted to cut and paste from the history of popular music and make something new. <\/p>\n

As is so often the way with true innovators \u2014 see also the Velvet Underground \u2014 De La Soul never became the huge band they should have been, in part because sampling everyone from Liberace to Johnny Cash without clearing it first will lead to blindingly massive legal problems. <\/p>\n

There were more albums of varying quality, but when the founder member Trugoy the Dove, aka David Jolicoeur, died in 2023, it seemed like the journey was over. But now comes their first album in nine years and it returns to the playful sample-laden style that made De La Soul so great in the first place. <\/p>\n

\u2022 The best albums of 2025 so far<\/a><\/p>\n

To an extent, the album is a tribute to Jolicoeur, with any remaining tracks he recorded before his death augmented by contributions from the surviving members Vincent Mason and Kelvin Mercer. \u201cOften real true soldiers don\u2019t get the shine that they should,\u201d on Yuhdontstop, is a summation of the De La Soul philosophy, on which rich orchestra and funky drum samples form the backing for a tale of staying true to yourself, whatever happens, up to and including the death of your friend and band member. Elsewhere comes joyous hip-hop of the type you rarely hear any more, from the brassy blasts of The Package to the children\u2019s story meets symphonic soul good cheer of Day in the Sun. <\/p>\n

De La Soul are enough of a legendary act to attract all manner of guests, Killer Mike from Run the Jewels and Yukimi Nagano from the Swedish group Little Dragon among them, but in the main, the band are paying tribute to their own legacy and reflecting on everything that has happened. <\/p>\n

Twenty tracks does prove a bit much and a spoken word intro to the album goes on for a very long three and a half minutes, but otherwise this is a cool, funky, welcome return to De La Soul\u2019s goofy world, in which all manner of throwaway ideas mask a wisdom and positivity that hip-hop has not always been known for. It\u2019s good to have them back. (Mass Appeal)
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