

Long negotiations to come to an agreement were unsuccessful. In response, Tommy Boy postponed the deal and announced their discography would not be available on streaming services as previously scheduled. The announcement prompted the group to begin a “Tommy Boycott” campaign, due to the fact that they would receive only 10% of revenue generated by streams, with the other 90% going to Tommy Boy. Over three decades in and still going strong, De La Soul easily is one of the most consistent acts in Hip Hop ever and they are truly Hip Hop’s elite.Ĭontroversy arose in early 2019 after Tommy Boy Records announced that the catalog of its formerly signed group De La Soul would finally be made available on streaming services soon (after streaming was already long-delayed by clearance issues related to the albums). All of their first four albums are classics in their own right, this one arguably is the most mature and confident effort out of the four.

Stakes Is High is another De La Soul masterpiece. Stress: The Extinction Agenda is an all-around brilliant album that should not be overlooked. If you’ve ever wondered why many consider Pharoahe Monch a GOAT emcee – study this album and you will know. Stress: The Extinction Agenda is one of the most underrated albums released in the 1990s – this truly is a one-of-a-kind kind of album. The mostly self-produced beats on Stress: The Extinction Agenda are dope as f too – dark and menacing, but jazzy at the same time: musically this album comes off as a hybrid of the sounds of A Tribe Called Quest and Wu-Tang Clan – combining the best of both worlds. Some of the tightest and most inventive rhymes you’ll ever hear are on this album, with the conceptual gem “Stray Bullet” being a particular lyrical highlight. Whether they are storytelling, philosophizing, joking, bragging, being conscious, or simply throwing out battle raps – their lyrical performances are top-tier in every aspect – there is NOTHING cliche or run-of-the-mill about the lyricism on Stress: The Extinction Agenda. Both emcees manage to step up their already considerable game from their debut, they come with phenomenal rhymes and complex flows – bar for bar lyrical Hip Hop doesn’t get much better than this. Pharoahe Monch is and has always been the better rapper of the two, but Prince Po is perfectly able to hold his own – which is incredible enough. In terms of wordplay, flow, delivery, AND content – this is the gold standard. Some albums from this era sound dated now but Stress: The Extinction Agenda sounds as fresh today as it did on the day it was released – the mark of a true classic.

This album was way ahead of its time in vision and execution. Prince Po and Pharoahe Monch come with unparalleled lyricism on this dark, dense, complicated, and intellectual album. They admirably succeeded in creating an album with similarities to the first album, while doing something completely different at the same time. Organized Konfusion - Stress: The Extinction Agenda (1994)įollowing their eponymous debut LP, Pharoahe Monch and Prince Po had a lot to live up to. This was the album (along with Jungle Brothers’ Straight Out The Jungle) that paved the way for acts like A Tribe Called Quest, The Pharcyde, Freestyle Fellowship, Digable Planets, and many others. De La Soul’s debut album was unlike anything Hip Hop had seen up to then, and while arguably all Hip Hop in the 1980s can be called ‘ experimental’ because the genre was still in its infancy, 3 Feet High And Rising deserves to labeled thus for sure. Clever wordplay, deft rhymes, playful production, positivity, and fun: 3 Feet High And Rising represented a new direction for Hip Hop, clearly a reaction to cliches already emerging in Hip Hop, even in its early years. This album introduced the skit to Hip Hop albums and although skits more often irritate than add value, on this album they work. The first four are classics, De La Soul’s debut 3 Feet High And Rising arguably the most important of them all.Įxperimental, innovative, and hugely influential – this cooperation between De La Soul and producer Prince Paul is a landmark album. One of the biggest travesties in Hip Hop streaming is the unavailability of De La Soul’s first six albums. De La Soul - 3 Feet High And Rising (1989)
