One of the most beloved hip hop groups of all-time from Amityville, New York consisting of Posdnuos, Dave & DJ Maseo a.k.a. De La Soul. Their first few full-lengths 3 Feet High & Rising, De La Soul is Dead, Buhloone Mindstate & stakes is high under Tommy Boy Records would all become some of the greatest of the late 80s & early/mid 90s. Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump & Art Official Intelligence 2: Bionix were both solid although I wouldn’t call them classics like their earlier material, but The Grind Date might be the most underrated entry in their discography. 1st Serve came out during my sophomore year of high school through Duck Down Music Inc. & it was a fun conceptual listen, putting out & the Anonymous Nobody… under their own label AOI Records in the summer of 2016. Dave unfortunately passed away in 2023 of congestive heart failure & he still appears posthumously throughout De La’s 10th album, which marks their debut for Mass Appeal Records serving as the 6th & penultimate installment of their Legend Has It series.
After the “Cabin Talk” intro performed by Giancarlo Esposito from the Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul & The Boys/Gen V franchises, the first song “YUHDONTSTOP” beautifully opens up with the group assuring that the magic will forever come in 3 whereas “Sunny Storms” produced by DJ Premier takes a symphonic boom bap route instrumentally slowing down the sample he used during the final verse explaining there’s no need to grieve over the old you. “Good Health” keeps it dusty thanks to Supa Dave West for an ode to staying healthy in light of Plug 2’s death leading into “Will Be” colorfully talking about nobody stopping them.
Pete Rock flips both “7 Years” by The Impressions & “Uphill Peace of Mind” by Kid Dynamite during the lead single “The Package” for Posdnuos & Dave to trade verses with one another rightfully boasting their status amongst the finest in all of Long Island while “A Quick 16 for Mama” featuring Killer Mike talks about their respective mothers over a soulful Nottz beat. “Just How It Is (Sometimes)” turns up the funk so they can explain the way life goes occasionally until “Cruel Summers Bring FIRE LIFE!!” samples “Everybody Loves the Sunshine” by the late Roy Ayers fighting for love.
“Day in the Sun (Gettin’ Wit U)” featuring Q-Tip reaches the halfway point with the 2nd & final single talking about another day beginning with them having nothing to do while “Run It Back!!” featuring Nas joins forces over more sampling to get in their battle rap bags lyrically. “Different World” soulfully talks about being in a place in their career where they’re no longer tasting the grit that they were craving almost 4 decades earlier while “Patty Cake” heads for a conscious direction thematically over a soothing Jake One instrumental.
Meanwhile on “The Silent Life of a Truth”, we have Premier hooking up a gospel sample cautioning that parents will still push the harsh realities away from children to make sure the fairy tales stay in place & to stay vigilant while “EN EFF” featuring Black Thought jazzily suggests not to make them laugh because muhfuckas be funny out here. “Believe in Him” turns up the gospel influences a lot higher talking about spirituality while “Yours” featuring Common & Slick Rick advises to not to be left astray.
“Palm of His Hands” kicks off the final leg of Cabin in the Sky with some sumptuous pianos talking about not wanting to get any older & the truth being a little heavy to lift up at times while the title track remembers Trugoy the Dove on top of a Supa Dave beat that kinda reminds me of some of A Tribe Called Quest’s material. “Don’t Push Me” finishes De La’s debut for Mass Appeal with a bittersweet self-produced Dave solo joint homaging “The Message” by Grandmaster Flash & the Furious 5 during the hook.
As we prepare for Nas & Premier to end the Legend Has It series in 3 weeks, De La Soul’s return after almost a decade could most likely become my favorite of theirs since The Grind Date & rivals Mobb Deep’s final album Infinite for the right of being called the best entry in this whole run Mass Appeal Records has been on. Posdnuos & DJ Maseo not on oh honor the legacy of Trugoy a.k.a. Dave, but they extending that tribute much further to all the loved ones they’ve lost along the way 24 hours after what would’ve been the late Phife Dawg’s born day.
Score: 9/10