The world of De La Soul is one of color and curiosity. The iconic trio has built an undeniable discography with their dedication to stretching the genre of Hip-hop to its furthest extent at its core. Recently, De La Soul’s discography was finally published to streaming services for our ears to relive the mystical lyrical dexterity of one of the most influential hip-hop acts of all time. Cycling back through the group’s albums has sparked somewhat of a second life for their careers, although their impact was never in question. While classics like Stakes Is High and 3 Feet High and Rising were the first albums everyone rushed to and sorted into their playlists, it’s fair to say the trio of Posdnuos, Trugoy the Dove, and Maseo have built a damn-near perfect discography. The reissuing of these albums has reignited the De La Soul craze and unearthed timeless music that was limited to physical copies for decades and their third album, Buhloone Mindstate, seems to finally be getting its overdue praise.
Buhloone Mindstate was released on September 21, 1993, thirty years to the day. It marks the third studio album for De La Soul and their last working with the eclectic producer Prince Paul. Mentioning De La Soul with bringing up Price Paul in the same breath is criminal. The producer aided in birthing the refreshing sample flips and jazz-influenced sound closely associated with De La, and their third and final album together sees them diving head-first into the “jazz rap” style they helped cultivate. Buhloone Mindstate is the most vibrant and bold of the trio’s first three releases, showing clear signs of maturity with a dense tracklist of multi-colored jazz arrangements to back it up. The album has the trio collaborating with legends from across the genres of jazz and hip-hop with contributions by Guru, Biz Markie, and Maceo Parker. While Buhloone Mindstate didn’t explode onto the scene with a mountain of sales, the album was praised by critics and fans across the board.
On both the production and writing side, Buhloone Mindstate shows creative leaps for De La Soul and Prince Paul. On one hand, you have the mystifying saxophone work of Parker to bring the textures of live instrumentation to the otherworldly sample work of the group’s signature sound. The album’s loose feel comes from the jazz influence, by allowing their love of the genre to be the centerpiece of the work they were able to find a new side of their creativity and welcome in guests like Japanese rappers Scha Dara Parr and Takagi Kan. On the other hand, the trio has never written better. For the first time in their careers, you can hear them get personal on “Long Island Wildin’” and pen some of the most potent verses of their career on “Area”. The latter features a vocal appearance from De La member Maseo, whose vocals were noticeably sparse on the album.
This album feels like the album De La Soul always dreamed of making. By trusting their limitless creativity they brought their loftiest ideas to life and found a way to mix their own style with the plethora of influences that helped shape the LP. 30 years later, Buhloone Mindstate feels as refreshing as the first time you heard it. De La Soul crafted a smooth, almost psychedelic sound that saw them evolving from their first two albums without falling victim to artistic repetitiveness. With the help of a rainbow of features, De La Soul’s third album is the most ambitious of the Prince Paul era and birthed some of the best music of their career.
