Condition: Used
DE LA SOUL - STAKES IS HIGH
Recording label:TOMMY BOY (TB730A )
USA
Year:1996
VG+ light marks ( listen)
Cover in shrink ( see pic)
A1 Stakes Is High (Album Version) ( Jay Dee)
A2 Stakes Is High (Instrumental) ) ( Jay Dee)
A3 Stakes Is High (A Cappella)
B1 The Bizness (Album Version)
Rap [Featuring] - Common Sense
B2 The Bizness (Clean Version)
Rap [Featuring] - Common Sense
B3 The Bizness (Instrumental)
De La Soul - Stakes is High ( Jay Dee )
dilla killed it with this one! one of the best beats ever!
The stakes are surely high in this day and age!!! These lyrics have come to reality!!!!
De La Soul - The Stakes Is High
It's not an original criticism, and to be fair, most of the aforementioned rappers do actually posses some talent. But the fact of the matter is that a display of said talent will not necessarily sell records, while a pretty picture of what their talent could supposedly buy will. This is not new, and it happens on various degrees. And while it may be at its most obvious right now, this commercial state of affairs has been a reality for upwards of eight years within the broad parameters of "the rap scene." Music is being dumbed down because audiences are lazy, musicians become lazy to match audiences, and pop music basically becomes a lie. The best and most biting indictment of the Versace-queen fake rapper actually came in 1996; the first and last word on what it means to be a real MC, a real artist, and a real contributor to hip-hop in the face of material wealth and cheap thrills was issued by De La Soul in the form of "Stakes is High." In hip-hop, every album should be a mission statement or a call to arms. This is both. Prince Paul is gone completely for the first time in De La's career, but familiar hands man the production as De La themselves craft tracks with the likes of Skeff Anselm and Jay Dee to further the Native Tongues' sound. The beats are raw and organic, subtle yet heavy. De La Soul has always been called unique, so it makes sense that the sound of telephone buttons carry the melody during "4 More" and unusual samples are used throughout the album, but the beats are predominantly rooted in soft keyboard backgrounds and deep, natural drums. "Stakes is High" could have had a drummer, the beats sound that alive. From the bottom up, "Stakes" has a comfortable sound that is deceptively complex. The samples are carefully chosen and sparingly used, creating a decidedly less-is-more, no-gloss sonic statement. This would still be an important record without vocals, and to outshine these beats is damn near impossible, and no group more consistently does the impossible than De La Soul. This is a lyrical record, first and foremost. De La made music that is as complex as its MCs are, full of references and painstakingly crafted lines while always on the beat, but the tracks are subdued just enough to let the lyrics take their deserved center stage. Indeed, "Stakes is High" carries its message most fluently through the capable tongues of Trugoy the Dove and Posdnuos. I'm a biased fan, but this album deserves to be a contender for the best lyrical showing of any artist or group, EVER.
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