Few albums of late are more aptly or urgently titled than the Amityville, Long Island hip-hop trio De La Soul's new release "Stakes is High."
The stakes are high indeed. After bursting on the East Coast hip-hop scene in 1989 with the critically lauded, platinum-selling debut "3 Feet High and Rising," which mixed complex, hippie-inspired lyrics with zany beats, and following up with the 1991 gold record "De La Soul is Dead," in which they angrily told their listeners that they were about more than daisies and peace signs, De La Soul found their very significance in hip-hop questioned after the release of 1993's "Buhloone Mind State."
The irony is that, despite the album's sub-par sales, the trio's firm refusal to adopt the then-reigning gangsta rap style made "Buhloone" the best record that nobody heard.
Featuring tight, jazzy beats, enigmatic lyrics and collaborations with James Brown sax man Maceo Parker, rapper Biz Markie and Japanese rappers SDP and Tagaki Kan, De La expanded the parameters of hip-hop with "Buhloone."
The trio of Posdnuos, Trugoy the Dove and D.J. Maseo found their former fame and record contract under review and had to fight for one more chance to redeem themselves.
The resulting product proves that De La Soul was well worth waiting for.
Having abandoned longtime producer Prince Paul in favor of producing most tracks themselves, the new album features brighter, more relaxed beats, lilting basslines, and the usual thinking man's lyrics.
Laden with numerous James Brown and early rap samples, "Stakes is High" is the trio's most soulful album yet, and even features appearances by the rhythm and blues crooners the Jazzy Fat Nastees and Zhane on the R&B parody "Baby Baby Baby Baby Ooh Baby" and the nod to the trio's past, "4 More."
Yet beneath the laid-back beats lie lyrics that criticize the materialistic character of much of today's hip-hop.
Posdnuos cynically describes the current hip-hop malaise on the title track, in which he raps, "It's about love of cars, love of funds/ Loving to love mad sex, loving to love guns,/ Love for opposites, love for fame and wealth,/ Love for the fact that you no longer love yourself."
Trugoy joins in on "Itzsoweezee," attacking the recent "mafioso" style adopted by artists such as the Wu-Tang Clan and Nas, retorting, "Why you acting all spicy and shiesty?/ The only Italians you knew was icies."
There are also the requisite tributes to the trio's New York home on "Wonce Again Long Island" and "Long Island Degrees."
Fans of previous De La Soul albums will find much to like here, as the group's trademark wit and mellow attitude remains.
Meanwhile hip-hop fans new to the group will find less abstract, more accessible lyrics that parody current styles.
With danceable beats and self-described lyrics that "leave lasting impressions like cuts to flesh," De La Soul attempts to point hip-hop in a new direction. With the release of "Stakes is High," the stakes have risen for all other artists.
