De La Soul, Pete Rock, und Hannibal Buress

Made up of Posdnuos, Dave and Maseo, De La Soul’s debut album, “3 Feet High and Rising,” released on March 3rd, 1989 became a critical smash hit in the hip-hop genre. They became prominent members of the Native Tongues Posse along with A Tribe Called Quest, Black Sheep, Queen Latifah the Jungle Brothers and more. It was also the single “Me Myself and I” that became a huge hit, further cementing the group’s popularity. Unfortunately, the sixties pop group, The Turtles, sued De La Soul for using a sample from their 1969 hit “You Shows Me” for the interlude track “Transmitting Live from Mars”, despite them not even writing the original song. All of this aside, the album made it to #24 in the Billboard Music Charts. It has been dubbed as “One of the greatest albums ever made” by the NME, “The Sgt. Pepper of hip-hop” by the Village Voice. It was also #5 on the top 100 albums of the century, according to Spex.

Their following album, “De La Soul Is Dead”, was released on May 13th 1991. It is highly regarded in the hip-hop community as a classic. The album’s title is in reaction to the group being labelled hippies following its debut release. The album cover, a broken pot of daisies, signals the end of the D.A.I.S.Y age. It has been labelled as edgier than it’s first release. Despite not selling as many units as the previous album, it quickly became a cult classic. The Source magazine listed the album as one of their top 100 hip hop albums of all time, stating that “its true genius is rarely understood”.

Throughout their career, they evolved and transcended, stylistically and musically. There were moments on the album, “Buhloone Mindstate” that proved that the band had matured. “I Be Blowin” was a departure as the track was an instrumental featuring saxophone playing by Maceo Parker. “Breakadawn” featured a sample of Michael Jackson’s “I Can’t Help It” and Smokey Robinson’s “Quiet Storm”. Each album that they released, would gain the kind of critical reputation that would solidify its place as one of the most “influential albums” or “best hip-hop album”.

After a few years out, they made a comeback with their album “Plug 1 & Plug 2 Present…First Serve.” It was in collaboration with French DJ duo Chokolate and Khalid, released on April 2nd 2012.

The son of a part-time DJ, who spun records to members of the Wembley cricket club in The Bronx, Pete Rock met his future recording partner CL Smooth during high school. Rock’s initial excursion into the hip-hop community came when he became a recognised DJ on New York WBLS radio show alongside Marley Marl. Known for using double copies of every record, allowing him to cut up and mix every track, it wasn’t long before Pete Rock became a respected and popular DJ. With the success of his DJ career Rock moved on to producing in the early 1990s and in 1991 collaborated with CL Smooth on the EP “All Souled Out”. The EP was well-received by critics and fans alike and led to the subsequent release “Mecca and the Soul Brother”, which was regarded as one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time.

The duo then became the first act to sign with Elektra Records, managed by Eddie F of Heavy D and The Boyz, and Pete Rock proved himself as one of the three “Untouchables” producers alongside Eddie F and Nevelle Hodge. In addition to releasing his own material, Pete Rock produced for some of the most respected names in hip hop including Run-DMC, Nas, Jeru the Damaja, Public Enemy, and The Notorious B.I.G. Like its predecessor, Rock and CL Smooth’s follow-up “The Main Ingredient” earned critical acclaim from the musical press and a ever-growing fan base. After the release however the duo split and Rock went on to form the group INI in 1995, with the talents of Grap Luva, Rob-O and I Love H.I.M. The group’s debut was the 12” classic “Fakin’ Jax”, followed by the full length “Center of Attention”, which remained unreleased until 2003.

Pete Rock’s solo ambitions were realised in 1998 with the release of his debut full-length “Soul Survivor”. The rapper was subsequently dropped by the label Loud Records, however after signing with Rapster/BBE released “Petestrumentals” a collection of largely unreleased beats and instrumentals. In 2004 Rock released the follow-up to “Soul Survivor” entitled “Soul Survivor II”, which featured guest contributions from RZA, Talib Kweli and CL Smooth. The album marked the beginning of a relationship with Wu-Tang Clan, and in 2006 Rock produced three tracks for Ghostface’s “Fishscale” album. Rock’s next solo album “NY’s Finest” was issued in early 2008, earning favourable reviews and featuring the likes of Kool & The Gang, Redman, and Raekwon, followed by “Monumentals”, which appeared in April 2011 in collaboration with the rap group Smif-N-Wessun.