De La Soul

If LL Cool J's most recent album seemed to prove hip-hop wouldn't allow its veteran stars to age gracefully, this is the rebuttal. Largely MIA since 2001, De La Soul still has seen growth to its reputation as patron saint of the burgeoning hip-hop underground. So get past the first couple of tracks on The Grind Date, whose anger at the way the game is now being played -- "Y'all care anymore about this hip-hop, man?" asks "Much More" -- leads to an uncharacteristic spray of cuss words. The majority of the Long Island trio's seventh album is a more dignified -- and entertaining -- rebuke of the crassness that now dominates the mainstream.

De La sets Diddy straight on The Grind Date.

Related Content

• Akinyele Puts His Money In Lollypops: This Week In The Music Biz
  May 18, 2012
• How Bizarre: How the Hell Are These Songs All 15 Years Old?
  May 4, 2012
• Tears In Heaven: The 10 Best Songs To Come Out Of Tragedy
  April 4, 2012
• Chase Budinger's Painfully Awkward Dialogue with P-Diddy at the NBA Slam Dunk Contest (w/ VIDEO)
  February 28, 2012
• Ain't Nobody Better: The LL Cool J Valentine's Day Playlist
  February 8, 2012

More About

• De La Soul
• LL Cool J
• Sean Combs
• Hip-Hop and Rap
• Conscious Rap

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Music Newsletter: Keep your thumb on the local music scene with music features, additional online music listings and show picks. We'll also send special ticket offers and music promotions available only to our Music Newsletter subscribers.

Privacy Policy Cancel Continue

Fittingly, the underground that De La helped nurture all those years returns the favor on The Grind Date. Producers like Jay Dee, 9th Wonder and Madlib, who oversaw the clattering, antimaterialistic first single, "Shopping Carts," provide the group with left-of-center beats to match the thoughtful meditations on hip-hop culture and De La's place in it. "No disrespect to Diddy," remarks "Come on Down" good-naturedly, "Just settin' it straight." What's missing, it's not surprising, is the spark of genius that originally made the group great. But The Grind Date shows De La Soul is far from ground down.