De La Soul : Cabin In the Sky
If you weren’t told this was a grief record, you’d never know. De La Soul has a remarkable capacity to deliver a jazz funeral, ebullient and bouncy like their great records, such that it really does feel like a celebration of Dave Jolicoeur aka Trugoy, the dearly departed third MC of the legendary group, rather than an understandable but perhaps easier grief record. Cabin in the Sky isn’t scared of exploring the depths of those pains; see “A Quick 16 for Mama,” where Pos and Maseo are joined by Killer Mike delivering fast bars in honor of their now-passed mothers. Something capable of being so heavy, a fact anyone who’s lost a parent can confirm, instead is joyous and shines with love. That De La chooses this is not a great surprise given their earlier records, but ever sense De La Soul is Dead, they’ve always carried darkness in the pocket, just enough gravel to scatter over the bright chalk sidewalk drawings they rap to make you conscious of the presence of color. The bars here are serious, the lingering darkness coming in the severity of the raps, but against a joyous and celebratory tone.
They sidestep a common error that a lot of elder statesmen especially of alternative or backpacker hip-hop perform, which is taking on younger rappers for features in an often ill-advised two-way rub, credibility going in both directions. De La keeps it simple with the features, though there are plenty; figures like Black Thought, Common, Bilal and Killer Mike are fellow classmen or at least rappers of the same milieu, all people who you can credibly believe had a relationship with Dave that they too mourn. But check “Will Be,” a secondary intro track four pieces in, which bounces with Motown joy like peak Jackson 5. I say this as someone who just reentered talk therapy after years off: their ability to produce such a positive and warm record in honor of a departed legend is genuinely awe-inspiring.
The interpolation of Trugoy verses recorded before he passed is almost uncannily smooth. We knew they were assembling material for a record around the time he passed, but it certainly wasn’t a jazz funeral record. Yet they way they fold him in, always loving, never gauche, you would have believed he was behind the boards guiding the tracks. The euphoria of this is very real to me; as I write this, I’m just walking out the other side of a depressive tunnel, one that sees me taking up talk therapy again plus a med change. I don’t mention that for self-aggrandizement but to make a concrete point about the kind of euphoric intelligence that underscores and, hell, overscores the whole record. The flecks of darkness of their post-2000 output alchemically blends with the bounce and brightness of their earliest works. This is the kind of rap that makes you love rap, the kind of hip-hop that makes you want to buy a baseball cap, a backpack and a skateboard. This is no hate to the vibrancy of the new school. But knowing the old guard are capable of producing this kind of warm insight in the midst of modern revolutions helps map out the incredible robustness of the modern hip-hop landscape.
Label: Mass Appeal
Year: 2025
Similar Albums:
