Hip Hop

Top Ten Raps – De La Soul – I Am, I Be

 Three albums deep in the De La Soul catalog, they released a revelation
Buhloone Mindstate followed the trajectory while still building new levels of the De La canon, Whereas 3  Feet High was the intro of the Native Tounges and De La is Dead was the refutation of stardom, Buhloone was the declaration of the stance that they would not:
A: sell out
B: go pop

C: tolerate sucker emcees

Buhloone had the Plugs and Prince Paul hitting their stride.   The album was not as jovial as 3feet and yet not as dark as Dead the crew presented here were decidedly more mature, road weary, worldly and family focused.

This album has beautiful songs, ego trip, patti dooke ( awesome snippits from five heartbeats) and an amazing solo sax track by Maceo Parker(I Be Blowin) which fit perfectly into the jazz rap collaborations of the time.

My #6 on the list is I Am I Be which uses the same sample from I Be Blowin (Lou Rawls’ You’ve Made me so Very Happy).

I am I Be is a testament of self, Pos kicks it off…

“I am Posdnuos,
I be the new generation of slaves
here to make papes to buy record exec rakes…”

He goes on to praise his Moms and Daughter, throw some quick shade on black fraternities and address the fallout of the Native Tounges he then ends the verse with something that must have made his pops proud…

I” always walk the right side of the road
if I wasn’t making song I wouldn’t be a thug selling drugs
But a man with a plan
And if I was rug cleaner betcha Pos would have the cleanest rugs,
I Am.”
Side Note – Pos is better than your favorite rapper.

Trugoy goes on with his surrealist prose and I think he gives a shoutout to the Wu-Tang Clan (also from Long Island) but who knows.

“Lickshot with my Wu catch the boot
from the ghost in the heckling crowd

if I give a foot”

Pos comes back on and wraps up the whole thing nicely. 

One thought on “Top Ten Raps – De La Soul – I Am, I Be”

  1. I love all of the dela. Everything. Allofthethings. Not sure I could chose a favorite…can one choose a favorite star from the heavens? Romeo could not, nor will I. Just saying.

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