Stakes Is High

De La Soul

Released on 02/07/1996 by AOI Records
Main artists: De La Soul
Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap

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De La Soul's fourth album is still something of an enigma. It was their first without producer Prince Paul, and one that would precede a four-year-gap in their catalog—a potential reinvention that appeared to stall out without a timely follow-up. Stakes Is High is also even more culturally against the grain than Buhloone Mindstate was, with scattered lyrical jabs against the now-dominant gangsta mode of rap culminating in the powerful, frustrated bitterness of the legendary Dilla-produced title cut. But it's also the kind of album where the doubt and uncertainty of its creators—DJ Maseo has remarked in interviews that Stakes felt like a "do or die" breaking point, the difference between tour buses and day jobs—reinforces the idea that they always operated best with their backs against some wall or another. So even if they're uncertain about their own future or whether there's even a place for their abstract, bohemian strain of hip-hop, they could still put out an album that speaks loudly to a core of fans who were just as happy to hear another chance for Common to wax philosophical smack-talker ("The Bizness") and more than willing to take a chance on a Brooklyn up-and-comer called Mos Def ("Big Brother Beat"). And while their search for what's next points towards a future they not only helped build but put in good hands, their own mic presence sounds both more matter-of-fact and more accessible without sacrificing their humor or their own idiosyncrasies. Sometimes they lean into the same kind of genre-pastiche-parody snark that animated the more sardonic moments on De La Soul Is Dead—"Baby, Baby, Baby, Baby, Ooh Baby" is bested only by Chris Rock's "Champagne" when it comes to mocking Bad Boy-esque retro-'80s R&B crossover—but for the most part they lead by their own example, building a bridge between their Native Tongues roots and the Soulquarian future that would emerge near decade's end. And as frustrated as they get—scorning faux-mafioso rappers on "Itzsoweezee (Hot)," or refusing the pressure of going supercommercial on "Dog Eat Dog"—they never forget to maintain their free creative spirit, even on an album that's almost aggressively downtempo. The promise of the soul-jazz production on Buhloone Mindstate has been met by a slate of beats that flip from woozy samba organ ("Supa Emcees") to velvety soul-via-g-funk (the Spearhead X-produced "Dinninit") to spiritual jazz-slash-euphoria gospel (mood-lifting closer "Sunshine") but, to the last, all feature some of the most effectively propulsive direct-hit drum breaks in the group's whole discography. Funnily enough, it's that lingering bitterness that makes Stakes Is High so rewarding: it's the sound of a storm being weathered. © Nate Patrin/Qobuz

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Stakes Is High

De La Soul

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Intro Explicit

00:02:35

David Jolicoeur, Composer - Kelvin Mercer, Composer - Sylvester Stewart, Composer - Michael Fossenkemper, MasteringEngineer - Tim Latham, Mixer - De La Soul, Producer, MainArtist - Vincent Mason, Composer - Mijac Music, MusicPublisher - Scotty Hard, MixingEngineer - Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Co/Daisy Age Music, MusicPublisher