Digable Planets - Blowout Comb CD

Blowout Comb songs 3 FEET HIGH AND RISING includes a limited edition bonus disc containing rare B-sides and remixes. They were like a breath of fresh air when they showed up on the scene in 1989, bringing a new vision to the young genre still known as rap. With one album De La Soul helped usher in the New School that dominated hip hop before the rise of Gangsta. Sure, some of 3 FEET HIGH AND RISING may already sound dated, like some strange relic from an imaginary 1989 summer of love, but it's still packed with the energy and humor that made it so irresistible in the first place. Posdnuos, Trugoy and Mase rapped in a lazily melodic code you could spend hours trying to decipher, but once you accepted the "Change In Speak," it was easier to just lay back and let the diverse samples move your butt. The hits still sound fresh--pop chestnuts like "Eye Know" and "Buddy" (featuring the first appearance of A Tribe Called Quest), as well as self-descriptive songs like "The Magic Number." And although the game show theme that binds together the loose frame of the record is a bit silly, it must be remembered that it created the current craze of interludes and asides found on today's rap albums (from Wu Tang Clan to Too Short). 3 FEET HIGH... is the epitome of Afro-centric peace-oriented rap; yet De La Soul moved on very quickly from this manifestation of the style, although they've yet to lose their ingenuity or intelligence. A visit to the D.A.I.S.Y. Age can do you no harm--it might even keep you sane in these days of guns and gangs. Two CD pressing of the Rap trio's genre-defining 1989 debut album includes a bonus disc containing 14 rare B-sides and remixes: 'Freedom Of Speech (We Got Three Minutes'), 'Strickly Dan Stuckie', 'Jenifa (Taught Me)' (Twelve Inch Version), 'Skip To My Loop', 'Potholes In My Lawn' (Twelve Inch Version), 'Me Myself & I' (Oblapos Mode Version), 'Ain't Hip To Be Labelled A Hippie', 'What's More', 'Brain Washed Follower', 'Say No Go' (New Keys Version), 'Mad Daddy On The Left', 'Double Huey Skit', 'Ghetto Thang' (Ghetto Ximer Version) and 'Eye Know' (The Know It All Mix). 38 tracks in all. Warner. Recorded at Calliope, New York, New York. De La Soul: Trugoy The Dove, Posdnuos, P.A. Pase Master Mase. Engineers include: Sue Fisher, Bob Coulter, Dan Miller. Additional personnel: Q-Tip, Jungle Brothers, Prince Paul, Red Alert, MC Lyte (vocals); Al Watts, Donald "Kid Wonder" Newkirk, Human Mix Machine Wise, Misha, Popmaster Hight, China, Jette, Andre Myers, Granny (background vocals).

Blowout Comb CD music With their second album in 1991, they became serious contenders for Public Enemy's (until then) undisputed crown as hip-hop's cultural leaders. However, where their debut was propelled by a disparate array of samples, The Low-End Theory was built on a stricter musical doctrine - its spine provided by bebop jazz. Though jazz-rap crossover would become a staple of popular music in the mid-90s (Gang Starr, Jazzmatazz, etc.), this album played a substantial part in breaking down barriers between genres. Phife Dog and Q-Tip are on great form too, making the most of Quest's energetic production with cool asides and insightful observations ('The Infamous Date Rape', 'Showbusiness'). Additional personnel includes: Ms. Vinia, Diamond D., Busta Rhymes, Charlie Brown, Brand Nubian, Lord Jammar, Sadat X (vocals); Ron Carter (bass). Recorded at Greene Street Studios and Soundtrack Studios, New York, New York. Producers: Skeff Anselm, A Tribe Called Quest. Engineers include: Bob Power, A Tribe Called Quest, Pete Christensen. Personnel: Phife Dawg, Q-Tip (vocals). DJ: Ali Shaheed Muhammad. Audio Mixers: A Tribe Called Quest; Bob Power. Recording information: Battery Studios; Greene Street Studios; Soundtrack Studios. Photographer: Joe Grant . Unknown Contributor Roles: Diamond D; Dinco D.; Lord Jamar; Sadat X; Busta Rhymes; Charlie Brown . Arranger: A Tribe Called Quest. A Tribe Called Quest: Q-Tip, Phife (vocals); Ali Shaheed Muhammed (DJ).

Blowout Comb buy CD music Digable Planets were nominated for a 1994 Grammy Award as "Best New Artist." "Rebirth Of Slick" won the 1994 Grammy Award for "Rap Duo Or Group." In 1993, Digable Planets redefined the potential of hip-hop with this truly refreshing and unique groove opus. Claiming themselves heirs to the "brothers from outer space" mantel adopted by Sun Ra and such acts as Parliament/Funkadelic before them, the Planets serve up a psychedelicised jazz/hip-hop concoction over which Doodlebug, Ladybug, and Butterfly roll their sophisticated, mellifluous rhymes. While jazz sampling had already reared its head in hip-hop, the Planets were the first to make it an aesthetic. Disembodied snippets of Sonny Rollins (on "Time and Space"), Art Blakey (on "Cool Like Dat," the record's hit single), and others float in and out, merging seamlessly with the smooth beats and bass, while the copious use of echo further heightens the disc's individual sound. Themes tend toward transcendence and mind expansion, as the subtitle of the album ("A New Refutation Of Time And Space") and the numerous references to chemical recreation ("Nickel Bags" is one of the highlights here) would indicate. With the overwhelming popularity of gangsta and hardcore street rap, REACHIN' only made a minor splash. But in no way does that diminish the creativity and remarkable appeal of this record. Recorded at the Sound Doctor Studio, North Bergen, New Jersey. Producers: Butterfly, Shane "The Doctor" Faber, Mike Mangini. Personnel: Doodlebug, Ladybug Mecca (vocals). Recording information: Palatial Sound Doctor Studio & Resort, North Bergen, NJ. Arranger: Butterfly. Digable Planets: Butterfly, Doodle, Ladybug. Additional personnel: Scientific Homiez (programming). 30 PC

Blowout Comb album for sale Diamond D had quietly provided some exciting production work and made strides within the rap music industry and community throughout the early '90s, but his name didn't become immediately recognizable until his classic guest appearance rapping on A Tribe Called Quest's "Show Business" ("Take it from Diamond/It's like mountain climbing/When it comes to rhyming/You gotta put your time in"), off their masterful second album, The Low End Theory. Even amid vintage verses by such lauded hip-hop company as Tribe's Q-Tip and Phife and Brand Nubian's Lord Jamar and Sadat X, something about Diamond D's forthright and rock-solid, but totally laid-back, style stood out. Hip-hop heads waiting to hear more from him were rewarded with a veritable wealth of treasures when Stunts, Blunts & Hip-Hop, Diamond D's debut album, was released the following year. The album instantly became -- and remains -- something of an underground masterpiece. Stunts is a hugely sprawling, amorphous thing. Nearly 70 minutes would generally seem far too long for a hip-hop album to sustain any degree of good taste, especially one that is mostly song-based and keeps the de rigueur between-song skits to a minimum. There is, in fact, a fair amount of filler here; but even that filler, after several listens, is so ingratiating that the album would seem incomplete without it, and it helps the album to actually be listenable in its entirety, as a single, long, whole statement. Part of the reason even the filler works is because the production -- most of it by Diamond D himself -- is uniformly excellent. The music he comes up with is just as steady as his rhyming. As for his simile-heavy lyrics, they can occasionally seem stilted or awkward, and aren't exactly complex, but Diamond spins a long yarn -- sometimes autobiographical, sometimes fantastical, sometimes a projected scenario -- with the best of them, although he can also delve too often into blanket boasting, and sometimes his words lack any particular direction. It's the everyone-in-the-studio ambience, though, rather than any particular standout aspect, that propels the album. Certain songs do stand out from the overall tapestry of the album: the woeful girl-gone-wrong tale "Sally Got a One Track Mind"; "*!*! What U Heard," with its bouncy bassline; the insistent "Red Light, Green Light"; the Jazzy Jay-produced "I Went for Mine"; the loping "Check One, Two"; the groovy "Freestyle," co-produced by Large Professor; "K.I.S.S.," co-produced by Q-Tip; and the jazz-tinged "Feel the Vibe." But they make far more sense as part of the album's cycle. The most enjoyable way to listen to the album's individual parts is to also listen to the stuff that surrounds it. ~ Stanton Swihart Recorded at Jazzy Jay's Recording Studio, Bronx, New York and Calliope Studios, New York, New York. Includes liner notes by Leslie Ann Drye. Full performer name: Diamond & The Psychotic Neurotics. Personnel: Dave Ogrin (horns, programming); Shane "The Doctor" Faber (keyboards, programming); Fat Joe, Whiz One, Gigi from Lincoln Projects, The Kids of Forrest Day Care Center (class of '92), Bonita, LaReese, The Psychos, Michelle Sweeting, Jasmine, Maestro, Mike G.Q., Fat Joe, Brand Nubian. Producers include: Diamond, DJ Mark The 45 King, Showbiz, Lakim Shabazz, Jazzy Jay.

Blowout Comb CD music It would have been hard to match the artistic success of their debut EP on a full-length recording, but Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth did just that on Mecca and the Soul Brother, and they did so in the most unlikely way of all after the succinctness of All Souled Out -- by coming up with a sprawling, nearly 80-minute-long album on which not a single song or interlude is a throwaway or a superfluous piece. Granted, 80 minutes is a long stretch of time for sustained listening, but the music is completely worthy of that time, allowing the duo to stretch out in ways that their EP rendered impossible. Again, the primary star is Pete Rock's production acumen, and he ups the ante of rock-solid drums, steady cymbal beats, smooth-rolling bass, and fatback organ, not to mention his signature horn loops. C.L. Smooth is the perfect vocal match for the music. He is maybe one of the few MCs capable of rapping a fairly credible love song, as he does on "Lots of Lovin'." "They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)," a tribute to friend and Heavy D. dancer Trouble T-Roy, who was accidentally killed, packs a poignant emotional weight, but it is Smooth's more direct and conscientious -- and frequently autobiographical -- side which ultimately carries the album lyrically. The songs are connected and the album is propelled forward by Rock's quick, soul-tight interludes; these are usually bits of old R&B and soul tunes but sometimes they're spoken pieces or spontaneous, freestyle sessions. These interludes provide a sort of dense spiritual tone and resonance in the album that is not religiously based at all, but fully hip-hop based, emerging from the urban altars that are the basements and rooftops of the city. ~ Stanton Swihart Live Recording Recorded at Greene Street Studios, New York, New York. Engineers include: John Croslin, Jamey Staub, Chris Champion. Personnel: C.L. Smooth (vocals); Dida & Grap, Grand Puba, Heavy D, Pete Rock, Rob-O (vocals); Nevelle Hodge (keyboards); Tabitha Brace, Terri Robinson (background vocals). Recording information: Greene Street Studios, New York, NY.

Blowout Comb buy CD music Still straight-up from Strong Island, still pushing the hip-hop envelope, still De La Soul. What these three guys have, if you don't know by now, is a platinum-certified knack for big, phat beats and literate, creative rhymes. The kind of beats that make you nod your head without thinking. And the kind of rhymes that make you hit "Rewind" in awe. Fluid. Smooth. But always an undercurrent of emotion--sometimes romantic frustration, as in "Dog Eat Dog," sometimes thinly veiled satire (it is, isn't it?), as in "Baby Baby Baby Baby Ooh Baby," and sometimes pride in their home turf and their talent, as in "Long Island Degrees." Sure, as on just about any hip-hop disc these days, there's the requisite "I'm the best" braggadocio. De La Soul has a right to brag, though. This band has stayed fiercely loyal to a pure hip-hop sound, and as a result is still 3 feet high (at least) and still rising. Recorded at World Recording Facility and Platinum Island, New York, New York. Producers: De La Soul, Spearhead X, Ogee, Skeff Anslem, Jay Dee. Engineers: Guido Osorio, Tim Latham. Audio Mixer: Tim Latham. Recording information: Platinum Island Recording Studios, New York, NY; World Recording Facility. Photographer: Eric Johnson . Unknown Contributor Role: Maseo. De La Soul: Pos Plug Wonder Why, Dave "Dr.ama," (rap vocals); Maseo. Additional personnel: Common, Mos Def, Truth Enola (rap vocals); Zhane, Jazzyfatnastees (vocals).