2008 VH1 Hip-Hop Honors: DJ Drama on De La Soul
In celebration of VH1's Hip-Hop Honors show (which airs Monday, October 6 at 10 p.m. ET), Rhapsody talked to a variety of contemporary artists about this year's honorees. Here's Mr. Thanksgiving, DJ Drama, on De La Soul.
DJ Drama: I remember when motherf*ck*n’ “Me, Myself and I” first dropped. I think seeing the video was the first time I really [was exposed to De La Soul]. Clearly, they were a little different. It became known as the D.A.I.S.Y. Age. They may have gone over a lot of people’s heads, but when you go back and listen to them, they were groundbreaking. They were a little eccentric, eclectic, and it was something interesting. I liked their sound. You couldn’t pinpoint it. It didn’t sound like anything else. As far as an album goes, the way their album was put together was groundbreaking at the time because, nobody had really did like skits back then, so they really kind of introduced that to the game. I’ve been a fan of De La ever since.
DJ Drama: There was De La Soul Is Dead, Buhloone Mindstate and Stakes Is High. I was on all them albums. Stakes Is High was really the introduction to Mos Def in a lot of ways except for his UTD project. Also, “The Bizness” was the sh*t. That was the first song that they really released off Stakes Is High and that was a problem. Lyrically, what Pos was on for that album was incredible. That album might be my favorite; I don’t know because I love Art Official Intelligence and Buhloone Mindstate. Buhloone Mindstate was even ahead of its time. Also, I love The Grind Date.
I seen De La live in ‘94 with Tribe. It was a show at the University of Kent. I think Biz Markie was spinnin’. It was the Midnight Marauders Tour. They had their audience [in Philadelphia]. This was in a different era of hip-hop, but I think De La had international fans. They never had the super mainstream hit, but De La always had it’s core hip-hop fans. It was a nice little Philly hip-hop scene that was spearheaded by the Roots, so you know De La definitely fit into that world that I was a fan of.
I got this homie named Rubix, who came up with them. Me and Rubix used to live together [when I was at Clark Atlanta University] in probably, like, ’97 or ‘98. I remember one time I had been out of town and I guess Pos had came to Atlanta. [Rubix] said Pos slept on the couch and had stayed over. I was f*ck*n’ blown away, man. I was so mad. I hadn’t known them before that. I’ve since met Pos and we’ve shared respects for each other and things like that. He’s a contender, in my opinion, for top 10 greatest of all time. He might not be as relevant at the moment, but lyrically, he’s top notch and one of those guys that gets better with time. Pos is definitely one of them guys that lyrically is a beast. N*ggas have never made bad music. They’ve always made good music. I’ve never heard any De La records that I didn’t f*ck with. They’re just one of those groups that have always been them, never followed the trends, and really been true to what hip-hop music is based upon, which is originality, dope lyrics, dope beats, creativity and always really stayin’ ahead of the game.
Further Reading:
Q&A: DJ Drama [PLAY]
2008 VH1 Hip-Hop Honors: Killer Mike on Cypress Hill [PLAY]
2008 VH1 Hip-Hop Honors: Devin The Dude on Slick Rick [PLAY]
2008 VH1 Hip-Hop Honors: Joe Budden on Naughty By Nature [PLAY]
2008 VH1 Hip-Hop Honors: Big Boi on Too Short [PLAY]
Comments