Tag Archives: De La Soul

50 Years of Hip Hop Album Review: 3 Feet High and Rising, Unfinished Business

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Last year was the 50th anniversary of hip hop, and in honor of this anniversary, the idea bloomed in my mind that I should review the top 50 albums of that 50 years. As I crunched together a list from various sources, 50 proved to be too restrictive- many of the classics were getting squeezed out. So, to make a little more room, I opted for 100 albums, two for each of hip hop’s 50 years.

For its formative years, hip hop was a live entertainment form, with the first recorded singles not emerging until 1979, and the first albums in 1980. So my review will cover 1980-2023, with 50 posts of two albums each. The only ground rule I made for myself (besides looking for 2×50, aka 100, albums that were widely well-regarded) was that I had to have at least one from each year. As you’ll see by and by, some years get multiple albums, but since we have 100 spots for 43 years, it tends to all work out.

*June 2024 addendum: Due to some medical situations, I took a three+ month hiatus from blogging. It’s unlikely I’ll finish this series this year. But I’m back at it, and I won’t mind extending into 2025 if you don’t!*

And with that, let’s embark on our next installment!

De La Soul, 3 Feet High and Rising (1989)– Boogie Down Productions and Jungle Brothers may have gotten there first, but this album is the beginning of conscious hip hop as a recognized genre. It sounded different from everything else out there at the time, and it still does today with it’s sunny and widely varied samples, psychedelic production effects, relaxed beats and flow, and overflowing themes of whimsy, anti-materialism, and counter-cultural self expression. It even has a classic psychedelic concept album wrap around theme with the game show skit structure (and began the trend of comedic skits between tracks in hip hop). It would be enough if this Long Island group and producer Prince Paul had “merely” produced a ground-breaking album regarded as hip-hop’s psychedelic masterpiece. But even better, it remains a thoroughly joyous, rewarding, and in a way timeless, listen today.

EPMD, Unfinished Business (1989)- The follow-up to the Long Island duo’s 1988 Strictly Business reminds me of their earlier album with its funk and rock samples, driving flow, and spare metallic sound. The stripped down feel is likely no accident- whereas their debut album was produced by electro-funk driving-force Kurtis Mantronik, the group self-produced this second album. If this makes it a little rougher and more slap-dash feeling than their last album, I think I actually like it better for that!

If you’re curious about the sources I used to compile my list, you can check them out here:

And if you want to catch up on the previous installments, here they are…

  1. Sugarhill Gang- Sugarhill Gang (1980)/Kurtis Blow- Kurtis Blow (1980)
  2. Sugarhill Gang- 8th Wonder (1981)/Grandmaster Flash- The Message (1982)
  3. Wild Style Original Soundtrack (1983)/Fat Boys- Fat Boys (1984)
  4. Kurtis Blow- Ego Trip (1984)/Run-D.M.C.- Run-D.M.C. (1984)
  5. Whodini- Escape (1985)/The Treacherous Three- The Treacherous Three (1985)
  6. Run-D.M.C.- King of Rock (1985)/LL Cool J- Radio (1985)
  7. Beastie Boys- Licensed to Ill (1986)/Run-D.M.C.- Raising Hell (1986)
  8. Boogie Down Productions- Criminal Minded (1987)/Eric B. & Rakim- Paid in Full (1987)
  9. LL Cool J- Bigger and Deffer (1987)/Big Daddy Kane- Long Live the Kane (1988)
  10. Boogie Down Productions- By All Means Necessary (1988)/EPMD- Strictly Business (1988)
  11. Eric B. & Rakim- Follow the Leader (1988)/Jungle Brothers- Straight Out the Jungle (1988)
  12. N.W.A- Straight Outta Compton (1988)/Public Enemy- It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold us Back (1988)
  13. Slick Rick- The Great Adventures of Slick Rick (1988)/Ultramagnetic MCs- Critical Beatdown (1988)
  14. Beastie Boys- Paul’s Boutique (1989)/Big Daddy Kane- It’s a Big Daddy Thing (1989)

Finally, if you’d like a playlist for the entire list, you can find that here. Listen to it sequentially for the historical development of the genre, or play on shuffle for maximum historical scramble!