There are several attributes that determine if something’s classic.
For a hip-hop album, naturally one of those marks is the test of time.
Iconic trio De La Soul have a few precious pieces on their resume that have aged quite well.
Their sixth album though, 2001’s AOI: Bionix, sounds like it was just released an hour ago!
The second set of what was supposed to be a 3-album series titled Art Official Intelligence, Bionix is the Weapon X version of the Long Island, NY legends.
Just as the album’s computer-generated narrator informs, this a “better, stronger, faster” De La.
MCs Trugoy (aka Plug Two) and Posdnuos (aka Plus One) were lyrically superhuman throughout this banger, which is mostly produced by Super Dave West. On the heavy-piano title track, Pos rhymes “Unlike these underground MCs who rock for heads, we include the throat, chest, arms and legs”.
Trugoy comes with it on “Trying People”. He lecture, “the skies over your head ain’t safe no more, and hip-hop ain’t your home/And if it is then you’re f—king up the crib, son/You make life look like I don’t want to live one”.
The emotional Pos-produced “Held Down” (featuring Cee-Lo Green) will get you thinking about life, while the unique J-Dilla-produced “Peer Pressure” (featuring B-Real of Cypress Hill) makes you ponder like characters Craig against Smokey in the movie Friday.
With pounding jams like “Baby Phat”, “Special” and “Simply”, this De La Soul album is a certainly a classic. |THIS.
[By Mr. Joe Walker]
