Daisy Cutter

Double-LP reissue becomes an unintended tribute to a hip-hop great.

- Johnnie Johnstone

De La Soul 

3 Feet High & Rising

5/5

Chrysalis RMM 0451 (CD, 2LP, Cassette)

"What does 'Tush eht lleh pu' mean?" It was the summer of 1989, and that innocuous rebuttal was just about the most aggressive moment on De La Soul's game-changing debut album 3 Feet High & Rising. From now on, hip-hop was going to be a Dayglo sampladelic cartoon strip of good vibes. This was the Daisy Age ("da inner sound y'all") and that meant saying goodbye to all that crazy cop shootin' gangsta shit. Or so we thought.

Long Island high school friends, Posdnuos, Trugoy and Maseo (two of them still in their teens, the other just turned 20), spelled their names backwards, too, but under the patronage of wizard DJ/producer Prince Paul, they were about to kickstart the future. Despite vinyl being their primary source material, they unwittingly accelerated the rise of CD culture into the bargain by cramming 24 tracks onto a 67-minute slab of vinyl. But more than anything, they completely revolutionised hip-hop. Scroll through the tributes to the tragic news that Dave "Trugoy The Dove" Jolicouer had died last month, just a few weeks after speaking to RC for the interview to go with this review, and you'll have everything you need to know about the high standing in which De La Soul were held.