Reality, really

>> De La Soul hits Montreal recharged and ready to fly that head

by SCOTT C

For many heads, including myself, De La Soul is one of few groups in hip hop that has managed to hold on to the pole position since they arrived on the scene with 3 Feet High and Rising back in 1989. Their longevity has been based on anything but record sales, and leans more toward the unfaltering, innovative self-awareness that many of us have grown to respect and expect from their work. Still riding a wave of consecutive kudos that naturally stretches all the way back to their first album, De La stand proud on their latest release Art Official Intelligence Vol.1, with promises of two more volumes on the way. De La's Plug One called the Mirror for a quick chat.



Mirror: What inspires you to keep making music after all the transformations that hip hop has gone through?

Plug One: Just being able to realize that we are blessed to still be here, and even beyond that, just literally knowing that, at the end of the day, we can make another song that pushes our thoughts to the limit and makes us continue to go to another level with what we do.

M: Ever feel like hip hop has spiralled completely out of control?

P: Yeah. There's definitely times when I feel like that, but I don't separate hip hop like it's a whole other entity from life. I mean, life in general sometimes feels like that, but then at the same time there's so many beautiful things. It's like paying attention to all the bad things happening on the news and not paying attention to the beautiful thing your daughter or son did right in front of you. I think there's a lot of great things going on in hip hop and a lot of great people, but it's like following the Eminem controversy and missing some consciousness that maybe Mos Def contributed. There's just so much.

The heartbreak of ABS

M: What's your definition of Aging B-boy Syndrome?

P: (laughs) It's not where I want to end up. You got a bunch of people who are always talking about back in the day or the good ol' days. I mean, even when it was good ol' days for us, comin' up with Tribe and NWA, Latifah--DJ Red Alert would look at us and say, "Man, whateva! I miss the good ol' days," so people are always gonna be in tune with their own era, when things started poppin' for them. It seems like we can never go back to when people wanted to hear something they had never heard before. Now people are so programmed by radio programming that they only want to hear what they know. We're movin' forward, though, trying to get to those people who still want something new.

M: What's the closest the group has come to going their own separate ways over the years?

P: It was never like a squabble or anything like that, but there've been times where I've just got tired of it. I mean, we all kind of get burnt out after a while, but you just need to recharge or go away and be with family, or do your own thing or other things. That, right now, has been something that helps to bring more energy to the group. Mace havin' his independent label [Bear Mountain], Dave workin' with this group called Wall Street that's signed to Tommy Boy and me producing for other people all produces different energies that we bring back to the group.

Reality check

M: De La has always had a firm grip on reality, whether it's a serious song or some hilarious send-up. Is embracing the reality of life what you want people to take away from your music?

P: I don't think we set certain goals so that people will do this or that after they hear our album, but I can only hope that they take away certain aspects of our music. I think it's cool when you write something and people take it in another context and it relates to what they're about. We're just into doin' what we do, and if someone comes up in the street and says, "Yo man, did you mean this when you said--" and I'll be like, "Nahhh," and it's cool.

M: How many more albums do you think you're going to make?

P: I don't think anyone in the group is into trying to overstay our welcome. Whether it's in the millions or hundreds of thousands, when people are listening, it's a great thing. We gonna try to just continue to do it, I mean, after the Art Official Intelligence thing we've got three more albums contractually to do with Tommy Boy, so we gonna keep trying our best to bring something incredible to it.

With Catburglaz, B-U the Knowledgist and DJ Shortcut at Bal en Blanc at Metropolis on Saturday, April 14, 9pm, $35