Description

LABEL: Chrysalis
VINYL RELEASE DATE: 3 3 2023
ORIGINAL RELEASE DATE: 1989
VARIANT: Black Vinyl 2LP 

3 Feet High and Rising is the debut studio album by hip hop trio de la Soul and was released on March 3, 1989. It marked the first of three full-length collaborations with producer Prince Paul, which would become the critical and commercial peak of both parties. Critically, as well as commercially, the album was a success. It contains the singles, Me Myself and I , The Magic Number, Buddy, and Eye Know . The album title came from the Johnny Cash song Five Feet High and Rising . It is listed on Rolling Stone s 200 Essential Rock Records and The Source s 100 Best Rap Albums. When Village Voice held it s annual Pazz & Jop Critics Poll for 1989, 3 Feet High and Rising was ranked #1. It was also listed on the Rolling Stone s The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Released amid the 1989 boom in gangsta rap, which gravitated towards hardcore, confrontational, violent lyrics, de la Soul s uniquely positive style made them an oddity beginning with the first single, Me, Myself and I . Their positivity meant many observers labeled them a hippie group, based on their declaration of the D.A.I.S.Y. Age (Da. Inner. Soul. Yall). Sampling artists as diverse as Hall & Oates, Steely Dan and The Turtles, 3 Feet High and Rising is often viewed as the stylistic beginning of 1990s alternative hip hop (and especially jazz rap).