- Intro
- Supa Emcees
- The Bizness
- Yunonstop
- Wonce Again Long Island
- Dinninit
- Brakes
- Dog Eat Dog
- Baby, Baby, Baby, Baby, Ooh Baby
- Long Island Degrees
- Betta Listen
- Itzsoweezee (HOT)
- 4 More
- Big Brother Beat
- Down Syndrome
- Pony Ride
- Stakes is High
5
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0810098503020
Zhane Primary Artist,Guest Artist,Featured Artist,Vocals
Truth Enola Primary Artist,Featured Artist,Vocals
Mos Def Guest Artist,Featured Artist,Vocals
Common Guest Artist,Featured Artist,Vocals
Jazzyfatnastees Vocals
Maseo Vocals
Trugoy the Dove Vocals
Posdnuos Vocals
Dante Beze Composer
Sheddrick B. Preston Composer
Xavier Hargrove Composer
Eric Johnson Photography
Chris J. Mosdell Composer
Kurt Walker Composer
OGEE Producer
Nathaniel Hall Composer
Michelle Willems Art Direction
Todd Cochran Composer
Michael Small Composer,Composer
Paulo Valle Composer
Fred Wesley Jr. Composer
Mickey Denne Composer
James Yancey Composer
Ivona Reich Composer
Carlos Jimenez Composer
Reggie Hobdy Composer
Gary Scott Composer
Lawrence Mack Composer
Lawrence Smith Composer
Ahmad Jamal Composer
James Brown Composer
Charles Bobbit Composer
Ricky Walters Composer
Charles Lloyd Composer
Russell Simmons Composer
Homer Banks Composer
Jaydee Producer
Lonnie Lynn Composer
De La Soul Producer
Lionel Richie Composer
Johnny Mercer Composer
Les McCann Composer
Yukihiro Takahashi Composer
J Dilla Composer
Fred Glickstein Composer
Junior Parker Composer
Milt Jackson Composer
Thomas McClary Composer
Ryuichi Sakamoto Composer
Tim Latham Mixing,Engineer,Producer
Burt Bacharach Composer
Guido Osorio Engineer
Malcolm McLaren Composer
Sylvester Stewart Composer
Hal David Composer
Kelvin Mercer Composer
James Moore Composer
Eric Matthew Composer
Charlie Jimenez Composer
Jan Hammer Composer
Jay Dee Producer
Robert Ford, Jr. Composer
Schoolly D Composer
Raymond Jackson Composer
Dave Jolicoeur Composer
Donald Davis Composer
Skeff Anselm Composer,Producer
Darryl Payne Composer
Vincent Mason Composer
Sean Coffey Assistant Engineer
Trugoy the Dove Composer
Spearhead X Producer
Jesse Weaver Composer
Art Babe Design
Bobby Byrd Composer
Ken Gold Composer
Jimmy Spicer Composer
Douglas Davis Composer
Trevor Horn Composer
Bettye Crutcher Composer
Haruomi Hosono Composer
Marcos Valle Composer
Posdnuos Composer
Tom Coyne Mastering
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Overview
Stakes Is High is often overshadowed by its predecessors in the De La Soul discography and, upon its release, it was lost in a summer of great import and consequence. Released on the same day as Nas' alter-ego epic It Was Written and sandwiched between albums like Jay-Z's Reasonable Doubt and OutKast's ATLiens, it's very possible that Stakes Is High didn't get its rightful burn in respective tape decks and CD players. Aside from that, hip-hop was fully embroiled in the East Coast vs. West Coast beef, something in which the Native Tongues vanguards were seeming nonplayers. But it's under these conditions that De La offered an album that was not only sonically excellent and creative and pure, but an album with the year's most relevant and prescient message. The stakes were indeed high. Inter-genre violence was bubbling beneath the surface, overshadowing the turn hip-hop was taking -- a turn away from what was a mid-'90s renaissance of the late-'80s golden age excellence, quickly evolving into what is now known as the jiggy era. On "The Bizness" -- a song featuring the quickly maturing Common before his lyrical touchstone One Day It'll All Makes Sense -- Dave spits "Do not connect us with those champagne-sippin' money-fakers." Hip-hop was at a crossroads, a precipice -- whatever you'd like to call it -- and De La were concerned. "Supa Emcees" asked "Whatever happened to the MC?" and cautioned "MCing ain't for you!" "Dog Eat Dog" asserted that folks were "fucking my love in all the wrong places" -- an obvious metaphor. "Baby Baby Baby Baby Ooh Baby" is a sharp satire of the Bad Boy-style hip-hop that was beginning its reign, fit with a beat as Hitmen-esque as an '80s R&B revision with Posdnuos rhyming in a conspicuously Biggie-like cadence. No, this was not an unabashed hip-hop classic like 3 Feet High and Rising and De La Soul Is Dead, or as provocative and fresh as some of its 1996 peers. It was, however, an entertaining and unapologetic De La album that placed hip-hop in front of a mirror. It's also an album that did its part to solve what De La were articulating as a problem, ushering in what would become the newer version of the Native Tongues, with multi-production from a young Jay Dee, Mos Def's introduction to most listeners, the aforementioned Common cameo, and hooks from Erykah Badu and Zhane, artists leading the burgeoning neo-soul movement of the time. It was as if De La were providing an antidote. Stakes Is High is an important album of this era, an album of great production and the most skilled of MCs who diagnosed symptoms of what they believed were hip-hop health complications -- but it offered the medicine. ~ Vincent Thomas
Product Details
Release Date: | 06/02/2023 |
---|---|
Label: | Chrysalis Records |
UPC: | 0810098503020 |
Tracks
Album Credits
Performance Credits
De La Soul Primary Artist,Co-ProducerZhane Primary Artist,Guest Artist,Featured Artist,Vocals
Truth Enola Primary Artist,Featured Artist,Vocals
Mos Def Guest Artist,Featured Artist,Vocals
Common Guest Artist,Featured Artist,Vocals
Jazzyfatnastees Vocals
Maseo Vocals
Trugoy the Dove Vocals
Posdnuos Vocals
Technical Credits
Dante Smith ComposerDante Beze Composer
Sheddrick B. Preston Composer
Xavier Hargrove Composer
Eric Johnson Photography
Chris J. Mosdell Composer
Kurt Walker Composer
OGEE Producer
Nathaniel Hall Composer
Michelle Willems Art Direction
Todd Cochran Composer
Michael Small Composer,Composer
Paulo Valle Composer
Fred Wesley Jr. Composer
Mickey Denne Composer
James Yancey Composer
Ivona Reich Composer
Carlos Jimenez Composer
Reggie Hobdy Composer
Gary Scott Composer
Lawrence Mack Composer
Lawrence Smith Composer
Ahmad Jamal Composer
James Brown Composer
Charles Bobbit Composer
Ricky Walters Composer
Charles Lloyd Composer
Russell Simmons Composer
Homer Banks Composer
Jaydee Producer
Lonnie Lynn Composer
De La Soul Producer
Lionel Richie Composer
Johnny Mercer Composer
Les McCann Composer
Yukihiro Takahashi Composer
J Dilla Composer
Fred Glickstein Composer
Junior Parker Composer
Milt Jackson Composer
Thomas McClary Composer
Ryuichi Sakamoto Composer
Tim Latham Mixing,Engineer,Producer
Burt Bacharach Composer
Guido Osorio Engineer
Malcolm McLaren Composer
Sylvester Stewart Composer
Hal David Composer
Kelvin Mercer Composer
James Moore Composer
Eric Matthew Composer
Charlie Jimenez Composer
Jan Hammer Composer
Jay Dee Producer
Robert Ford, Jr. Composer
Schoolly D Composer
Raymond Jackson Composer
Dave Jolicoeur Composer
Donald Davis Composer
Skeff Anselm Composer,Producer
Darryl Payne Composer
Vincent Mason Composer
Sean Coffey Assistant Engineer
Trugoy the Dove Composer
Spearhead X Producer
Jesse Weaver Composer
Art Babe Design
Bobby Byrd Composer
Ken Gold Composer
Jimmy Spicer Composer
Douglas Davis Composer
Trevor Horn Composer
Bettye Crutcher Composer
Haruomi Hosono Composer
Marcos Valle Composer
Posdnuos Composer
Tom Coyne Mastering
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